There was no mains water in the house and her father used to walk to the standpipe at the bottom of Cock Street Lane wearing a wooden yoke to carry two buckets of water back to the house, a distance of about a mile. She attended Redwick School and then went on to attend Larkfield Grammar School in Chepstow.

 

After she left school she became a secretary to Mr Griffiths of Griffiths Clothing in Dock Street Newport. Joyce was an accomplished accordion player who used to play her accordion in the village hall. 

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She moved to the Cross Keys area after her marriage to John Nicholas in 1957 who was an electrician. He ran a successful electrical company who employed, amongst other people, John Howells who was Doreen Howells’ husband. Doreen, Mrs Parker’s daughter, was related to Joyce.

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Her parents were Thomas and Ethel Ruby Bassett; both were born in Redwick where they lived all their lives. Ethel’s maiden name was Waters; she lived in The Shop in Redwick as a child along with her siblings Lucy (Parker); Olive; Violet; Trevor; Gladys and Percival William (Percy) also her mother Sarah Jane Waters. Her mother, Joyce’s grandmother, was Sarah Jane Parker until she remarried after being widowed.

 

In 1914 Ethel’s oldest brother, Wyndham Parker, married Beatrice Blundell. After Sarah Jane’s death Wyndham inherited the shop. He rented the shop to Gladys Jones while he continued to run his business in Newport Provision Market. After Wyndham’s death in 1952 Mrs Beatrice Parker took over the shop which she ran until it closed in 1977.