Heartfelt tributes have been paid to a great-grandmother whose generosity helped launch a top Welsh food wholesale company after she passed away aged 102.<\/p>\n
Dorothy Edwards, affectionately known as \u201cGranny Dot\u201d, played a pivotal role in the creation of Harlech Foodservice after backing her family with a crucial loan more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n
In 1972, Dorothy and her husband Harry loaned \u00a36,000 \u2013 the equivalent of \u00a3100,000 today \u2013 enabling their daughter Gill and son-in-law Colin Foskett to buy a frozen food shop and wholesale business in Harlech.<\/p>\n
That bold move laid the foundation for the successful, family run business that now employs 300 staff and supplies pubs, restaurants, schools and hospitals across Wales, the North West, Shropshire and the Midlands.<\/p>\n
Harlech Foodservice has enjoyed rapid expansion in recent years and has added new hubs in Carmarthen, Caerphilly and Telford to its long-established centres in Cricieth and Chester.<\/p>\n
Paying tribute, her family described Dorothy, who died on March 28, as \u201cone of a kind\u201d who lived a \u201clong and beautiful life\u201d and leaves behind a lasting legacy through both her family and the business which was named UK Food Wholesaler of the Yer in 2025.<\/p>\n
With her grandchildren Jonathan, Andrew and Laura in director roles at the company and a third generation also working at the firm, her family said Mrs Edwards was a \u201ctruly amazing lady\u201d,<\/p>\n
Grandson Andrew, the company\u2019s joint chairman, said: \u201cThat loan in 1972 was life-changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is fair to say without my grandmother, Harlech Foodservice would simply not exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe circumstances were there, the opportunity came along and the rest is history.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiving that money was a gamble, but I remember grandad\u2019s comment to my dad Colin, he said \u2018if it doesn\u2019t work out, it\u2019s not for the want of trying\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they backed them knowing they would have the ability to make a go of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could see the business had lots of potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cDorothy and Harry must have raised the \u00a36,000 from money from their family business, Harry Edwards & Sons funeral directors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would visit the business quite often, it wouldn\u2019t be unusual for staff to see them at the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cDorothy would still follow Harlech on their Facebook page in her later years, she took an ongoing interest in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was over the moon about the success of the business and that the family still owns the business and we still run the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe family-run ethos still runs through the business and now we employ 300 people and have an annual turnover of about \u00a370 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cDorothy and Harry knew the Harlech area because they were one of the first customers in the 1960s of the Islawffordd caravan site at Dyffryn.<\/p>\n
\u201cMum and dad bought the food and retail wholesale business in Harlech from dad\u2019s brother Bob and his wife Beryl.<\/p>\n
\u201cBob and Beryl went on to found Magna Specialist Confectioners, who are based in Stafford Park in Telford.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Andrew, his grandmother was always full of fun and laughter.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cShe quite often would tell stories but laugh so much it was difficult for her to complete the story, especially when her daughters were around because they would be laughing so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stories were often never completed because of the hysterical outbursts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs Edwards was born in 1923 in Shrewsbury to William and Priscilla Fenn and the family moved to Wellington in 1931 because of William\u2019s work on the railways.<\/p>\n
She went to Constitution Hill School and left school at the age of 14 to work as an assistant at a high class ladies outfitters in Church Street, Wellington.<\/p>\n
She met Harry because she was best friends with his sister Phyllis and their first date was at a fairground.<\/p>\n
During the Second World War she made Spitfire parts at Joseph Sankey and Sons in Hadley.<\/p>\n
Harry served as an Army gunner during the war and was posted to Greece.<\/p>\n
Harry and Dorothy got married in 1945 in New Street Methodist Church in Wellington.<\/p>\n
Andrew said: \u201cPrior to that, Dorothy had not seen Harry for three years because of the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Harry was coming back from the war, he sent a telegram asking Dorothy to arrange the wedding for when he got back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had six children, Gillian, Jennifer, Janet, Robert, Elizabeth and Susan.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarry worked in the family business, Harry Edwards & Sons funeral directors and joiners, after the war and eventually he bought both his brothers Tom and Frank out of the business in 1979.<\/p>\n
\u201cDorothy worked in the business and she used to help Harry recover people that had passed away any time day or night.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarry retired in 1989 and that was when they sold the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey moved to Ringers Way in Admaston and they cared for Dorothy\u2019s mother Priscilla who lived with them before Priscilla passed away in 1993 at the age of 98.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1997 they bought a bungalow in Elmsdale Crescent in Admaston and Harry and Dorothy set about putting their stamp on the place, it needed a bit of work doing to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarry of course being a joiner set about making it their own home.<\/p>\n
\u201cDorothy was a very good dressmaker and was interested in craftmaking, she used to do dressmaking for other people, even into her later years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarry passed away in 2003 at the age of 82 and Dorothy lived in the house until she was 98.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer two daughters Elizabeth and Susan were also living in the village so they were always in and out to look after her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDorothy then moved in with Susan who cared for her until she passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dorothy was a grandmother to Jonathan, Andrew, Laura, Joshua and Molly Rose.<\/p>\n
She was a great-grandmother to Toby, Hari, Charlie, Ella, Mili, Maisie, Joel, Nancy, Eden and Dorothy.<\/p>\n
A celebration of Mrs Edwards\u2019s life takes place on Friday, May 1 at 2.30pm at Telford Crematorium, with all donations to be made to the Midlands Air Ambulance.<\/p>\n