The story of how the Joy Toys range has evolved over the years is a interesting one. Below you will find the story to the best of our knowledge all the way back to 1948.......

In the beginning....

During the Second World War, Fred Hall was a widower living in Worcester with his young son Ted. Times were hard and working in his garden shed he made wooden pull-along toys that he sold to help pay the rent.

Shorlty after the Second World War he went into partnership with Mr Elford, who had been the tallyman who collected the rent. They started a business called Elf Crafts.

They Manufactured bobbins for the carpet industury in Kidderminster; wood mounting blocks for electric switches; courtesy lights for cars; and some toys.

Elf Toys

After a while business was good so they set up a proper workshop in a small factory unit in Stourport-on-Severn.

In the early 1950's their toy production expanded, making, amongst other things, red trains for Woolworths and farms for Littlewoods mail order operation. Then, as time went on, mediaeval toy forts and a wide range of wild west buildings were added to their catalogue.

The business was taking off and more help was needed in the workshop. Management became a question of maintaining a careful balance between employing a full-time workforce abd using various forms of local casual labour. As a result, much of the work, especially assembly and finishing was 'farmed out' to the rehabilitation workshops and the local psychiatric hospital.

All change...

In 1967 Mr Elford wanted to retire and Elf Toys was sold out to two businessmen. They had no experience of the toy industry, and they must have see Elf Toys as what market analysts call a 'cash cow'

The Elf Toys name was retained, and the Hall family were invited to continue managing the business - subject to the new owners' ideas of course.

After 18 months or so, Fred and Ted were told that their services were surplus to requirments. Philip, the designer, stayed on for about 6 months until Elf Toys went under.

Joy Toys and Woodcrafts

At this point Fred and Ted were joined by half-brother, John Cartwright, and together they set up Joy Toys and Woodcrafts, using the trade name Joy Toys, in a small workshop in Upton-on-Severn.

Fred was Works Director; Ted was Production manager; and John took over sales and finance.

They were soon operating very successfully, producing 5000 wild west forts per year with TV related marketing. They also supplied the Early Learning Centre, which was just beginning to become a force on the high street. Tiger Toys, their original suppliers, went bankrupt and Joy Toys stepped in.

About 1975 things were going so well they opened a new larger workshop in Malvern.

They were using similar management and production techniques as they had when they were operating Elf. In this they 'out sourced' much of the assembly and finishing to the rehabilitation workshops in the open prison at Sudbury. This had the added advantage that they made packing cases for the Ministry of Defence, and Joy Toys used their off-cuts for their forts.

Activity Toys

In 1985 Fred died, and much of his workload was taken on by Ted. Subsequently this left Ted doing two full time jobs - Works Director and Production Manager - and, in 1987, he had a heart attack.

So, not surprisingly, things had to change. The Halls sold out to TP Activity Toys - industry friends and neighbours from their Elf Toys days in Stourport-on-Sever.

In spite of the change things continued much as before as far as production was concerned. They carried on in the old Joy Toys workshops in Malvern, even though the new owners were located in Stourport-on-Severn. This was a quite successful arrangement, and in 1990 the operation was joined by Ted's son Rob. Between them they saw the design of their toy forts begin to change with the strong emphasis on the younger user.

Also during this period, the market was changing rapidly. The old client base of small retail shops in the UK was disappearing fast as the retail giants, like Toys-R-Us and the Early Learning Center, buying cheaply from the Far East, putting them out of business.

After 10 years however, in 1997, TP closed down the Joy Toys operation and ceased production.

Joy Toys of Malvern

At this time Anthoney Hampson asked Ted and Rob to continue production under the name of Joy Toys and Woodcrafts - which they did, still operating out of the workshop in Malvern.

But Hapson withdrew in 1999, at which time Ted, Rob and Geraldine Henning formed Joy Toys ( Malvern ).

Operations were slipped down into smaller premises - on the same site - and production became much more automated using modern machinery and methods, with virtually no employees. All assembly and finishing was now done in-house.

Bigjigs Toys

In 2009 Bigjigs Toys approached Ted and Geraldine after hearing that they were due to retire and the business was to be closed down.

The story continues....