My mother, Joy Davies, who has died aged 89, was a chemist, social worker and passionate advocate for people with severe learning difficulties.
Born in Ormesby, North Yorkshire, to Olive (nee Postgate), a midwife, and Thomas Hansell, a butcher, Joy went to the Cleveland school (now Teesside High) in Eaglescliffe. She left aged 16 and decided against working on the family farm near Swainby in North Yorkshire, choosing instead to join the Ministry of Agriculture, based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Her work testing milk at farms took her all over a region that remained close to her heart all her life.
