Author: Jarm69

Fun Story

Alcoholic Candy Floss ***NEW***

23 September 2020

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new range of alcoholic candy floss. The fabulous fluffy treat you all love, but infused with actual drinks such as rum, vodka, brandy etc. We are launching a range of cocktail inspired flavours, along with spirit inspired drinks, and also specialty candy floss such as for gender reveal parties.

Oh, and if you are daring enough, our special rum infused halloween floss, garnished with real edible insects.

Available on our online store our new floss is definitely not for kids.

With the events industry being pretty much closed down, due to a global viral pandemic in case you didn’t know. We have been left with lots of spare time to try out all those brilliant ideas we had, but which we never seemed to find the time for. First we produced a range of new and quirky carts ready for when we are allowed events again. Then we have totally rebuilt all our crazy golf systems. And finally we got round to experimenting with various recipes to produce alcoholic candy floss.

Cool Cosmo Flavour

The initial fruits of our labour this cool cosmo inspired cocktail, infused with vodka, and flavoured with cranberry and lime. Pictured here in a vivid blue colour, but like all of our candy floss supplied one of a range of colours.

Custom Printed Edible Label

Our range of gourmet candy floss supplied with a custom printed labels in the top. Having your choice of lettering/graphics/colours and printed on rice paper using edible ink, so it can be eaten.

Perfect Pina Colada

With infused rum and cocktail flavour this is the classic Caribbean taste. Perfect for weddings, parties and events, supplied in either boxes of 24 tubs (1 litre in size) or a presentation pack of 4 for sending out as gifts or thank you presents.

Magic Margarita

Cool Margarita with tequila, and lime. A refreshing take on the classic cocktail.

Sex On The Beach

On of the wilder named cocktails, Infused vodka, peach, OJ and cranberry. This one is always popular, if only for the name.

Brandy For Hero’s

If you are less of a cocktail type and more a connoisseur of the spirit world then our range of spirit inspired flavours are just for you. As Samuel Boswell once remarked, the man who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. Infused with a fine brandy to add a subtle aftertaste to the lips.

Prosecco

Add a touch of class with prosecco flavoured (and infused) candy floss. This makes an ideal wedding favour, or treat for your guests.

Trick Or Treat, We DARE You To Tackle It

This is one hardcore candy floss. In a spiced pumpkin rum flavour, with a dusting of cinnamon, and garnished with actual edible insects such as crickets and mealworms, which you don’t actually see until after you open the tub. A great trick or treat prank for your friends.

Gender Reveal Candy Floss

One of our favourite lines. A mix of pink and blue candy floss for gender reveal parties. The edible label in the top of the candy floss offers a surprise when turned over. The reverse of the label is custom printed with the name and gender of the new baby.

All of our flavours are available in boxes of 24 tubs or in sleek black presentation boxes with 4 mixed trial flavours. Ideal for a gift or stocking filler.

Event Planning, funfair events, Funfair Rides, General

It’s Not Fun & It’s Not Fair

21 September 2020
Funfair Thrill Rides For Hire Weddings Parties Events

They say that history goes around in circles. That we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past in an endless cycle. It’s not fun & it’s not fair.

Around 130 years ago the Van Dwellers Association was formed to protect the interests of travelling showmen. The impetus for this was a series of bills being enacted in parliament to restrict the ability of the showmen to travel around the country. It was postulated that they would spread disease and anarchy throughout the realm, putting an end, as one MP stated, to the ‘work of civilisation.’ The efforts of the association managed to stop this pernicious attack on the showmen’s way of life and the bill was defeated.

Showmen’s Guild

Eventually the association became the Showmen’s Guild and was recognised as the trade association for travelling funfairs. The organisation has worked since then to advance the rights and well being of the funfair industry as a whole.

So why the reference to history at the start of this post?

Well, here we are in the 21st century, and once again the life and business of the showman is under threat due to the impression that they will be travelling the country spreading disease and pestilence.

Covid 19

Unless you have been in a coma since the start of the year, you will be familiar with the current Covid crisis. Sweeping not only these sceptered isles, but pretty much the entire globe. Microbes that swarm and multiply unseen have ravaged the land, caused untold deaths and decimated much of the economy.

Quite rightly in the early days of the onslaught, we were all locked down. Facing an unseen enemy, that was little understood, but virulent and indiscriminate in its choice of victim.

