Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us here today to celebrate the life of our Dad. Anthony David Joy, known to everyone as Dave, was born on the 9th of January 1958 to Alice and Eric Joy. He was born into a long line of farmers who worked at the Wellington Dairy on Duke Street in Garston. The sign outside the dairy read ‘A Joy & Sons, Farmers and Cowmen’. The A Joy in question was my great great grandfather Anthony Joy, his son was Anthony Percival Joy, his son (my grandfather, or Papa) was Anthony Eric Joy, my Dad was Anthony David Joy, and I am Anthony Stephen Joy. You might think that this was some sort of family tradition, but according to our Grandma it had nothing to do with tradition. It was so when a member of the family died they didn’t have to buy a new sign!
Dad loved that story, and he loved telling it. He would tell us all about his fond memories of growing up around the horses, accompanying his Dad on the milk rounds with siblings Christine and Barry, and playing football on the backfields with his cousin Rob. In 1969 he attended Quarrybank comprehensive school in Allerton and discovered a great love for nature and natural history, so much so that after leaving school in 1976 he attended Padgate College to study Recreation and Environment. It was this same year that Dad discovered his next and greatest love, Mum. Dad first met Jean at school and thanks to some unsolicited matchmaking at an 18th birthday party of a mutual friend they began seeing each other. Throughout college he worked as a driver for Meals on Wheels, and afterwards secured himself his ‘dream job’ as a countryside ranger for Strathclyde Park, and then eventually worked for Knowsley Council as Country Parks Manager. He and Mum married in 1983 and soon embarked upon what Dad would describe as their greatest adventure, parenthood.
They had three children: Victoria, Anthony and Heather. Each one of us unique in our own special ways but with one thing in common: Joy. Our early years as a family were filled to the brim with wonderful adventures, hilarious mishaps, make-believe stories, memory games, and never-ending laughter.
He was a lifelong fan of Everton football club, I remember he would listen to matches on the radio in the car and cheer with glee when they scored or attempt to stifle shouting expletives when they lost, unfortunately I think the latter was more often. If it wasn’t football on the radio then it was music. Whenever the three of us think of our childhood it unconsciously comes with a soundtrack thanks to Dad. For us if it wasn’t singing The Beatles or Simon & Garfunkel in the car it was bounding off the sofas rocking out to Whitesnake or Deep Purple, if he wasn’t in his study soaking up the sounds of Pink Floyd or Rainbow it was going to concerts to see Marillion or Steve Hackett for the millionth time.
His next great passion after music was comping. For those of you who aren’t versed in the world of comping, in the 80’s and 90’s there were these things called slogan competitions. You would find them in supermarket checkouts or on cereal boxes, and the aim was to come up with a witty slogan for a product to win a prize. Such as; “Yo Ho Ho we’re Heinz Beanz eaters, always Jolly Rogers never Blue Peters”(that won us a holiday) Well, Dad was rather good at these. In fact, he was VERY good at them! Some of his ‘Big Wins’, as he’d call them, were a picnic bench, a microwave, a Gameboy, a Playstation, a years supply of bacon- twice! And then a holiday for 2 to Egypt, a family holiday to California and Disneyland, another family holiday (courtesy of Heinz Beans!) to Florida and Disney World, and finally tickets to the Quarter Finals of Euro 2000 in Amsterdam with myself as a player escort to Louis Figo. It was on this trip that he was approached by another competition winner, and also a fellow keen comper, who asked him if he was THE Dave Joy?! And thus became Dads favourite nickname, THE Dave Joy.
The summer of ’99 then presented Dad with his next great adventure, taking the position of Director of Tourism and Leisure for Fylde Borough Council, thus uprooting the family from our home in Garston and moving up the coast to Lytham St. Annes, to which we three replied “..where?!”. We moved into our brand new house on Cypress Point and quickly began making this new house a home.
