Life | The Trebor Story

Life at Trebor

Snapshots of a firm at work and play.

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Fun Trebor Abroad Marketing Clarnico Celebrity Sharps Factories 60s Forest Gate People

They knew how to party back in the 1970s. Here are some Forest Gate employees enjoying a Social in May 1972 at the Little Bardfield County Club in Essex.

Poolsbrook Tigers

Pictured in 1955, this women’s football team was active in Chesterfield factory’s social club, playing to raise money for local retirement homes. For many working class women of the time, there were few opportunities to play sport outside what their employer might offer.

Moffat Sales Conference

Successful Moffat salespeople and partners head off to Benidorm in Spain for a celebratory weekend in early 1973.

Warehouse staff at the Moffat’s Manchester Depot perform a knees-up for the company photographer in 1983. Possibly the woman on the right didn’t get the memo about unconfined jollity.

John Marks displays his skills with a hula hoop at a Chesterfield dinner dance in 1959.

Christmas at Chesterfield

Service with a smile as Chesterfield celebrates Christmas 1955 in the works canteen.

Chesterfield Sports Day

Sports Day 1959: Sydney Marks encourages the foremen in their tug of war against the warehousemen. The foremen won with two straight pulls.

Chesterfield Cricket Team

The first outing of this amateur eleven on 25th June 1956 saw them dismissed for 30 runs by a local team, one of whom ‘had appeared for the county seconds.’ But they improved, beating another local team on 21st July with five wickets to spare.

Candy Queen contestants featured regularly in the company magazine. In 1957 the London contest in Park Lane was won by Mrs Joan Smith (centre) from the samples room at Forest Gate.

Cafe Royal Dinner

6th December 1958. Time for a Christmas party for the directors and senior executives at the Cafe Royal in London.

Blackpool Outing

During a 1960 factory outing to see the Blackpool Illluminations, these Chesterfield staff take a few moments out for some refreshments.

It’s a Friday night dinner dance for the firm in January 1973. Every lady receives a rose, there’s dancing to the Del Gray Quartet – and John Marks makes probably the shortest speech of his career when he simply proposes ‘The Company’.

In 1963, having long relied on Germany for new technology and production methods, the firm decided to return the compliment and sell its own products there. Glitter Fruits and Glitter Mints were chosen to spearhead the venture, with Bitter Cherry soon a popular addition. Clive Robertson headed over to help LG Pattison set up the office in Hamburg. They recruited ten salesmen, seen here in 1965 with their cars.

The world and its ingredients, seen through the eyes of the 1950s in this page from the 1957 Golden Jubilee brochure.

Indonesian drivers pose before their vehicles during the 1980s.

Some top Finnish salesmen visit Trebor Head Office in the early 1980s.

Export warehouse

Seen in 1957, staff from the distribution warehouse get crates of peppermints ready for their journey to Penang, Malaysia.

New Jersey-based Tootsie Roll Candies trumpeted the 1966 arrival in New York of two 20’ containers holding 65,000 lbs of Trebor 10 cent rolls: the first sweets to arrive in this way and the first Trebor goods to be distributed by Tootsie. Sadly, Tootsie failed to capitalise on Trebor’s huge prior success in North America. In time the firm turned instead to sales agents, over whom it gradually increased control.

Remarkable sales of Regal Crown Sours in the US market helped win Trebor’s Queen’s Award to Industry.

Overseas Packaging

Often the same packaging worked abroad, with the currency amended accordingly.

As with Trebor’s factories in Britain, the majority of staff in Nigeria were women.

Nigeria Traders

John Marks entertains some ‘Mammy Traders’ – the businesswomen so crucial to distributing Trebor products in Nigeria.

Nigeria Promotion

In the 1960s Nigeria accounted for more than half the total population across West Africa. Mints sold particularly well in the muslim north, where little alcohol was consumed and peppermint was a popular relief for dry throats caused by dust storms from the Sahara. At one time sales of Trebor Mints in Nigeria exceeded those in Britain.

Nigeria Delivery Truck

Elegant cinema usherettes prepare to sell Trebor goods to Kuala Lumpur moviegoers in 1960.

Captain Hurricane

Captain Hercules Hurricane was already a hero from the comic Valiant before he joined the pantheon of Trebor celebrity tie-ins. With his sidekick Maggot Malone, he here smashes the ‘heartless huns’ (World War Two german soldiers) on behalf of his Trebor chew.

Blobs featured a hard boiled exterior with a soft centre, and flavours ‘you don’t expect to find in a sweet’ such as toffee apple and fizzy cider. Trebor launched them with their own storyline – a lad called Patch whose monster chums prefer to eat trash rather than the Blobs sweets he craves. Promotions included a competition to create disgusting menus for Chef Monster, stickers and free frisbees.