Whatever the truth about the actual death rate from the illness, there is no argument that it has destroyed people’s lives and businesses. The support package provided by the chancellor helped many people, but as happens in such cases, left many more falling through the cracks with little or no support.

Easing The Restrictions

Eventually, as the rate of infection fell, the government started to ease the lockdown. They had little choice, the economy, already severely wounded, couldn’t take the blow of remaining closed much longer, lest the cure became worse than the disease..

Establishments were gradually brought back into operation, pubs, restaurants, most shops, you were even allowed a haircut.

Of course businesses had to become Covid secure, with hand sanitising facilities, anti microbial treatments on surfaces and social distancing becoming the “new normal.”

Travelling funfairs, for so long locked down, began to slowly re emerge into the brave new world we were living in. With rides operating at reduced capacity, all of the aforementioned Covid requirements being met, and the use of track and trace systems, the industry was labouring under a heavy load of restrictions.

A Step Back

It didn’t last long however. Within a scant few weeks, councils decided that funfairs were to be stopped. Despite the go ahead from the government, despite meeting and in many cases exceeding the Covid secure requirements, despite being held outdoors, with massively increased spacing between rides, the powers that be decided that, much like 130 years ago, showmen needed to be stopped.

Arguments can be made both for and against this decision. No one wants to be responsible for spreading the illness. Yet whilst a business such as a pub, which has its patrons locked into restricted indoor spaces smaller than an average funfair ride, is regarded as perfectly safe. A large funfair ride, operating at half capacity, in the middle of a field, outdoors is too dangerous to contemplate.

To add insult to injury, many of the councils banning travelling funfairs . Have expressly permitted ‘fixed funfairs’ such as theme parks. Hmmm, lets have a quick think. A typical theme park, has fixed rides that cannot be moved or spaced out. Everything is designed to maximise the space they have available. With guests queuing in proximity to each other. A travelling funfair, being set up from scratch, can either spread itself out for social distancing. Or operate with less attractions to achieve the same.

So why the discrepancy? Thus far, no one asked has been able to express a legitimate answer to this. Could it be that things have come full circle. Once again the showman are deemed to pose a threat to civilisation. After 130 years of supposed progress, are we once again to be considered pariahs in society.

Whatever the reason, its not fun, and it certainly ain’t fair.

Catering, Event Planning, funfair events

Superflora Event

As the full effects of the ‘Rona’ started to become apparent, we pretty much decided to write 2020 off, and expect to lose a god chunk of 2021. August surprised us when out of nowhere we suddenly picked up a number of bookings, about 12 in total. Well down on the usual 60 or so w would do that month, but still a nice surprise.

Sadly we were excited for all of a week, by which time we started losing events, ending up back down to 5, as they were steadily cancelled. Oh well, thats 5 more than we had expected.

One event which did actually take place was a closing down party for Superflora. Part of a giant Dutch conglomerate, the factory at Holbeach in Lincolnshire was closing and production being moved to Hull. Quite possibly to take advantage of the Hull-Rotterdam ferry services, seeing as the business brought flowers from Holland to be repackaged for sale in garages, supermarkets etc.

Catering Lines

They were very keen to have a selection of catering options, so after a bit of discussion we settled upon mini doughnuts, French fries, candy floss and popcorn, churros and frankfurters. Catering for 200 to allow plenty of spare if necessary.

Personalisation

Playing around with our branding tools we supplied personalised napkins, little flags in the doughnuts and branded each cart front up.

Thrill Rides

They also wanted some traditional funfair rides, so we supplied a nice dodgem track and twister thrill ride.

Covid Secure

Like all events at the moment we took great care with our covid precautions. The catering units all had full length sneeze guards. Our staff treated the surfaces and touch points with Zoono 30 day anti microbial. Hand sanitisation stations were provided at each attraction.

The event went off without a hitch. Becoming however rather poignant. Many of the staff breaking in down in tears as it drew to a close, some of them had been there 15 years. Their friendship circles and daily lives being built around it. It’s also not the best time to be looking for a new job, with the virus and all.

Fun Story, Photo Booths

Its Never Too Late, End Disability Hate

18 September 2020

Over the years we have carried out a number of corporate jobs, where we have had to brand the photo booth for a client. This can range from a single sticker on the side of a retro booth, to a complete vinyl wrap. Usually they are for Christmas parties or sales promotions, but we did one job that was totally different. This time it was an anti discrimination drive to help end disability hate.