Dad loved being a father and spent as much time as he could around his family. Himself, mum and Heather spent countless days-out rambling across England and Wales, as well as holiday-ing across the globe - from around the British Isles, to the Mediterranean, to China, Korea and Japan. Together they saw the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, spent a night in a haunted castle and climbed to the very top of Ben Nevis!
Dad was interested in everything that his children did and endlessly encouraged our hobbies. No matter the distance, he would drive Anthony to and from band practice, and on occasion sit in and listen to the work in progress - immensely proud of his son’s innate ability to make a LOT of noise. One of his proudest moments was standing in the front row and watching Anthony’s band support Status Quo at Lytham Festival in 2011, in which it was Dad’s turn to make a LOT of noise.
Dad was always someone we could go to for advice being an avid problem-solver with a cool head of logic and reason. He offered unwavering support in our education, even undertaking an A-level in psychology to better understand the subject so he could help Victoria with her degree. In fact, he was so keen to help he proof read pretty much everything she ever wrote, which should’ve earned him an honorary doctorate. Victoria would send him her work and ask, "Dad, can you roll this in glitter please?" referring to the phrase: you can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter.
After 10 years with Fylde Borough Council and becoming the Deputy Chief Executive, he retired. But in typical Dave Joy fashion, he couldn’t sit still for long. The three of us were in further education and starting to leave the nest, giving him plenty of time on his hands. Firstly, he found a part time job (doing full time hours!) as a Postman, which kept him active and outdoors whilst also able to listen to Marillion all day! His favourite postal route was Cypress Point (which included his own house!) and during the summer months you would often find Mum accompanying him on the route. He also kept busy as a consultant for St Annes Town Council and as the Governance and Policy Manager for the Lancashire Wildlife Trust.
He then embarked on his next great adventure: writing. When Dad tasked himself with writing his own fathers eulogy, he found that there was so much to discover in his own family history. So much that there was enough to write a book, so much in fact that there was enough for three! (with a fourth coming soon, you heard it here first!) Dad took great pleasure and immense pride in his writing and gave talks presenting his work and family history for community groups and local clubs across the north west. In fact he gave 246 of these “gigs” over the years (a handful were given over Zoom) with which his loving wife always accompanied him. So please, do mum a favour, don’t ask her about cows.
It gave Dad everlasting comfort when the three of us each found our partners knowing that we were happy and settled. Dad took the time to build relationships with each of them, whether that was sharing Formula 1 with Ryan, watching Foo Fighters documentaries with Conrad, or giving fatherly advice to Kathryn. We had a perfect example set for us by Mum and Dad and one of the greatest lessons he taught us about marriage was ‘work on being friends first, everything else will fall into place’. It's safe to say each of us has found a best friend in our partners.
Dad was so proud when he was finally able to take on his most recent adventure; GRANDparenthood. I remember the moment Dad first laid eyes on his granddaughter Margot, he was so overcome with pride and Joy that he completely fell apart. We have loved watching their relationship and bond grow over the years, playing doctors on the bed with Sonic and Tails, getting soaked in the garden during the summer months, and taking her to meet Mickey Mouse for the very first time on our magical Norwegian Fjord cruise earlier this year. We feel so lucky that they were able to share these early years together, and Margot will never forget her Papa.
Throughout the spectacular life that he lead, Dad had one constant; Mum. She was his EVERYTHING: Confidant, partner in crime, financial advisor, decorator, chef, homemaker, travel companion, employee (for tax purposes), allotment co-owner, research assistant, roadie, caregiver, mother to his children, soul mate and best friend. When asked about how he managed to marry a woman like Mum, his response was always “I just got lucky!”- lucky to have found such a caring, warm hearted, beautiful, capable and devoted wife. From childhood sweethearts, to growing up and old with each other, their story is one that has been filled with love. Thank you Mum, from us, and especially from Dad.
Joy by name, joy by nature. He gave us everything, as well as our name. He completely encapsulated it in his life and the life he gave to us, and we will all endeavour to carry on this joyous legacy for you, our dad, our Dave, THE Dave Joy.