Local Face: Joan Metcalfe

Joan is a proud Yorkshire woman who lived in the Bradford area until she was 96. How did she end up in Wendover? Her niece realised that looking after her house was becoming too much for Joan. The first potential new residence they looked at was Abbeyfield House in Dobbins Lane. She met a resident, Gladys Evans (Local Face January 2019), who said she’d been living there happily for 14 years. That was a good enough recommendation for Joan and here she is!

Joan is very pleased to have family nearby through her niece who lives in Aston Clinton. Next generation down includes Joan’s great niece now in Stone and great nephew in Lionel Avenue. They also have their own children, another generation to support her. It was quite a gathering at Abbeyfield House on 26 January to celebrate Joan’s 103rd birthday! The last time they were able to celebrate had been in 2020 when Joan was 100! Abbeyfield residents also joined in the fun. As well as birthday tea, prosecco was available and, naturally, both sponge and fruit cake. Joan succeeded in blowing out her candles with aplomb as everyone sang “Happy Birthday”. Joan also led the party in a rousing rendition of “On Ilkla Moor Baht 'At”, giving lessons on correct pronunciation.

Joan came from a family with its own tragedy: the death of her mother when she was only 9 and her little sister Margaret was only 4. This meant that a lot of domestic responsibility fell to her as the older daughter and her father insisted that she left school at 14 even though she had passed the exam and attended the local Grammar School. She started as a reacher in nearby Saltaire Mill. This involved "reaching through" to put threads (up to 4,000) on hooks as the men set up the heavy wooden looms.

They used high quality worsted yarn which was woven into luxurious wool cloth mostly for bespoke tailoring. After about a fortnight, Joan had learned this part of the job and was able to start earning, piecework with minutes only counted when the loom was working.

By 1941 Joan had already met Albert but he had been conscripted into the army so they married and had a 2 day honeymoon in Morecambe. Most of war-time, she worked in munitions as a welder. Albert was a bombardier. Their marriage lasted 64 years even though in late middle age he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and required a special diet and eventually nursing, both depending on Joan always learning new skills.

After the war Joan became a pattern weaver and eventually trained others in this skill. She went on to be given the responsibility of translating patterns into weaving, often making modifications to speed up the weaving by making the design slightly simpler without noticeable diminution in complexity. Margaret's daughter, a nurse, married an RAF man who had a long spell teaching at Halton which is how that part of the family came to live in these parts.

Joan learned to drive at 48 and her great nephew challenged her to site the writte (computer) driving test when she was 93. With no preparation at all, she passed with flying colours. Joan was on the button then and she continues to be so now. Joan was able to retire at 59 but immediately fell ill with bowel cancer which was treated very successfully in Bradford. She feels blessed at living so long after beating cancer. She has enjoyed living at Abbeyfield and is very grateful for all the care and companionship.