Joyce Edge, 103, has been picking up her favourite newspaper every day since her husband was sent to fight with the RAF in the Second World War in 1944 – meaning she’s seen 29,864 editions in total
At 103, Joyce Edge has showed off the secrets to a long life – a large glass of wine and her favourite newspaper
The great-gran has been picking up the Daily Mirror every day for more than 80 years. Joyce’s daily devotion to the Mirror began on January 17, 1944, when her husband Bernard was sent to fight with the RAF in the Second World War. And she’s not missed an edition since – all 29,864 of them.
Joyce said: “My father used to read it. So I’ve been reading it a lot longer really but when my husband went to war I made sure I got it every day so I knew what was going on.” This week staff at the care home where she lives presented her with a replica of the original front page from 82 years ago which triggered her passion.
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“I like the Daily Mirror. I won’t have any other paper. I used to get it delivered to my house, but now the staff here bring me a copy every day when I get up,” Joyce said, The news on the front page of January 17, 1944, shows just how much the world has changed.
Back then, the Russians were the heroes of the hour with the headline proclaiming Moscow’s new offensive and reporting “100,000 Huns have been killed” by Soviet forces since Christmas. And it also reported a deadly rail crash in dense fog in Ilford, East London, which killed three US army personnel and the MP for Bury St Edmonds, Frank Heilgers.
“It has a lot more words on it than these days. I love it. I will put this up in my flat. I actually remember that story of 15 being killed in the train crash,” Joyce said, looking at the replica. In 1944 she was just two years into married life when Bernard was dispatched to the front line, leaving her with their young son, Colin. Like her own father, Joyce was working seven days a week at the Ransome & Marles ball bearing factory in Newark, Notts, making components for the war effort.
When she wasn’t in the factory, Joyce, the eldest of eight children, was at home helping her mother to bring up the rest of the family. The day Bernard was demobbed was “one of the happiest of my life”, Joyce recalled. She added: “We got a house together, had two more children [Michael and Joy] and stayed happily married for 72 years. We used to read the paper and discuss the news together.”
Joyce, who was widowed in 2014, lived independently until she was 101, moving to St Neots, Cambs, to be closer to her daughter, Joy, and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She now lives at Henbrook House, a care home in the town – where she enjoys the other secret to her long life. Events manager Brian Moore, who delivers her Mirror every morning, said: “She does love a glass of wine.”
Joyce added: “I have one with my lunch and sometimes another with my dinner. It keeps me going.” Reading every day has also kept her mind sharp. Events co-ordinator Pauline Stewart said: “She is just incredible. She walks so much. She goes back to her room, or her flat as she calls it, about eight times a day. That’s a lot of steps.
“She never complains and her mind is really good. She loves playing scrabble but some of the other residents don’t want to score when they play her because they don’t like being beaten by someone of 103.”
Joyce said: “I play all sorts. I get involved in all the games they put on – hangman, scrabble, bingo, I like them all.” Asked if she ever thought she’d live so long, she replied: “I wouldn’t have believed it. My mum and dad died in the 1960s. People didn’t last as long back then.
“I am very happy that I can still walk a lot but I don’t go out on my own these days. I get up early. I put on my make-up, I’ve been doing that since I was 16, and then I’m the first one up and into the living room with my copy of Mirror to see what’s been going on. I cannot grumble, I like it here. I am well looked after and people make sure I am OK.”
Joyce is regularly visited by her family. Sons Colin and Michael live in Newark while daughter Joy is close by with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She said: “They call me Grandma Duck. My Dad always had ducks and I kept up the tradition so that’s what they call me. This copy of the front page will get pride of place in my flat and I am very happy that I’ll not have to pay for another one.”