Disability Video Booth

We were contracted to supply a fully wrapped video booth for a North East police force. This was to visit a number of libraries and community centres. This was to allow people to talk about nasty experiences that had been due to their disabilities.

Retro Photo Booths For Hire
Our Fully Wrapped Video Booth

We had one of our regular photo booths fully wrapped by a local company we use. We also extended it and removed the seat. This would allow wheelchair users to access the booth, and we added an uprated microphone system to the unit. All of our booths have video capabilities, but as this was designed to capture their stories we improved the mike systems.

Stott Him On The Heed

The first day we operated was I think Sunderland library. I turned up and set the booth up, and was joined by a couple of females P.C.’s that would be staying with me for the event.

The first client was a young lad. He stood in the booth and asked me what he was supposed to say. I explained that if he had experienced anything nasty he should talk about it.

“Well I was picked on a couple of weeks ago by a lad, should I say that?”

Definitely I replied,

“Then I picked a brick up and stotted it off his heed, should I say that?”

Erm, I think I will get this lady PC to talk to you as I am not sure how that will go down.

For those Southerners that haven’t encountered the North East dialects. Basically he was confessing to smacking his tormentor over the head with a brick.

The PC seemed to think he would be OK, as we weren’t taking names in the data and he left his story. I was a bit worried as over the day we had about 20 visitors. Now usually we have a couple of hundred go through a booth at a wedding or something. So this looked terrible. But the Police Officers seemed over the moon at the response. I guess the client being happy was all that counted.

Further Promotion

Looking back on the internet to see if there was anything mentioning the initiative, as it was back in about 2013, I discovered that the Northumberland Police force had actually posted a number of the video clips on Youtube.

They should be watched as some of them are heartbreaking.

I spent a considerable amount of time with the female police teams in the various towns we visited. At one location we had a fairly high ranking officer down. We were getting on really well when she received a phone call and told me she had to rush off. I did see her the next day and she explained that there had been an incident with a guy running amok with a knife. An officer had evidently tasered him, but unfortunately he had previously soaked himself in petrol. Seems that electricity and petrol soaked perpetrators turn into Roman candles pretty quickly.

Fun Story

Free Personalisation Service

16 September 2020

We have always branded our carts and consumables for our corporate clients. Ranging from full vinyl wrapping of our carts, to custom printed coffee sleeves. These usually tended to be prohibitively expensive for smaller weddings and parties. During the lockdown we have been examining all the services we offer. As a result we have now acquired a new equipment portfolio allowing us to print vinyl wraps, custom brand things like coffee cup sleeves and ice cream tubs. This allows us to offer a FREE catering personalisation service for smaller clients.

Ice Cream

Our ice cream branding is starting off with personalising the tubs and also providing drip catchers for the little ones. We have all seen the state kids can get themselves into at weddings with things like chocolate fountains and ice cream. This helps alleviate the ice cream problem at least.

We are also waiting on delivery of our new food printer which will allow us to add customised ice cream wafers.

Coffee

One of our favourite lines. We can provide small print runs of free cup sleeves with the happy couples names added. Additionally our new latte printer allows text or images to be added directly to the coffee foam, sure to go Instagram crazy.

Candy Floss

We have added a service to actually brand the candy floss up. Not the bags or tubs, but the actual floss you eat. At the minute its only monochrome but we are working on this.

We can also offer custom printed tubs, perfect as wedding favours or give aways.

Chestnuts

One of our most popular winter lines are roast chestnuts, the traditional paper bags can be branded in full colour.

Crepes

Crepes are usually served folded into a triangle. Our cones are another eye catching branding opportunity for weddings or events.

Crazy Golf

Score cards come branded as standard, and we can even brand the actual golf balls off. With the happy couples names for weddings, or a corporate logo for our company clients.

Napkins

Usable for pretty much any of our catering items, our quality airlaid napkins can be printed with corporate logo’s or sales messages, or with the names of the happy couple if its a wedding.

Event Planning, funfair events, Funfair Games

7 Best Sidestalls Hire For Events

8 September 2020
Basketball Funfair Game Hire

One of our most popular attractions at events is our range of compact sidestall hire. With a range of Victorian games from the iconic traditional hook a duck and coconut shie. To modern treats such as mini basketball and knock the cans off the shelf. All of our games can be custom branded, as the examples here show on a recent job for Amazon.

Hook A Duck Sidestall

Hook A Duck Hire
Hook A Duck Hire

Possibly the simplest game ever. Catch a duck to win. If you need to make it harder then we can mark some of the ducks as winners to reduce the odds. This is ideal for the kids but tends to be a bit simple for most adults.