The 1977 launch of Double Agents was a big one: research-based flavours, a nationwide TV campaign – and some silly facemasks for the sales team.

Introduced in 1981, Softmints remain a very popular sweet. With their hard peppermint shell and chewy interior, these mints do not simply dissolve slowly in the mouth. You can hurry their eating, and quickly start another – an advantage emphasised in the early print ads. Spearmint Softmints appeared later.

Extra Strong Mints Wartime

During rationing between 1942 and 1953, product labels had to include the points value of products.

Barley Sugars Wartime

During rationing between 1942 and 1953, product labels had to include the points value of products.

Highlights of the 1971 range.

Sweetmakers have long shared comics’ love of silly words. This Treborland promotion featured ‘Konks’ and Robbers, with a belt of ‘fantastic plastic’ for only 75p.

1978 and Star Wars fever still rages across the land. Trebor Refreshers respond with ‘May the fizz be with you’.

Toffee Butters 1930s

The massive success of Toffee Butters during the late 1930s helped the firm secure a large sugar quota during the Second World War.

The firm was innovative in 1938 when it bought the merchandising rights for Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It paid 20 shillings per ton of goods manufactured with an advance payment of £150.

A rep's calling card from the 1960s.

Retailer of the Year

When June Woolley won Trebor’s Retailer of the Year competition in 1969, the prize was not just a set of steak knives and peer recognition – she won a whole new shop worth £6,000. At a special ceremony at Chesterfield, before much press attention, Sydney Marks presented her with the deeds to the new premises at Creswell near Worksop. She had originally come to the notice of Frost of Mansfield, her local Moffat distributor. Here she and her husband stand proudly before her prize.

Clarnico (bought by Trebor in 1969) was one of Britain's largest sweet firms during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Staff at Hackney Wick

Founded in 1872 in Hackney Wick, East London, Clarnico was employing 1249 staff by 1891, of whom 1100 were women.

Clarnico was proud of its private fire brigade, which served both the factory and the surrounding area of Stratford.

The firm’s military band would go on tour, visiting Paris in 1905 and Milan in 1906.

1915 Recipe Book

The recipes and accounts for making Crystallized Ginger Squares and Cream Caramels, November 1915.

1913 Price List

The Clarnico wholesale price list of 1913. The firm’s trading title was then Clarke, Nickolls & Coombs.

1913 Chocolates Price list

From the 1913 wholesale price list. Sporting Girl Chocolates came in four designs: Golfing, River, Hunting and Tennis.

World War One Casualty

A sad glimpse into World War One. George Thresher joined as a night watchman in 1909. By June 1915 he was earning 30 shillings a week, but by 3rd August he was dead, presumably in France. Of the 396 Clarnico workers who joined up, 69 were severely wounded and 39 died; a casualty rate of nearly one in three.

Unusual Petition

An oddity from the Clarnico archive – a petition on behalf of an ex-employee who had been sentenced to death.

Clarnico from above

Seen from above in 1921, Clarnico's mighty array of buildings sit astride the River Lee navigation canal, on the eastern side of Hackney Wick. Everything to the right of the canal here now forms part of the Olympic Park.

Fruit Jellies, made with real fruit, were one of Clarnico’s most successful products.

Regency Candies

A 1952 advertisement.

Clarnico Ad 1952

Another 1952 advertisement.

Clarnico was best known for its Mint Creams, mint flavoured fondant creams which were crystallised to keep the cream soft. After Trebor bought the firm, it marketed these sweets through the name Sharps, another great British sweet company it bought during the 1960s.

New Clarnico Factory

Built in 1951 to replace the factory destroyed by bombs, the new Clarnico factory was soon rendered out-of-date by the invention of the fork lift truck, which spurred single-floor production. Its location is beneath the International Press Centre within the 2012 Olympic Park.

It’s unlikely Benjamin Britten always conducted with a jar of Extra Strong Mints beside his table, but he appeared to do so this time.

Ronnie Corbett at the height of his promotional powers for Moffat in 1971.

Prince Philip chats with a confectionery student at Chesterfield factory in 1959.

Philip Schofield

Yes, it’s Philip Schofield, on the sofa with his booty bags in 1989.

Fag in hand, Max Bygraves enjoys a quick read of the Trebor Magazine, surrounded by Pat, Cicely, Ann and Beryl from the Chesterfield sample room in March 1957.

Page Three pin up model Linda Lusardi arrives to award a trade incentive prize for Maynards wine gums to an excited newsagent couple. Her Edwardian costume reflects the introduction of Original Wine Gums in 1909.Trebor bought Maynards in 1985.

Gary Lineker and John Barnes keep it up for Extra Strong Mints.

‘Half-ton Emlyn cheers ‘em up!’ screamed the headline as Emlyn Hughes, then captain of both England and Liverpool football teams, brought half a ton of Trebor sweets to children’s hospitals. This was June 1979 – a time when few questioned equating children’s health (and happiness) with unlimited piles of sugary sweets.

