Farewell to the feisty BBC tea lady who was a ‘secret inspiration’ for Children In Need
SHE was a much-loved figure at the BBC serving buns and biscuits from a trolley beside the lifts at Broadcasting House for more than 30 years.
Now, days after her death, Joyce Rose’s family have revealed the extraordinary legacy of the formidable tea lady who was the inspiration behind the Children In Need appeal and once told off Margaret Thatcher for jumping the canteen queue.
Joyce, who died from kidney cancer this week at 79, marched up to a BBC executive who was on his lunch break one day in the 1970s and told him the corporation should organise an annual TV fundraising telethon for children.
She was one of the greatest champions of the event which has gone on to become a national institution raising £972million since the first major appeal was launched in 1980.
The show – fronted for many years by the late Sir Terry Wogan and famous for mascot Pudsey Bear – supports more than 2,700 charities.
Dedicated
After retiring aged 60 in 1999, Joyce, who never married and had no children of her own, dedicated her life to the charity and continued to raise tens of thousands for the cause by dressing up as the Queen and posing for photographs with tourists.
At seven, Joyce and her four sisters were separated after their labourer father walked out on the family and their mother, a restaurant cleaner, was confined to a workhouse.
Joyce was taken from the family home in Chelsea, south-west London, and sent to a children’s residential home in Broadstairs, Kent.
Yesterday proud sister Linda, 73, said: “She didn’t come up with the name Children In Need but the idea of a yearly thing on the TV was hers.
“But no one ever credited her for it. I suppose a tiny part of her must have been a bit resentful of that but she soon got stuck in and started doing all she could.”
Relatives found newspaper cuttings from 1985 which revealed her encounters with Mrs Thatcher.
Linda said: “She didn’t care that she was the prime minister. She was always quick on bad manners so told her to go to the back as office only had 15 minutes for a break.
“Apparently Maggie avoided the canteen floor for years so she didn’t have to bump into Joyce. If you were out of line, she would tell you.”
Joyce’s nephew Wayne Bolley, 38, paid tribute to his real-life BBC ‘Auntie’. He said: “After she retired she would spend every single day on the street with a charity bucket. People used to love her.”
A BBC Children In Need spokesman said: “We were very sorry to hear about the death of Joyce Rose,” adding: “We were immensely grateful.” staff