Ball In A Bucket Sidestall

Ball In A Bucket Games Hire
Ball In A Bucket Games Hire

This one adds a bit of skill into the mix, on the surface its quite simple, throw a ball into the bucket. However the catch is, the ball needs to stop in, harder than it sounds.

Mini Basketball Sidestall

Basketball Funfair Game Hire
Basketball Funfair Game Hire

One of our more upto date games, throw a mini basketball into the hoop. If you want it a little harder make it 2 out of 3.

Coconut Shie Sidestall

Coconut Shie
Coconut Shie

Another of the olde tyme favourites, knock a coconut off with a wooden ball. On some traditional fairgrounds the coconuts would be made out of either wood or metal painted to look like wood. Ours are actual coconuts so you have a chance of winning.

Splat The Rat Sidestall

Branded Splat The Rat
Branded Splat The Rat

This one is a little different to the others. More of a traditional village game, it is oh so simple to play, but fiendishly difficult to win. The operator drops a toy rat down the drainpipe, as it shoots out of one pipe into the other you need to whack it with the bat. Thing is rats don’t really like being whacked. So as a result they move fast, like a, well, like a rat down a drainpipe. So you need to move like Jason Bourne to actually hit one.

Cans Off The Shelf

One of our harder games. Easy in concept, you just knock the cans off the shelf. But due to the weight of the cans, and the lightness of the balls, you need to really wind up and throw.

Ball In A Milk Churn

Amazon Branded Ball In A Milk Churn
Amazon Branded Ball In A Milk Churn

These fall in the mid range for difficulty. You just need to throw one of the baseballs into the top of the churn. We can adjust the throwing distance to make it easier or harder.

Covid Secure

In line with the current situation we are all dealing with, all of our stalls come with hand sanitisation stations attached, allowing the players to ensure they remain safe from the virus. Additionally all of the surfaces on the stalls are treated with Zoono, 30 day anti microbial treatment, which actively destroys the virus on contact. This is to ensure that sidestall hire is offered safely for your event.

Fun Story, Funfair Rides

The Grim Reaper, Tales Of Misadventures

3 September 2020

This is a tale of disaster and destruction caused by a close friend of mind who is a dead ringer for the grim reaper. Let me introduce Fred. Fred is is the sort of guy that if you had a problem would be the first there to help you. If he had a £1 and you needed it more than him he would let you have it.

He does however have a couple of issues. First is his propensity to eat. By eat, I don’t mean take enough calories in to survive. I mean eat like a garbage disposal machine on steroids. He once went with a family group to an Indian restaurant. The waiter came to Fred first, took his order then started to leave. When another guest asked the waiter where he was going he replied “To the kitchen with your order.” No mate, that is Fred’s order, the rest of the table want food as well.

Claim To Fame

For a time he had a minor claim to fame at Harry Ramsdens Fish and Chip shop in Hong Kong. It seems they had a challenge, eat their special fish and chip dish and you got it for free. So Fred being Fred was up for the challenge. When it arrived they reported that it was the size of a small shark. It was huge, with a pile of chips you could have used for mountaineering exercise, and enough mushy peas to fill the moat at the Tower of London.

The waiter explained the rules, you had a set amount of time to eat it, you couldn’t share it etc. When he asked Fred if there was anything else he needed to know Fred told him, “Yes, can I have some slices of bread and butter please as I am quite hungry.” Suffice it to say Fred demolished the dish and ended up with his picture on the wall.

A Modern Day Frank Spencer

Fred’s other trait, is that he is a combination of the grim reaper and Frank Spencer. Now if you are too young to remember Frank, check this video out. Basically he was what could charitably be described as an idiot. He meant well, and tried his best, but whatever he did would set off a chain reaction that ended up in chaos and mayhem.

When the Challenger space shuttle exploded, Fred was in America. He was somewhere in the region when the tsunami hit a few years back. And I have no doubt that once scientists get to the bottom of Covid 19, Fred will be a link in the chain, probably with something he ate.

I was once with him at a Masonic social event, when 2 buttons popped off of his shirt, flew across the table and hit a guy in the eye. He promptly turned and punched a neighbour because he though he had attacked him. That’s the sort of thing Fred can create without even trying.

