Royvon's Heritage - The First 25 Years  

 

Royvon Family Heritage

     The passion for dogs started with founder of Royvon, Roy James who owned & bred them since he was 10 years old.   Roy and his father Will John started to breed GSD in 1947 which continued throughout his childhood and his love and compassion for dogs grew from strength to strength, and he realised at an early age that helping dogs was where his ultimate career lied.  After Roy completed his national service in the Welsh Guards he met Yvonne co-founder of Royvon in 1958, Yvonne also had an immense enthusiasm for dogs and they both continued with the breeding and they toured throughout the whole of the UK visiting Dog Rallies &  Dog Shows, also attended by both sets of parents (Dilys & Vic, Yvonne’s parents, and Maggie & Will, John Roy’s parents) who were deeply involved.

Royvon Was Born!!!

     Royvon was created and founded by Roy, Yvonne, Dilys and Vic.  They located a site in Pen-y-yard, which overlooked the Merthyr Tydfil Valley – their hometown.  The site that they purchased was just half an acre and quite remote, but had plenty of scope for expansion – their passion, expectations and dreams were destined for bigger things. 

     If only they could see the site now how much it’s grown and changed with large upmarket housing developments just a stones throw away.

     In the early years, the four of them would run the business outside of their day jobs which was an 8 hour shift in a factory, the shift pattern allowed at least one of them to be on site at all times.   Dilys would be out collecting dogs for grooming in the van and Roy, Yvonne & Vic would be seeing to the dogs on site.  The grooming dogs needed hair cutting and bathing, the boarding dogs needed walking and then Dilys would then deliver grooming dogs back home looking all spruced up.  The four would meet in Al’s café at 10 pm to have a bite to eat before getting themselves to bed. Obviously this could not be sustained, they gradually left their day jobs and started working full time within the company.  Gradually more land was bought being bought and over time more kennels erected, the business was growing.

     During these years the main services provided were dog boarding and dog grooming.  The company values that have been ingrained when Royvon was founded and the name Royvon was spreading.  Although Roy had been training his own dogs since the age of 10 he wanted to further his skills, knowledge and experience.  He attended a series of courses and soon after Dog Training was an integral part of Royvon’s services.

     At the time security training was more popular than just obedience training.  Royvon became one of the main suppliers for security dogs throughout the country, Roy was so successful that his close friend then head of South Wales Police dog section (later to run the Hong Kong Police Dog section) would send his Police dog handlers to Royvon for Roy’s expert training.

     Roy and Yvonne’s hobby was competing nationwide with their Royvon German Shepherds. They’re accomplishments were growing at an extremely fast pace.  Their 1st champion was in 1964 with many others to follow.   Their greatest accolade was Royvon’s Red Rum who had the record for the most challenge certificates, 3 are required for a championship status, and he had 59, he was world renowned.

They were also in worldwide demand for their champion bloodline GSD’s.   Their progeny became International champions in Japan, Australia and South Africa. 

     Their success in showing resulted in offers from around the world for them to visit and judge at the top shows for that country. Roy & Yvonne accepted appointments in Australia, Trinidad, Japan, South Africa and USA.  They also had prestigious appointments as secretary, chairman and later honorary life members of  the German Shepherd Dog Club of Wales.

     After the 1st 10 years in business Royvon had become very successful in its dog care services, the grooming team were trimming, cutting and bathing between 30-40 dogs per day (mainly small breeds like poodles and west highland terriers).  Royvon’s boarding facilities required bookings months in advance and our dog training services were renowned.  Roy had also started ‘Royvon’ Security Services , providing dog and handler security services for the South and West Wales.  The security company employed up to 30 personnel at any one time, all of whom had Royvon trained dogs and were themselves trained by Royvon.  All Royvon’s services had the same core values, which centred on providing very high standards of care for dogs and their owners.  This is where our purpose stemmed from:

“To enhance the quality of life for dogs and their owners”

 

     Due to the businesses size and strength Yvonne was able to take a back seat and concentrate on starting the family that she & Roy dreamed of. Darren was born in 1971 and Sarah in 1975.  Darren’s and Sarah’s earliest memory’s were all based around the world of dogs and were delighted to share the same love for dogs as their parents and grandparents.  Roy and Yvonne’s work life, social life (dog shows) and family life all centred on their passion for dogs.  Most weekends were spent travelling the length and breadth of the country presenting their German Shepherds for competition.

     During his younger years Darren would spend each day after school, weekends (providing not at dog shows) and all school holidays helping the teams or shadowing his father.  We were able to obtain a quote from the kennels manager Mrs Beverly Harry manager 1974– 1979:

“you would always know where to find Darren, he would come home from school and then scour the facilities for all the new dogs that had come in that day.  He wanted to befriend them all and that he did, although it was obvious where his natural abilities came from being Roy & Yvonne’s son, he always amazed the customers with his wondrous ways with dogs.”

 

     He constantly dreamed of continuing the successes that his parents had achieved.  Sarah dreamed of following her Mother’s path into the grooming side of the business.  However, her business career started at the age of 5 opening a sweet shop at the top of the drive with her life long friend Suzanne, selling sweets and drinks to the all the customers.

     The business continued to grow from strength to strength until a tragedy occurred that changed the families’ lives forever on 23rd May 1981.  After competing at the Royal Highland Showground in Edinburgh, the group was travelling back home to Wales when there was a serious car accident with devastating consequences.  All passengers had serious injuries but the biggest heartache/sadness was that Roy lost his life. Yvonne had serious injuries to her face and Darren (only 9 years old) broke both of his legs in 2 places, resulting in him becoming a resident at the Carlisle Hospital, unable to return home and in traction for over 7 weeks.  It was a devastating and heartbreaking time for the whole family.  The only positive memory Darren has of that time was the constant stream of “doggy people” that visited him daily.  They were either fellow show enthusiasts or dog loving people who respected Roy so much as a “responsible dog breeder / exhibitor / trainer and business man”, most had never met him but they respected him, and understood the strain on the family being so far away from home during that dreadful period. Darren says, “it made me so proud to hear how people held him such high regard, it made me determined to be like him and I wanted to make him proud of my future achievements”.

 

     Unfortunately the end of this 1st  25 years of Royvon was very grim.  The Royvon spirit had been crushed, a key member lost and hearts broken.