A 100-year-old Falmouth woman has returned to the council offices where she once worked as a teenager – and first spotted the man who would become her husband.
Joan Coote, who was born at 8 Kimberley Park Road in 1925, was invited by Mayor Alan Jewell to the Mayor’s Parlour in the Municipal Buildings on Tuesday, April 21, at 3pm.
There she enjoyed afternoon tea and cake with the mayor and local councillor David Saunby where she reminisced about her time there.
Mrs Coote, a former secretary to town clerk E J K Gibbons during the mayoralty of William Alfred Lamb (1946–1949), has returned to the council offices for the first time since working there during the Second World War.
Describing the visit, she said it made her feel “very proud” and that it was “very nice to be back”.
She began working in the town clerk’s office at around the age of 17 and remained there until she married at 22.
“I loved it working here,” she said. “Loved the people that were here as well.”
While working in the office, which overlooked the Moor, she recalled first seeing her future husband, Roy Coote, walking across with a friend.
“And I thought, ‘Oh, he looks nice’,” she said with a cheeky grin.
The couple married in 1947 at Penwerris Church and went on to have four children – Marie, Ronald, Christine and Valerie – as well as ten grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
Roy and Joan shared the same wedding day as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip and were invited to the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace along with other couples sharing the same wedding day.
Roy Coote was also the South-western Boxing Champion during his younger days. He is buried in the old Falmouth Cemetery overlooking Swanpool.
Mrs Coote also shared memories of working in Falmouth during wartime, when staff would take cover as soon as air raid sirens sounded. She recalled that while relatively few bombs fell directly on the town, many landed in the sea.
One vivid memory was of watching what people initially thought was an airman descending by parachute, which later turned out to be a parachute mine that came down in the harbour between Prince of Wales Pier and Custom House Quay without exploding.
She also remembered Falmouth Board School taking a direct hit during bombing.
The school’s bell, now on display in the Municipal Buildings, was brought down from the clock tower by her husband Roy Coote and her brother Ivor Martin using a block and tackle before the building was demolished in the 1970s. A contractor had refused to carry out the work, saying it was too dangerous.
Mrs Coote said seeing the bell again was a poignant reminder of her wartime years and her husband’s role in preserving it.
She had never previously been inside the Mayor’s Parlour and noted that much of the building, particularly the council chamber, has changed since her time working there.
Reflecting on her visit, she said it was “very nice to be back” even though “everything’s different”.
Mrs Coote remains active, with a full weekly diary of social activities including bingo and quizzes.
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