Fred and His Rides

Anyway, Fred owns a couple of children’s funfair rides, and occasionally we contract him in for jobs. A couple of days after one such contract Fred rang to tell me he had encountered a problem on the job. Now, my standing instructions are that problems are to be reported to me as soon as they happen so that I can contact the client and try and sort it out, rather than them ringing me days later upset. So I immediately went into a rant, questioning the marital status of Fred’s parents when he was born, and introducing him to some other Anglo Saxon phrases. In between a pause for breath, Fred interjected that it hadn’t actually happened on the job. Good, that calmed me down a bit. What he said happened was, well I will let Fred tell you in his own words!

The Pheasant

When I set off home in my transit van, towing the ride, the motorway was closed due to an accident, so my sat nav diverted me cross country. I was sat at a nice 60 mph, on a single carriageway road, when I hit a pheasant.

The said pheasant, was catapulted at high velocity, across the road, whereupon it happened to smack the lead rider, in a pair of cyclists, smack bang in the side of the head. He promptly disappeared over the edge of the road, and down a 20 ft embankment.

Now, I felt partially responsible for this state of affairs, so I pulled up to help him. Coming the other way, was a lovely elderly couple in a beautiful vintage car, that I later learnt from them, they had been 15 years restoring it to its current state. They also saw what had happened, and pulled up on the other side of the road.

I climbed down the bank with the other cyclist, his mate was a bit battered and shaky, his bike wheels were bent into weird shapes, so we helped him back up the bank, and then retrieved his bike.

The Incredible Hulk

The cyclist sat for a few minutes pulling himself together, then asked what had happened. I pointed at the pheasant, feebly twitching at the edge of the road and explained. The rider, stood up, then ran at the pheasant and booted across the road.

Straight into the path of a four door pick up truck. The driver instinctively swerved, and ran straight into the elderly couples vintage car. Turning it into a pile of parts scattered over a wide area.

As the pickup came to a stop, the door opened, and what can only be described as a white version of the incredible hulk unfurled himself from the interior. As he walked towards us all, he growled “I have just driven that out of the showroom, its my first ever brand new motor, I am on the way to show me mam, Where did that fu***ng bird come from?”

Exit Left

Deciding that I so wanted to continue living, I pointed at the cyclist, and said he kicked it. Mr Hulk, promptly hit him with a crashing right hand. That sent him over the edge and back down the embankment. He then proceeded to jump on the other cyclists bike in an attempt to create some modern art.

At this point I finally understood the phrase discretion is the better part of valour. Not wanting my initial part in the disaster to be brought up. I decided to test the acceleration of a transit van towing a ride to exit the area. Looking back as I set off, the second cyclist was clinging to the hulks neck, in a vain attempt to save his bike. The little old couple were sat crying by the roadside over their demolished car.

I don’t know why things like this keep happening to me!

Catering, Event Planning, funfair events, Funfair Rides, General

Back In The Saddle, The New Normal

28 August 2020

Like most of the rest of the events industry, our previously full order book for 2020 disappeared literally overnight due to the pesky little microbe doing the rounds. Like all of our compatriots in the industry we sat and wondered if we would ever work again, and if so when. So when we suddenly started picking up bookings for August it was both a godsend and a worry.

A godsend obviously as we would be earning again. A worry about how things were going to be under the ‘new normal’ as it is being called. The first of the jobs to arrive was for a previously regular client, Amazon. Usually through the year we do a mixture of work ranging from handing out catering goodies during Prime and peak periods, to providing a full fairground for their summer barbeque.

The first job was giving popcorn out at one of the Northern fulfillment centres. We had done the same thing a number of times over the years at the same centre so usually this would be a nice easy repeat job. However after talking with the client and doing our own research we put together a package of anti Covid-19 measures.

Catering Carts

Covid-19 Screening

The first change was to install clear polycarbonate screening on the carts we use to separate our staff from the guests. Although we could still interact with them to a degree, it did feel weird and somehow strangely disconnecting. Usually we engage in a bit of banter and joking, but this felt more ‘institutionalised.’

Zoono Anti Microbial

After researching most of the sanitisation options, we settled on Zoono. Not a cheap option, this bonds a film to the surface of whatever you spray it on that lasts for upto 30 days. The product actively kills virus molecules after application, rather than just during the cleaning process. For complete safety our standard operating procedure is to apply it at the start of each job. We also use their hand sanitiser, which creates a similar barrier on your hands, this time lasting for 24 hours.

