Joyce Trotman, teacher and writer

Joyce Trotman was born in 1927 - and her almost 99 years since then have given her quite a story to tell. She grew up in what was British Guiana, where she was educated to be ‘more English than the English.’

She first came to the UK in 1955, when she was offered a Commonwealth teaching bursary at the University of Durham.

She returned home to work as a teacher and later worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Guyana, which became an independent country in 1966.

She moved back to England in 1972, taught in schools in London for fifteen years and wrote several books. Her long interest in language led to the book The Proverbs of Guyana Explained. She has also written a biography of the leading anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson and most recently a memoir reflecting on her long life.

Her musical choices include hymns learnt at school and opera she heard on the shores of Lake Como, Handel played by a steel band, as well as Schubert, Tchaikovsky and singer Leontyne Price.