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Since he stepped down from the business he co-founded almost 30 years ago, Highland Office Equipment (HOE), life has been good, he insists.

Easing himself out of work with a three day week, it was a marked contrast to the seven day weeks he would work to set up the business.

The son of a policeman, Roy's involvement in the office equipment business in the Highlands began in the late 1960s as an engineer with Olivetti, then based in Upper Bridge Street, but after he and wife Ena were married in 1970, Roy was persuaded to move to Glasgow.

"That was the time of decimalisation," he explained.

"Companies would have a room with 60 of these mechanical accounting machines, every one of which had to be converted and put back without being missed because business had to go on. We were working day and night."

However, the couple decided that the Central Belt was not for them and Roy asked if he could be transferred back to Inverness.

Though Olivetti agreed to this, there was another move Roy wanted that the company would not agree to.

"I'd a great hankering to get into the sales department because they were the ones who made money, but with the money Olivetti had spent training me, they weren't up for that," Roy said.

Then one day, while fixing machines at RAF Kinloss, he met up with former boss, Bill Main.

Bill had moved back north from Manchester and was looking to set up a new business of his own.

From that meeting the two founded Highland Office Equipment in 1974, first as agents for Olivetti before adding a wide range other products to their portfolio over the years.

What helped the company to survive and thrive was the expansion in employment opportunities in the region in the early 1970s with the new fabrication yards at Ardersier and Nigg and the expansion of Dounreay nuclear power station.

Public agencies also required office equipment and supplies, though the new company never had the mass volume sales of some of its southern counterparts who might sell hundreds of machines at a time. However, Roy acknowledges this may have worked to HOE's advantage by making the Highlands less attractive to outside rivals.

The company continued to expand and in the early 1990s took over an Aberdeen dealership, but sold this a few years later at a profit to an American company which was looking for an Aberdeen base.

As the company grew, so technology and HOE's role changed.

"The photocopier is not just a photocopier any more," Roy said.

"The engineer has got to understand it is sitting on somebody's network and is connected to everything else in the office.

"When we founded the business in 1974, Highland Office Equipment said it all - we were a company in the Highlands that sold office equipment. Now we'd need to have the word 'solutions' in there. Often these are space saving solutions. Because rents are so high, companies want to minimise the amount of space they need."

Roy's role also changed. As his own boss, there was nobody to stop him from making the move into sales, where he found his engineering background a big advantage.

"Most companies are only too glad to open the door to the engineer - but not necessarily the salesman," Roy said.

In the early 1990s, the company left Highland House and moved into purpose built premises at Technology House on Harbour Road, but its family ethos continues.

The difference now is that a new generation has taken the reins, first with Bill Main's son Willie taking over from his father, then three years ago his son Alex and Roy's son Steven became directors.

The arrival of the new generation allowed Roy to lend his business expertise to the Highland Capital's new football club, Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

When Thistle and Inverness Caledonian merged, Roy was invited onto the board as one of the representatives from Inverness and Nairn Enterprise. He remained a member for the next eight years as the club made steady progress from the Third Division to the SPL and built a new ground at the Longman.

"Like all major projects, it didn't run to budget, which meant the club had built up some debt," Roy said.

"That's when David Sutherland from Tulloch Construction came on board and there was some re-structuring. I came off for a year and was invited back by David to be commercial director after Ken Mackie became chairman.

"I was lucky that the team we had at HOE enabled me to give time to Caley Thistle. Particularly when the stadium was being built, it was pretty hands on. In my early days at the club, I'd also pay the wages. I'd get the money and fill the wage packets on my kitchen table. That was still the Highland League mentality.

"Unfortunately we've taken a bit of a backward step, but we'll get back. A place like Inverness needs an SPL team."

Roy enjoyed his time at the club, and also found it beneficial for his own business through the contacts he made while a board member.

"I believe in being involved in things," Roy said.

"Basically, people buy from people and if they don't know you, where are they going to go?

"Though Inverness is a city now, it still has a village mentality. You see people on the street or in the pub or in local organisations. Everybody seems to know each other."

Roy was a member of the 30-strong Inverness Junior Chamber team which organised an international conference for 2000 in Aviemore in 1990.

He has since become a founder member of the Rotary Club of Loch Ness and was elected president three years ago, while HOE has also established itself as an important supporter of local charities and other groups.

"There are a lot of organisations that need help, so rather than give a lot to a little, we decided we would give a little to a lot," he explained.

"A lot of these organisations can maybe affect your staff in some way, so it's nice to be able to support them."

Roy's own fundraising efforts have taken him much further afield. In 1990, he and fellow businessman Henry Dow undertook a Himalayan trek that raised £15,000 for Maggie's Cancer Centres. Though there are no plans for any similar adventures, retirement has given him the opportunity to tramp over more of Scotland, but if the Scottish weather is not co-operative, he has the option of retreating to his bolthole in France.

"It's just nice to be able to live in a different culture," Roy said.

"We are in a fairly rural area and everybody is just so friendly and laid back. It's the only place I know where you have a two hour lunch break."

Now he has stepped away from the business world, Roy is free to have as many two hour lunch breaks as he likes - when not engaged in Rotary Club business, entertaining his seven grandchildren, or just trying to keep himself fit with golf, walking or visits to the gym.

"You've to do something to combat the love of French wine," he laughed.

c.macleod@inverness-courier.co.uk