Diary

Ex-Thorntons chairman to unveil plaque celebrating the family business

By Attracta Mooney

Switzerland might be the chocolate capital of the world, but the UK was the birthplace of many big-name sweet brands such as Cadbury and of course Thorntons.

The original founders of the chocolate makers, set up as a family business in the early 1900s, will be honoured this weekend in Sheffield.

Ex-Thorntons chairman and family member Peter Thornton, along with lord mayor of Sheffield Dr Sylvia Dunkley, will unveil a blue plaque at the original home of the Thornton family, who once resided at 64 Fitzwalter Road, Norfolk Park.

Following this, Peter, who is also the author of Thorntons – My Life in the Family Business and one of the founders of the UK Family Business Alliance, will give a free talk at the Norfolk Park Heritage Centre.

Peter said he only realised his family’s link with the property after his book was published, and with the help of a reader, his publishers and the Hallamshire Historical Buildings Society, he paid his ancestral home a visit.

“It was a very moving experience for me to move around in the home where once my grandfather, whom I never knew, lived with his family - particularly my father William Norman and Uncle Joseph Stanley who were both very instrumental in starting and building the family business,” he said.  

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