Boris Says, Hands – Face – Space

The carts have a hand sanitiser mounted for the guests to use. We also built a number of portable units that can attach to hand rails, counters, carts, rides etc. This means that even when we are using sub contractors we can ensure that all the attractions we supply come with approved sanitisation facilities for the guests and staff.

To round off our anti Covid activities, we supply all of our staff with full face shields to help protect them and the guests from each other. These are far more comfortable to wear for extended periods of working than the little face masks that we tried. Well and truly back in the saddle

Catering, Fun Story

Twisted Firestarter, Tales Of Misadventures

18 August 2020

A few years ago I bought an impressive ornate drinks fountain from a guy in Norfolk. I went down in person to pick it up. After I had loaded it in my van I got talking to him and he suddenly burst into tears. Now comforting heartbroken men isn’t really my forte. But eventually through his sobs I made out that his wife was having an affair, and that she had left him with his four kids.

I was by this point looking for an exit strategy as I had a long drive home. I did however pause when he told me he wanted to sell the rest of the business, which consisted of two chocolate fountains, a popcorn machine, a large number of chair covers, and a large number of bookings.

“Oh I’ll keep my eye out on eBay for one of the fountains”I said.

“No, I want to sell the business as a going concern and I want £3000.”

“Done”, said I as I opened the back of the van to start loading my new business up.

I remember getting home and carrying everything into the kitchen. My wife came in and burst into tears looking at the mass of stuff.

The First Job

As we got used to operating the fountains, we eventually bought soup soup kettles, these were great for melting the chocolate, you could fill them up leave them on and they wouldn’t burn or thicken the chocolate too much. But on the first job we took a microwave to melt it in batches.

Anyway at the venue, the speeches etc were over running as these things tend to do. I was getting a bit anxious as never having done a chocolate fountain job before, I wanted the spare time in case of any problems. Eventually the manager told me I could set up. I whipped the fountain up in no time then started melting the chocolate.

As I finished the last batch I shoved the jug I had been using into the microwave. Unfortunately the jug still had a couple of napkins and a spoon in. As I closed the door the microwave sprang to life. I didn’t notice, but the spoon was creating sparks which set fire to the napkins.

Towering Inferno’s Little Brother

When I did notice, I grabbed it with the intention of running outside to dispose of it. As I picked it up and hugged it to myself, the hotel manager came into the room to talk to me about doing another event. So there I was stood, holding a sodding microwave that inside was rapidly turning into a mini towering inferno, whilst praying that smoke didn’t start coming out of the top whilst in front of the manager.

Eventually he finished and left me alone, I ran outside to empty the burning crap out only to see the entire wedding party stood outside whilst the main room was turned around.

FFS, I ended up opening the back of the van up and jumping in there, emptying the fire out on the floor and dancing around to stamp it out, a bit like the twisted firestarter song really.

I think time I stumbled out the van I was coughing from the smoke but otherwise fine. The manger and the guests never tumbled and we did a number of jobs in the same hotel.

The moral of the story is, its awfully easy to become the twisted firestarter, totally innocently lol.

Event Planning, Fun Story, funfair events

A Job For Queen Victoria

14 August 2020

Working For Queen Victoria. A lot of people think that corporate entertainment is a relatively new industry. The thinking seems to be that the big corporations are relatively young and so it follows that offering them entertainment services must be equally new.

Looking back through our records, one of our earliest private jobs, was provided entertainment to Queen Victoria at Windsor castle. Not me personally I hasten to add. But a couple of generations back in the family. The Millers had a sort of a cross between a circus performance and a variety show. What exactly Queen Vic thought of them isn’t on record anywhere. Hopefully they didn’t get the “We are not amused”, the Victorian era equivalent of no X’s on Britain’s Got Talent.

Corporate Branding

I also came across a picture dating from about 1926, of one of our vehicles that had been branded up for Thorne’s Toffees. I believe it was Henry Thorne & Co. Limited of Leeds, England. The bit of history I could find was;

“From humble beginnings in a mustard and chicory shop in the 1830s, Henry Thorne’s business grew into a leading name in confectionery. Them having similar Quaker roots to Cadbury, Terry and Fry; by the time the 1960s rolled around, the Thorne business was producing over two million pieces of confectionery a day.

This lasted until 1971 the business closed with the factory being demolished. Thornes, and their distinctive slogan The World’s Premier Toffee, had their factory in the middle of Leeds. Next to the old bus station – now wasteland being used as a car park.”

Early Branding For Thornes Toffees
Early Branding For Thornes Toffees