36 | Sector Focus: Joinery
FROM PRE-FAB TO PALACE
Roy Wakeman has led quite the life in the joinery sector, now you can read about it in his no-holds barred autobiography. Mike Jeffree had a read
It was prime Roy Wakeman. Receiving his OBE from the Queen in 2013 for services to the joinery industry, which included a record three stints as president of the British Woodworking Federation (BWF), Her Majesty struck up conversation. She asked what he did in joinery. He responded “we make doors and windows’” Having noticed Buckingham Palace’s “less than regal” sashes, he then added “and by the way Ma’am, you ought to have your windows done”. It’s a typical episode from Roy’s rumbustious and frank memoirs, ‘One Hull of a journey’. They portray a through-and- through businessman with an eye for an opportunity, but also one with a keen sense of humour, not averse to telling jokes against himself. At the same time there’s unabashed pride in his achievements, having risen from a post-war Hull prefab to run and grow multi-
million pound businesses – and appear in the New Year’s honours list.
The journey is related at breathless pace with admirable economy. It rattles through a career boldly lived in just 130 pages. It’s also a no holds barred account. It details personal and business relationships and the occasional scrap and misdemeanour in Roy’s youth. With life-long friend Alan and two lookouts, he once attempted to steal beer from a pub for a party. But the landlord spotted the thieves and the police nabbed and prosecuted the lookouts. However, there were upsides to the tale.
“The others didn’t grass us up and we were able to regale the girls at the party with our story.”
Roy is also brutally honest about tough decisions he had to make to turn around various businesses he worked at.
One of five siblings, he was born in 1946 in grim times for Hull. Rationing continued into the 1950s and the city had been devastatingly bombed in the war.
“I used to say that there were two reasons to go to Hull then – to see what the end of a railway line looks like or throw yourself into the King George Dock,” he writes. From a young age Roy showed signs of the determination that brought him business success. Told by his school it wasn’t worth his taking the 11-plus, he went to another to take it one Saturday morning and passed. Ultimately he left Shakespeare Hall Grammar with just one O-level, being failed in two others for completing them in pencil through lack of a pen.
There was, however, plenty of work to be had and Roy became a management trainee at Union Cold Storage, an importer of fruit, fish and whale meat. Always on the lookout for new opportunity, he continued to scan the job ads. Besides fish, Hull’s other major import was wood. His friend Alan already worked in the trade for Montague L Meyer and when it advertised for an assistant transport manager he applied, stretched the truth about his typing ability, and got the job. His career in timber had begun
There were plenty of distractions, including football and betting on the dogs, but Roy also strove to better his prospects, taking the Commercial and Technical Certification of the Institute of Wood Science. He mastered the job, but found the stress on volume sales and the rebate system, which led to discounting below costs at the end of each financial period, a “very narrow way of looking at the business”. He determined to “learn more about marketing to add value” and run a company better.
Above: The Wakeman brothers: John, Bruce, Roger and Roy TTJ | May/June 2023 |
www.ttjonline.com
“I always tried to improve and think ahead. Looking at those who were senior to me, I thought : ‘How can I do the job that guy’s doing and ensure it’s done properly?’.” He next moved to Gliksten Doors as an estimator, but it wasn’t long before he was once again itching for more and when the East Midlands regional sales position came up, he went for it. A little more truth stretching – saying he could drive –
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