TRIBUTES have been paid to a kind-hearted mother and grandmother who was a well-known face at a York bakers for more than 30 years.

Joyce Coyle, formerly of Nunthorpe Crescent in South Bank, was a supervisor at Woolgrove Master Bakers, famed for its high-quality bread and cakes in Fishergate and Heslington Road.

An extremely positive and determined woman, despite suffering from spells of ill health, Joyce was crowned the winner of the Evening Press Mother’s Day competition in 2004.

Her daughter, Susan, nominated her for being cheerfully resilient after suffering a hip dislocation six times and having to wear a body brace.

Susan said: “Customers loved mum as she was a figure of continuity in the shop for so very many years.

“She did, however, always joke that her popularity soared during the bread strikes of the 1970s, when bread was in very short supply and customers tried to vie for extra rations.

“She was the focal point for all the family. Her house was the meeting point.

“She will be remembered as a very determined lady, she was very positive and motivated and never considered a bad outcome.”

Joyce was born at Howden Dyke, near Goole, and moved to York at the age of five with her five brothers and sisters.

As a teenager, she met her future husband Arthur Coyle, a mainline train driver, who served in the navy in the Second World War.

A very happy couple, they had three children – Allan, Christine and Susan– and often holidayed together with the railway travelling club.

When Arthur died in 1987, Joyce devoted even more time to her family.

Joyce won a ‘Santagram’ from the Evening Press in 1998 to thank people who are good neighbours, carers, charity workers or volunteers, after the paper heard how she had walked eight miles to comfort her daughter following a burglary.

As a reward Joyce was literally swept off her feet by Gladiator’s star Khan and presented with a box of chocolates.

As well as her three children, Joyce leaves two grandchildren, Steven and Pauline.

Joyce died of cancer at the age of 84 at St Leonard’s Hospice on Sunday.

Her funeral will be held at York Crematorium at 2pm tomorrow.