News
Roy's Lifetime Achievement AwardOur joint Chairman, Mr Roy Delves is presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the national Convenience Retail Awards which were held at the Marriott Grosvenor Square Hotel, London on 19th March 2009. Photograph shows (from left to right) Beth Phillips from 'The Grocer' magazine, Ruby Delves, Roy Delves and Gyles Brandreth who presented the award. Roy was recognised for the effort and commitment to his local community and the independent retail trade over the past 50 years. Roy, son-in-law of Harry Tuffin, joined the company in 1960 along with his wife Ruby and, under Roy and Ruby, the business has expanded to a portfolio of seven forecourt stores ranging from 1,000 sq.ft to 60,000 sq.ft. Harry Tuffin also acquired the Montgomeryshire Natural Spring Water Company which the company purchased in 1993 under the leadership of Roy and Ruby.
 At 71 years of age, Roy still works regularly seven-days-a-week, very often from 6 or 7am and daily is seen helping out on the shop floor or working in the Country Park (see picture above). Our M.D., Paul Delves comments, “We were thrilled to learn that dad was a winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. He has worked so hard over the years to build Harry Tuffins to what it is today and the family and I are extremely proud of him.” A little bit more about Roy:
Roy was born into a farming family and worked hard from an early age. His career in retailing began at the tender age of 12, when by himself, at weekends and in the school holidays, he drove a pony and trap for his family’s milk round. The milk was bottled and delivered on a nine mile round trip around the local area and the cart also carried a range of biscuits and dry goods for customers. At the age of 15, Roy left school and went to work on neighbouring farms because his father, a farmer, didn’t pay him well enough to work for him! In 1956, he joined the army as a Welsh Guardsman (see picture below) - where he regularly guarded Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. He left the army in 1959 and although his father offered to set him up farming at the time, Roy having just met Ruby Tuffin (now his wife), decided to take the retail route and began visiting local garages selling motor spares.
In the early 1960s, Roy began building a shop (see below) in the evening whilst working in the garage workshop business that Harry Tuffin (his father-in-law) and Ruby were running at the time in Churchstoke.
In 1972, Roy and Ruby bought two acres of land at another location and built a 3,000 sq ft store integrated with a fuel station. Roy worked day and night seven-days-a-week for years to make the shop work and in 1974, started the Sunday market referred to above. Customers travelled from all over mid Wales and the Midlands to visit - at one time there were over 150 market traders every week. Roy hardly misses a Sunday. In 1981, Roy was instrumental in setting up a Harry Tuffin business in Knighton, Powys and within three years had established a 28,000 sq ft supermarket in the town. In 1987, because of lack of car parking space, he built the first (and only) multi storey car park in mid-Wales which was attached to the supermarket and helped the acute shortage of car parking space available at that store. Since then Tuffins has opened five more stores, with our latest store at Machynlleth opened on the very day he received his award. In 2001, Roy was awarded the MBE. |
