Thorntons in The 50s
In 1956 Beryl Willis 'Jean' became manager of one of the Thorntons factories. She died at the age of 86 in 2011(born February 1926).
In July 1956 Egypt nationalised the Suez Canal. The Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, considered invading Suez, a concept that aroused international consternation and Peter was recalled into the army to await the expected invasion. He was finally released after nine months in the Reserve Army in December 1956 having seen nothing more than Aldershot.
In January 1957 Peter became manager of the Chocolate Department in Sheffield and Michael Thornton joined the business in the same year. By this time also Tony had started to take over responsibility for retail management from Norman and became fully responsible by 1960 as Retail Director. In 1962 Peter became Production Director and Michael assumed responsibility for Company Secretarial duties, Administration and Finance.
From then on great strides forward were taken by the new young family management team. Tony improved the shop designs, display and management generally whilst at the same time rapidly expanding the chain. Peter greatly improved productivity, mechanisation, quality management, production capacity and personnel management systems. Particularly the ‘Factory Council’ unanimous voting representative system was introduced, based on the Glacier Metal system. The Council agreed Terms of Employment and wage rate banding, the result of this and many other measures was outstanding industrial relations. Michael reviewed and refined the administration and financial control systems.
By 1967 the business had nearly 90 shops making a profit of almost £250,000 on a turnover of over £1.7 million. (That would translate in today’s finances to a profit of almost £3 million). The capacity of the Belper factory became a limitation on further expansion but it was very fortunate that Thorntons were able to purchase adjacent land and property to continue the expansion with new buildings.
John Thornton joined the business in 1967; he obtained an engineering degree at Cambridge and then worked for a year in Germany at a confectionery machinery manufacturing company for his practical experience in order to complete his studies.
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