Creating a legacy that will last: The Brenton Joy story

HARDWARE store owner, Karting Club co-founder and family man Brenton Joy has created a legacy that will last in his half a century of living in Alice Springs.

Brenton Joy, front left, at the Alice Springs Karting Club with fellow co-founder Tony Connor. Picture: Josh Abbott

Brenton ‘BJ’ Joy is Alice Springs through and through.

In a town full of tradies, the man who owns the hardware store is king.

BJ has lived in town for 50 years.

A chippie himself, he helped build the Alice Springs Hospital and the Tennant Creek Hospital.

He is also a true family man, who won the heart of his American dream girl – Penny.

They have two brilliant daughters and sons-in-law, and beautiful grandchildren.

BJ was born on November 17, 1958 in Adelaide.

His mum Shirley and dad Kevin raised four boys, with Brian, David and Kevin alongside BJ.

“My brothers and I would have push bike races in Adelaide, we’d race billy carts around the streets,” he said.

“We’d go in to the Torrens River in the city and look for yabbies.

“One day, I’d have been 10 or 11 years old, I was out there looking for yabbies, and my brothers said, ‘We’ll just go get some more’, and they ended up leaving me there!

“I then got on the wrong bus home, and then the bucket of yabbies tipped over on the bus!

“I was missing from home, and they sent out a search party for me! Dad wasn’t too happy with my brothers.”

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“We moved to Alice Springs in 1970 as mum had only a quarter of her lungs working, and was advised by the doctors to move to a drier climate.

“They estimated she had two years to live if she stayed in Adelaide, so we moved up, and she lasted till 2003.

“Mum was loved by so many people. A lot of people called her mum!

“We never saw a lot of dad growing up, he was out at the pub. So mum was the main person in my life.”

When BJ got his first job as a kid filling shopping bags at Woolworths, he’d use the money to buy things for his mum.

A great mum, and a great son.

“Dad was a good worker. He always showed up for work. No matter what, he always showed up. He never had any sick days. I’ve always tried to do that as well,” he said.

“He was a good bloke. When I started cycling, he restarted the cycling club here in Alice. All the ‘King of the Hills’ races – he started all that.

“He got the land for where the velodrome is now. They had wanted to put it out where the sewerage ponds are.

“Dad took me out there, and I said to him, ‘Imagine riding around here with all the bugs and mozzies!’

“So Dad went and got the land where it is now.”

BJ was a gun young rider, competing in Alice and Darwin, and came third in the Territory at schoolboy level.

“Scotty Harris was a really tough competitor, (and) another bloke we were up against went on to compete at the Commonwealth Games,” he said.

BJ was also a keen baseballer, and represented Alice Springs in Adelaide.

BJ was a young lad who wanted to learn at school, but the learning environment wasn’t too conducive.

“Back in those days, if you wanted to learn, you went away to do school in Adelaide,” he said.

“We couldn’t afford that, and there was only one high school, and there were a lot of kids in the class.

“The teachers couldn’t control the class. I remember one teacher, she couldn’t control the class, so she would just write on the blackboard and expect you to write it all down. She’d keep writing until the bell went, then she’d just walk out of the classroom. That was it.

“That wasn’t helping anyone. I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing here, if I can’t learn?’ So I left in Third Year (Year 10) and went and got an apprenticeship, so I could do something constructive.”

BJ competed his carpentry apprenticeship with Barclay Brothers, and worked on major projects like the Alice and Tennant Creek hospitals.

Brenton Joy, right, owns B & S Home Hardware in Alice Springs with his wife Penny. He is pictured with Casey O'Connor.

Meanwhile, BJ fell in love with the American girl living over the road.

“Penny lived across the road from me on Bloomfield Street,” he said.

“We wanted to get married, but her parents said we were too young. They said to wait 12 months. So Penny went back the States with her parents.

“I went to Tennant, and we wrote letters to each other.

Imagine that – Penny in North Hollywood in LA, California and BJ in Tennant Creek, sending love letters. Magnificent!

“We still felt the same way, so Penny’s parents let her come back to Australia,” he said.

“She came back with a return ticket! She didn’t need to use that.

“Her parents came out and we got married at the Catholic Church on August 20, 1977.

“We waited seven years before we had kids – we were young, and wanted to have a lot of fun ourselves before becoming parents.

“We have two girls, Suzanne and Terri. They are terrific.

“Kids are everything! Everything we try and do is to try and better them. We want to make sure they’re going to benefit.

“I want to be here for the kids and my grandkids- I’ve got 15 Go-Karts in my shed for them!”

BJ has two granddaughters, Stella and Shelby, and two grandsons, Chayse and Max.

He also has two sons-in-law that he loves dearly, Andrew Pinto and Ross Cole.

BJ got a major health wake-up call a few years ago with the very sad passing of his brother Brian.

“Brian had diabetes,” he said.

“I was putting on more and more weight. I didn’t want to go down that path, so I had gastric bypass surgery.”

BJ has influenced a number of people in town to follow suit, bite the bullet and have the procedure done.

“I wanted to make sure I was here for my kids and grandkids,” he said.

The last year or so has been incredibly challenging for BJ and his family.

BJ’s brother Kevin passed away from a heart attack, and his other brother David passed away on the morning of Kevin’s funeral.

Additionally, BJ had his own cancer scare.

But thankfully that is all okay now.

“Life throws many curve balls at you. So life this year has to get better,” he said.

“With the love of my family and friends, we will make the best of it.”

BJ said his key advice to getting through such horrific times is, “Keep going, and marry a good wife!”

“I thank my wife! I don’t know where I would’ve ended up without her!,” he said.

Another big passion for BJ is motorsport.

He and Tony Connor started the Alice Springs Karting Club 30 years ago.

Together, BJ and Tony created a place that has given so much fun, joy and life skills to kids and adults alike for three decades. It’s an incredible legacy.

BJ still races and says, “It’s still a lot of fun!”

“Competing against the younger drivers is quite hard, they are a bit fitter than me lately!,” he said.

BJ and Penny’s B & S Hardware store is a local institution.

The fact they’ve been able to survive and thrive in the face of multinational competition and tough economic times speaks to the immense quality of their business, and the high regard in which they are personally held.

BJ himself had previously spent 13 years managing Ramset and another 10 at Taps, Tubs and Tiles.

He and Penny took over B & S in 2004.

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BJ says him and Penny pride themselves on carrying the right stock as well as their customer service.

Their hardware store is loved and respected throughout the town.

They are a fair dinkum local business, and their levels of generosity are staggering.

For years we’ve seen how much cash and merchandise they give away to charities, community events and sporting clubs.

BJ and Penny run a marvellous true local business, and they have a gigantic heart for Alice Springs.