A POULTRY farmer who established an egg business outside Wem has stepped down from a high-ranking role after four decades in the role.

Aled Griffiths OBE has retired from the British Egg Marketing Board (BEMB) Research and Education Trust, which he joined around 1981, after he established Oaklands Farm Eggs Ltd, which is based in Edstaston.

On the Trust, he worked with some of the finest minds to train the future of egg production, a career that he is rightly proud of.

He said: "It has been very gratifying for me to look back over my 39 years working for the BEMB Trust and to see that of the 26 Nuffield Poultry Scholars that I was able to help to obtain their scholarships, 20 of them are still very actively working or associated with the poultry industry today.”

“I am delighted to be leaving the BEMB Trust in such good hands, with a great team representing egg producers, together with three eminent scientists, all under the guidance of such an excellent chairman, Dr Martin Shirley CBE, and a very experienced organised and dedicated secretary, Alison Bone.

"Furthermore, with Investec taking good care of the investments, the BEMB Trust is in very good hands, and long may it continue.”

Mr Griffiths was born in North Wales, studied at Aberystwyth University College, before he and his late wife, Olwen, began farming on the Welsh border in Shropshire in 1955. The family later founded Oaklands Farm Eggs Ltd, with sites across Shropshire, North Wales in the UK.

During his illustrious career, Aled has represented the UK poultry industry at the highest levels in the UK and Europe and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including an OBE for his services to the poultry industry in 1994.

He received the International Egg Commission’s most prestigious award, the Denis Wellstead Memorial Trophy for ‘The International Egg Person of the Year’ in 2018, together with the British Egg Industry’s highest award, the ‘Peter Kemp Award for Outstanding Contribution to the British Egg Industry’.

Having completed a Nuffield Farming Scholarship himself in 1974, Aled was actively involved with selection of the BEMB Trust’s Nuffield Poultry Scholars.

It has, he says, been incredibly rewarding to see the BEMB’s financial assistance enabling so many PhD candidates and research facilities to continue sector-leading research across the UK.

Paying tribute, Dr Shirley said that Aled had served with distinction for 39 years, and his colleagues would greatly miss his “wisdom, impeccable technical knowledge and commitment to the betterment of scientific research that underpins egg production.”

He added: “On behalf of not just the BEMB Trust but also the many individual researchers and institutions who have benefited from your considerable expertise, I offer a big “thank you” and wish you all the very best in the future.”