75 Years of Thorpes #2 : On the move
In our first blog we look at how Thorpes was founded, in particular, how the spark of entrepreneurship soon grew into something much greater, with our progress up until this point largely reliant upon our founder Jack Thorpe and his natural passion, talent and good-nature.
John A Thorpe hard at work in the spray shop, in some very smart gear
Things broaden massively in our next instalment as we look at our first period of rapid expansion, the second generation of the family business, a new home and a new market.
A family business in name and nature
By now Jack’s son, John, has joined the business and the company is trading under the name JT Thorpe & Son. This was a true family business too, with John involved in all facets of the operation, learning from both Jack and the rest of the small, but tightly knit team that Jack had built. This was a crucial period for John, as he integrated into the company and learnt from the ground up what the business was all about, their service, their values and their clients.
New digs
It soon became clear that operating out of Jack’s family home in Leicestershire was not a long term solution. So, motivated by a combination of factors including ambition, business acumen and at a guess, family pressures, plans were made and a site was identified - JT Thorpe & Son were on the move.
The site in Great Glen was purchased in 1956 for £380, but this being Jack, he insisted on building the factory himself. So, using materials procured from ex-War Department huts Jack did just that, creating the foundations of a home that would last for over half a century in yet another display of his construction skills (if another was indeed needed).
Opportunity Knocks
The decision to move was of course a brave one. Times were still rather uncertain in the wider world, with the economy still recovering from the end of the Second World War. Whilst innovation and industry was of course encouraged, this still represented a great deal of faith from Jack: faith in the company, faith in his ability, and faith in the ability of his team.
Of course, a great deal of encouragement was drawn from Thorpe’s reputation at this point, as the company name was soon synonymous as a place to go with requests of all shapes and sizes, each guaranteed to be treated with the same level of care and attention. It was this reputation that led to the first large-scale opportunity to expand and move in a different direction.
A local school contacted Thorpe’s needing, of all things, a new Maypole, which was duly manufactured and installed by our team. As we all know in the construction industry, there is simply no better marketing than doing a good job, and from an item seemingly as small as a maypole more opportunities grew, and the quality of our projects was rapidly shared up the supply chain directly to the Leicestershire Education Authority (LEA).
Riding the wave
It was here that John & Jack’s shared business intelligence came to the fore. In the mid-late ’50s, the UK was enjoying a “Golden Age”, with record-low unemployment figures and an enviable social index. Part of this, included a boom in education, with an enormous number of schools being built.
Spotting this, both Jack and John worked hard to become a key supplier for the LEA, supplying desks, play equipment, furniture, absolutely everything the schools required, with our flexibility playing a key role in securing enough contracts to make the LEA our sole client at the time.
Of course, it wasn’t just Leicestershire building schools, so Thorpes embarked on an ambitious campaign to deliver nationwide. Hugely investing in staff, machinery, equipment, vehicles to meet this demand. This was vindicated rapidly, with JT Thorpe & Son supplying throughout the entire country, from Glamorgan to Buckinghamshire, Suffolk to Devon.
The Swinging Sixties
So the ’60s had proven to be an immensely important time for the Thorpes business. A rapid expansion in property, reach, facility, clients, and of course, staff, with the team growing to around 30 full-time members all working to supply UK-wide.
In our next blog, we will turn our attention to the first “succession”, as John A Thorpe takes the reigns full-time, leaving Jack to create some incredible one-off items!
As always, we want to hear your stories and memories of Thorpes over the years, please do get in touch with Jamie on jamie.thorpe@thorpes-joinery.com.