THE life story, poems and proverbs of a talented writer from South Gloucestershire have been successfully self-published by her daughter, nearly 16 years after her death.

In 2006 Nichola Dickinson, now 72, spoke to the Gazette about publishing her mother’s work, then nearly two decades after she began writing it – in 1990.

The trials and tribulations to achieve this goal have only now been achieved, a further 11 years on.

Joyce Megan Kidman’s work is now available in a book titled A Country Girl’s Diary – There is a Reason.

It contains an overwhelming range of short poems and proverbs, along with Joyce’s recollections of her life, all of which were originally written on a typewriter using one finger at a time.

Joyce’s life began in 1924 in Stoke Gifford and came to a close at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve in 2002 at Southmead Hospital.

All the profits from the book will go to Muscular Dystrophy UK in memory of Nichola’s son Neil, who passed away at aged 26.

“She wasn’t just my mum, but also my best friend, and I just felt like I had to all of this for her,” said Nichola, who moved to Bearlands in Wotton in 2002 from Almondsbury.

“There’s not enough love in this world, and that’s also why I felt like I had to do this.

“It’s taken around 16 years to finally put this together, I’ve become the mouthpiece for her story and it’s been far from easy, there have been a lot of tears – you’ll laugh and you’ll cry reading her stories for sure.

“I’ve edited the whole thing four times and I could probably recite it all now, I got myself an iPad to help with that, something I never would have done before.

“At times the process has got me down, but doing it for my mum and to raise money for MD has kept me going.

“I always knew I could do it but it has been difficult, but I just had to do this.

“My mother was such a fantastic writer, she would often wake up in the middle of the night to write a poem on a piece of paper on her bedside table, or grab the nearest thing to write on like an envelope or a tissue.

“She wouldn’t have given up on putting this together, so I kept going.

“I never heard her swear or lose her temper, she was so loving and caring, and that comes out in her memoirs and poems.

“Growing up and marrying my dad Arnold, she was very happy, often poor, but always happy.

“She gave a lot of her life to helping me with Neil too, making sure he left the house every day, as well as my dad, when Neil died she helped me with shopping and took care of me as if I was a child again, she was just so lovely, and my best friend.”

Joyce’s story is now available on Amazon and on Kindle but Nichola is also keen to distribute the book in shops throughout Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.

If you would like to stock A Country Girl’s Diary – There is a Reason call Nichola on 01453 521886.

Nichola has given the Gazette permission to publish the following foreword.

My mum was called Joyce Kidman, she was a lovely woman so kind, caring and full of love.

When my son Neil was born my mum and dad were wonderful, then we found out he was disabled so they came every day to help out.

Then one day she went to pick up my dad from work, a bus hit her (she was never the same again).

Always in a lot of pain, one day she read a newspaper cutting about a healer, called Harry Harrison.

They drove to Wales to see him when he gave her a healing and told her that the bang (accident) had awakened the poet she had been in a past life.

When she came home she wrote 200 poems, she stood up to write them all.

Because of the pain in her back, resting the pad on a large cake tin, then my dad bought her a typewriter as she typed all the poems with just one finger.

In 1990 I said ‘why don’t you write your life story?’, then as she wrote the book the poems went with every story.

She also wrote proverbs as well.

I am sure it was planned that way by God, she was a good healer, she had been given a wonderful gifts better than money.

She also had lots of astral travels which are in the book.

My mother was a quiet lady and she never knew how wonderful she was to me.

I always called her the mother of mothers.

It has been my quest to get this book out into the world which will help a lot of people.

I am her daughter, Nichola Dickinson.