A 73-year-old school support worker has spoken of how she overcame pneumonia to become Fife College’s oldest graduate.
Joyce Laird, who works at Dysart Primary School, emerged with a Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) in social services for children and young people.
She was the oldest student to have graduated in her year from the college and was encouraged to take on her studies after being told that there was “no age limit on education”.
‘Most people retire when they are 65 but I had no intention’
Glasgow-born Joyce moved to Kirkcaldy in 1981, while in her early 30s, after living in West Lothian and Edinburgh.
In Fife, her husband Robert set up a kitchen manufacturing business Edenbrook, and Joyce began working at Dysart in 1992.
Joyce loves her job so much that she continues to work beyond retirement age.
“I love the children and staff, and work with a great team,” she says. “I am very lucky and very blessed doing something I like and for so long.
“Most people retire when they are 65 but I had no intention of doing this unless it was due to ill health.”
‘I thought I was too old for college’
A problem arose in 2019. To continue in her job, Joyce, then 70, was required to attend college for a social services course, which meant learning in the same classroom as teenagers.
“I may have had to be transferred to another role but it was my job and I was keeping it,” she says.
“When I started I thought I was too old for college, but my teachers kept telling me that there’s no age limit to education.”
Her course was rudely interrupted by pneumonia, for which she was admitted to hospital in December 2019.
Joyce was released from hospital before being readmitted in January and again in March.
‘I had absolutely no energy’
When she finally began to feel better, the Covid lockdown commenced, meaning she went straight from hospital to shielding.
“The course had to be finished by June 2020 and I was behind,” Joyce says. “They offered me an extension but I refused.”
The lockdown actually gave her the opportunity to focus on the nine assessments that had to be completed in three months.
“I had absolutely no energy,” she says. “The only energy I had was to finish the course.
“I had a great assessor, Carol Neale, who was fabulous and so encouraging. She told me that education has no age limit so I should keep going.
“The assessments were reflective essays so there were no specific word limits, which helped.
“My husband Robert was also amazing. He was so supportive.”
‘People might have thought ‘who’s that old woman?”
Though she passed the course in the summer of 2020, the graduation, at St Brycedale Church, Kirkcaldy, only took place on March 23 this year.
She almost didn’t attend.
“In the course were just wee girls, mainly aged 18 – even the ones in their 40s seemed young – and people might have thought ‘who’s that old woman?’.
“But my husband encouraged me and I really really enjoyed the occasion.”
Joyce and Robert tied the knot 52 years ago at the registrars’ office in Haymarket, Edinburgh.
“He has retired and does everything in the house – maintenance, cooking and cleaning,” Joyce says.
“That is probably why I am not retired – because I don’t want to do housework!”
‘I am proud of being the oldest graduate in town’
Joyce – mother of Paul, 48, Mark, 43, and Simon, 37 – aims to carry on working for as long as she can.
“I am proud of being the oldest graduate in town,” she says. “Age doesn’t matter to me – you’re as old as you feel and I am not someone who would sit down and do nothing.
“If I did retire I would volunteer to help children.
“I hope I am an inspiration for folk who think ‘she’s done it so I am going to give it a bash’.”
‘Joyce’s story is an inspiration’
Fife College Principal Dr Hugh Hall said: “Joyce’s story is an inspiration.
“Despite periods of ill health and the pandemic, she successfully completed her course with the support of family and the college team.
“It really does show that college is for all age groups, and that learning can be fun and stimulating at any age.
“It’s never too late to consider starting a college course.”