Dickie Valentine

Pop star Dickie Valentine delights the Chesterfield staff when he arrives for a summer visit in 1955.

Bob Monkhouse gets buried in toffees for Sharps in 1965.

Maidstone Factory

Nicknamed The Kreemy Works, the Sharps factory in Maidstone seen here in 1970 was one of the Kent town’s main employers through much of the twentieth century.

A view of the Sharps factory in the 1920s. Boys sort batches of toffee.

A 1920s portrait of the toffee boiling section at the Sharps factory in Maidstone. Once each boil was cooked, it was poured out onto the long benches for cutting.

sir Kreemy Knut

Sir Kreemy Knut became the face of Sharps Toffees in 1919. A ‘knut’ was the name given to a dandy before world war one and was gloriously referenced in the 1914 music hall song ‘I’m Gilbert the Filbert, the knut with a K’.

Cricket Ground Opening

Between the wars Sharps opened its own £10,000 sports ground.

New Sports Ground

Between the wars Sharps opened its own £10,000 sports ground.

These baggage handlers look surprisingly smart while publicising the air freight of Sharps product to Germany during the 1960s. And is that Ernie Bilko?

Sharps made TV history in 1965 with an advertising spot lasting 90 seconds. It featured a dancer parading beside the top four lines: Top Cream, Chocolate Top Cream, My Word and Assorted Super-Kreem.

This cutting edge Commer van of 1963 was decorated to support a special promotion of the ‘my word’ toffee assortment. It featured a walk-through interior in which the driver could directly access stock.

sharps Extra Strong Mints

At one point Extra Strong Mints were sold under the Sharps brand.

Sir Kreemy Knut Ad 1955

Sir Kreemy Knut appeared on Sharps advertising throughout the 20th century.

The chocolate muesli bar Swisskit was too far ahead of its time. It failed to sell. Today such bars are ubiquitous. Moreover, the Swiss chocolate trade association tried to take the firm to court because Swisskit wasn’t made in Switzerland; the firm’s lawyers argued, allegedly, that Mars Bars don’t come from Mars.

Sir Kreemy Knut continued to sell Sharps toffees in the 1970s.

Forest Gate Unloading Glucose

The firm pioneered the handling of glucose from tankers, receiving in 1930 London’s first ever delivery of glucose in bulk. The older building behind the lorry is most probably the original Trebor works in Forest Gate.

Forest Gate Making Bullseyes

Some processes defied mechanisation, such as interlocking the strips that made up Bullseyes.

Forest Gate Last Jar

An anguished look on the face of Helen Stephens as the last ever jar of sweets is filled at Forest Gate in 1983.

Chesterfield Sugar Bags

Brenda Ashley empties a huge bag of sugar. Aged 18 she joined the Chesterfield factory when it opened during the war. 43 years of continuous service later, she had a big retirement party in 1986.

Chesterfield Colouring and Flavouring

Well before the 1950s the laboratory had taken control of production, with chemists prescribing the colours and flavours to be added, as here, on the slab.

Chesterfield Washing Jars

On some days during the 1950s the firm had to wash 10,000 glass jars which had been returned from retailers.

Chesterfield Loading Bay

The loading bay at Chesterfield factory. Set at the heart of England, Chesterfield was well placed for sending out liveried vans across the nation.

Chesterfield Coolmints

Coolmints, the firm’s first sugar-free mint, were launched in the summer of 1980. Demand for sugar-free confectionery had grown massively in the US and Europe through the late 1970s.

Woodford Sugar Delivery

Tate & Lyle makes a delivery to Woodford factory.

Maidstone Giant Easter Eggs

From 1935 Sharps became famous for creating giant Easter Eggs, each weighing 27.5lbs. Each year the eggs became more striking, promoting the firm at a time when chocolate, rather than sugar, ruled the day. Rising chocolate prices made the monster eggs too uneconomic for production after 1964.

Sweet production at the Vale Road Maynard factory in Tottenham, London, included hand-dipping Brazil nuts in maple fondant.

Colchester Work Group

The firm’s Colchester factory pioneered new ways of working during the 1980s. Here, a work group plans the next week’s job allocations with production engineer Frank Parkinson.

Forest Gate in the 1960s

Steve Berry remembers the Personnel Office on the second floor above the word Robertson. Steve has provided details for the captions in this section.

The lollipop man to help children from Shaftesbury Road School.

The 155 cooker, right in front of the slabs in P3, was the largest in the factory. Another one, the 156, was later brought in next to it.

Unloading Boiled Sugar

Freddie Young on the boiler wearing the wooden clogs he always wore.

Adding colour… The P1 slabs.

