Cheers to Thwaites

The company has sponsored the launch of the East Lancashire-wide fund-raising drive and provided free car stickers to be given away with every copy of tonight's paper.

The company has also provided prize money for a weekly competition for motorists who display the appeal stickers in their vehicles.

Thwaites has played a major role in East Lancashire life for almost 200 years.

It has long been one of Blackburn's biggest employers and its award-winning beers are served at the pubs and clubs that are the focal point of communities throughout the region.

With its state-of-the-art brewery, canning plant and distribution centre, the company is now one of Britain's 'top six' brewers and one of the most profitable.

But behind the hard commercial edge lies a strong commitment to supporting community groups.

Over the past ten years, the Thwaites Charitable Trust Fund has donated more than £150,000 to worthy causes in East Lancashire.

Managing director Paul Baker is proud of the role Daniel Thwaites plays in the community.

He said: "Thwaites is one of East Lancashire's oldest companies, with a tradition and heritage stretching back close on two centuries."

"East Lancashire is both our base and our trading heartland. But as well as trading here, we also try our best to spend our money here for the benefit of the local economy and local people.

"We consider ourselves an integral part of the local community and we continue to offer support to a whole variety of worthy causes through the work of our charitable trust fund.

"Clearly, the Magic Eye Appeal is one such cause and we are delighted to be supporting the Lancashire Evening Telegraph in its campaign to raise £200,000.

"The readers are also our customers and I feel sure that the generosity of the people of East Lancashire will ensure that the necessary money is raised in the shortest time possible.

"On behalf of Thwaites, I would like to wish the Magic Eye Appeal all the success it fully deserves."

Firm with a history of helping the community

The Daniel Thwaites empire was established in 1807 when its eponymous founder discovered a supply of spring water he knew would be ideal for brewing.

Almost two centuries later, the Star Brewery is still in the family's hands and Thwaites is now ranked among the top six brewers in Britain.

The president of the company is the great, great grandson of the original Daniel, John Yerburgh, and his wife, Ann, is the company chairman.

The values represented by generations of the family are represented in the company's work for the community.

Under the Thwaites Charitable Trust Fund, the company sets aside a proportion of its profits each year to support voluntary and charitable groups.

Earlier this year, Thwaites chairman Mrs Ann Yerburgh presented a community minibus to Help the Aged after helping to raise a total of £25,000. The shopmobility scheme in Accrington was saved from closure after the trust fund stepped in to buy electric scooters and wheelchairs.

Among its recent awards was a £1,065 grant to Bank Hey School, Blackburn, to enable its young pupils to continue with horse-riding tuition at the Earnsdale Farm Riding School in Darwen. A sewing machine was presented to Darwen Community Centre and the Baptist Chapel, Church, was able to introduce baby-changing facilities.

The trust fund has also provided wheelchairs for the Red Cross in Blackburn and Darwen, financed a major fund-raising drive for multiple sclerosis suffers and helped keep the Lancashire Schools Sailing Association afloat with ten new buoyancy aids.

The company also operates the annual Thwaites Scholarship scheme which sends young people on study visits to the far flung corners of the world to learn about other cultures. The scheme has run for more than 40 years and hundreds of young people between the ages of 16-21 have benefited.

Thwaites is also a major supporter of the Blackburn Theatre Trust and managing director Paul Baker has recently taken over the role of chairman. The company provided a £70,000 loan which enabled refurbishment work to begin on the former Red Brick Theatre, which has now become the Thwaites Theatre.

Thwaites employs more than 300 people directly at its Star Brewery and its soon-to-be-extended distribution centre at Shadsworth. When you add the number of people employed at its hundreds of pubs on a full and part-time basis, the number of staff goes well into four figures.

Thwaites is also a major sponsor of sport such as rugby union in Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria and the Northern Cricket League.

Back to the Magic Eye front page...