Meet Joyce Lowe

Sit down with Joyce Lowe, member of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC). Joyce was born in Jamaica to Chinese parents, and in 1954 she moved to the UK where she trained as a midwife and went on to become the Head of the North Bristol Antenatal Clinic. Joyce shares that she has a heart to help people, living by the Christian values of care and compassion. 

Transcript: 

When I got converted I had never heard the gospel before, and I was so taken with it and very enthusiastic, I wanted to tell everybody!

 I came to the UK in November and I’d never seen snow, or never experienced it to be cold, and everybody dashing around! When people talk it’s like smoke all over the place.

This was when I was a student nurse doing my State registration, and then  when I  qualified as a SRN [State Registered Nurse]  I thought there’s no point in going back to Jamaica, so I got a post as a district Midwife.

I practiced for seven years and then I wondered if there were any posts at the antenatal clinic. I started as a staff Midwife, and then the person who was in charge of the clinic went on to be a nursing officer and I took her post.

This is the antenatal clinic in the background, and the antenatal clinic was in the outpatient unit, and it was not adequate, and it was decided to have a new antenatal clinic. So, I was on the planning committee because I knew about the running of it, and how it should be designed. So we built it, and in 1988 we were transferred over there.

I was keen on helping people and looking after to them, so it was rewarding in that way. It’s like a vocation, because you give all your life to it. You’re a Christian, and the Christian attitude is to be compassionate and caring and doing things for people.