Daisy Parry working on the slab. Nell Rockall with her back to us on the left.

The Laboratory opposite Number 4 Boiling Room. Set on the roof of the original factory, it was built on legs to give access underneath.

Glitter Fruit Conveyor

The Glitter Fruit machine with supervisor Bill Stewart on the right.

Glitter Fruit Bagging

The Glitter Fruit bagging machine at the far end of Number 3 Boiling Room.

Glitter Fruit Bagging Machine

The Glitter Fruit bagging machine.

Boxing Sour Fruits

Rolls of Sour Fruits being boxed up in Pre Pack.

Wrapping machine

This wrapping machine looks like it might be upstairs in the No 3 Boiler Room

Sour Cherries in the Pre Pack downstairs at the end of the extension.

Pre Pack other end

The other end of the pre pack machine from the previous picture.

P1 Plastic Machine

The P1 plastic machine being fed by Vi Lawrence.

Past Candy Queens

Sisters Gertie and Nellie Gooch are pictured here in 1919 with their friend Belinda Tyrie. Back then only around twelve women worked in the factory, employed on slab work and making lettered rock. They worked 50 hour weeks at 6½d per hour.

Everyone has donned their best clothes for this works photo from 1908. Robert Robertson (left) and William Woodcock (right) flank six of the women who worked for the firm.

Candy Queen contestants featured regularly in the company magazine. In 1957 the London contest in Park Lane was won by Mrs Joan Smith (centre) from the samples room at Forest Gate.

Hilda Clark and Sydney Marks

Sydney Marks puffs another of his hundred daily cigarettes while Hilda Clark speaks at one of her retirement parties. Hilda Clark joined the firm in 1918 and worked her way up to build and manage the Chesterfield operations until retiring in 1963.

elizabeth Cornford

Elizabeth Cornford joined the firm in 1920 as a clerk. At first all business was transacted in cash, but soon she got to type out the first wholesale invoice.

David Plaistowe

David Plaistowe joined the firm in 1937 as works manager, rising to production manager then chief confectioner in 1949. The Trebor Magazine later described him as an ‘artist in sugar.’

Cyril Robertson

Cyril Robertson (seen here in 1970) was the son of Robert Robertson, one of the four founders of the firm. He served with Sydney J Marks and Denis Hedley in the same Territorial Army battalion before joining the board in 1931. Thereafter he took several roles with the firm including, in 1949, overseeing the development of the Woodford factory.

Bill Deighan joined the company in 1948 as a production engineer working at Forest Gate. As he later recalled, ‘Ian Marks was a young chappie and he and his brother John would appear with their father Sydney in the workshop. They’d bring toys which they'd broken and I’d repair them. As they got older, the toys got bigger. Soon it was go-carts.’

Oggy Avey in 1978

J.B. Collins was persuaded by Sydney Marks to take over Moffat in 1950. He went on to turn it into one of the country’s major confectionery wholesalers.

Sydney Marks Retires

Sydney Marks celebrated 60 years with the firm on 17th November 1978. Seen here at a party in the Forest Gate canteen are, from left, Alex Marks, John Marks, Sydney Marks, Bill Marks (son of John Marks) and Ian Marks. Despite retiring, Sydney kept an office in Trebor House. Bill Marks was one of the few members of the next generation of family to work with the firm.

Forest Gate Retirees

Six employees from Forest Gate combined 196 years service at the factory. Vi Lee was the longest serving, having joined the firm in 1934. Twice during the war she was bombed out of the house where she lived, once being buried in the rubble for several hours. She started in hand-wrapping, went on to finishing and then spent 21 years on the box-wrapping machine. Dolly Lamb had 35 years service, starting on a salary of £4 a week with a daily bonus of between two and five shillings. Vi Lawrence followed her mum Mabel into the factory in 1952 as a sugar feeder on the evening shift. Mavis Lewis worked 33 years, straight from school at the age of 15. Ivy Brewster started work ‘on the belt’, producing toffee bars called Trumps, while Nell Antoine joined Trebor soon after arriving from Jamaica in 1956.

John and Ian Marks

John and Ian John and Ian Marks stand beside the portrait of their father Sydney at Trebor House on 31st October 1989. They had just hosted a farewell party in the canteen. The next day, 1st November, Trebor officially became part of Cadbury Schweppes.

1954 Sales Conference

Thursday 11th February 1954 saw a gathering of all Trebor’s sales representatives, plus the great and good of the firm, at Clacton’s Grosvenor Court Hotel. By Saturday night they were ready to party and Sydney Marks took part in the ‘Cafe Crunchinental’ after dinner entertainment. Seen here in the front row, starting fourth from left: Hilda Clark, Denis Hedley, Sydney Marks, Robert Robertson, Cyril Robertson, Alex Marks, Sidney Bonner and Allan Hurndell.