Joy Reynolds (18 Feb 1923 - 10 Oct 2020)

Joy R I P . Amazing Lady !!!

With happy memories of our time in Ryarsh and Birling choir.

Such a lovely lady, always smiling, always cheerful. We had the privilege of being taught at Wrotham school by Alan too! You will be greatly missed Joy 💕

In appreciation of Joy's support of the music at St Martin's Church and in the BART Group and in memory of her friendship
Christopher and Julia

My prayer for Joy:
Dear Father

Dear Father,
We thank you for Joy’s long life and all the happy times we enjoyed together with her.

Joy was a very wise and gentle person with many gifts. She was a great listener with a deep empathy for people. A generous supporter of all the BART churches and community events. A faithful follower of Christ and prayerful in her daily life.

It was a great privilege to have shared transporting Joy to and from church and other events when she was no longer able to drive herself.

Despite her age and frailty towards the end of her life it did not stop her enthusiasm as an active church member.

She was a great blessing to her family, the church family and the surrounding community.

Her long years of faithful service to her saviour touched us all in such a special and wonderful way.


Her prayerfulness, faithfulness and supportiveness for everyone were exemplary.

May she now find the love and peace you have prepared for her in your nearer presence

Amen

Mum was born on the 18th February 1923, just a few minutes after her twin brother Geoff. She had another brother and a sister ,also twins ,who were ten years older. Known as the ‘terrible twosome’ mum and Geoff grew up in Herne Bay, attending the local primary school and then 3 years at Bayfield private school run by three extremely strict sisters . Mum started to learn to play the piano at this school.
From there she went on to The William Gibbs Grammar school in Faversham. She commuted to school on the train and it was here that she first became aware of a young man who ‘rarely combed his hair’, called Alan REYNOLDS.. In those days, of course, boys and girls couldn’t mix and had to walk to school on different sides of the street.
Mum was a capable and conscientious student and achieved excellent grades and awards for her schoolwork. She enjoyed sport, playing a variety of games at school including hockey, lacrosse, badminton, and in particular she loved tennis. She was a member of Herne Bay tennis club for many years. In her late teens she also became interested in choral singing.
She always said that Herne Bay was a wonderful place to grow up. At that time it was a holiday destination, and it was full of life, with activities and events particularly on the seafront. She used to go roller skating on the pier and some Saturday’s her godmother Florrie, who owned a car, used to drive them down to Margate to visit Dreamland.
On leaving school she was offered a temporary job at Barclays by her brother in law who was the manager there. This was the 1940’s and men were in short supply, and she ended up doing 12 years at the bank. A job she did not really enjoy. Of course banks in those days did not have computers and everything was handwritten. She could add up a long column of figures much faster and more accurately than anybody could do now with a calculator.
She did her bit during the war working with the ARP’s. She used to spend long nights on the Town Hall roof on lookout for fires, aircraft and ships.
My father returned to Herne Bay from 4 years in India and Burma in 1946 and they met, walking along the seafront with friends, and went for tea.
They married in July 1951 and moved away from Herne Bay as Dad got a job as a teacher at Wrotham secondary school. They moved to Wateringbury for a few months, then bought a house in Birling for a few years and finally settled at London Road West Malling in 1963.
Mum attended Ryarsh church and became involved in the church community, the choir and the church youth movement called the Campaigners. She developed her keyboard skills to play the organ for the church and took over as Choirmistress for 33 years. She supported our local missionary, Margaret Phillips, with a trip out to Lesotho in South Africa. She gave piano lessons to several dozen young people. She became involved in the women’s fellowship, the bible study group and made many lifelong friends.
Being one of the war generation, recycling was second nature.
Holding on to odds and ends ‘ in case it’ll come in’ was a bit of a family joke. Plastic bags were washed and reused, all elastic bands saved.
In her later years she kept active helping to run church groups, keeping in touch with friends, reading and doing crosswords.
She was a wonderful mother, always supportive and caring . She made you feel loved and wanted. No matter what you’d been up to!
She was a marvellous role model. Always polite, cheerful, calm and collected. She tried to look at things from the other persons point of view. She was eternally optimistic, picking out the smallest silver lining from the darkest cloud.
She has been supported throughout her life by her strong Christian belief .
She leaves 2 children, 5 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren, so far!
She will be sorely missed.

Well done, Christ's good and faithful servant

I have such fond memories of a wonderful Choir Mistress who managed to keep us all in order! God Bless.

Remembering a very wonderful person

Remembering a very wonderful person

Happy memories of a very long time friend - caring, so thoughtful, and fun.

Such a lovely lady, kind and clever, with the sense of fun shared by the other twins. So sorry she has left us, the last of her generation in our family. We were proud to call her Aunt, and hope that the four twins are reunited once more, along with their loved ones.

In memory of my wonderful mother