An old photograph of a Hill's lorry delivering mineral water. It is possible that this is the same lorry that Heaton Hill drove to do his deliveries. The boy wearing a clown's outfit standing by the lorry is Robert Hill then estimated to be about 10 so the date of the photograph is about 1924. The other people and the location of the photograph are unknown.

Brian Hill the great-grandson of Thomas William Hill (1861-1936) has given us more information and images about his family and the Hills Soft Drinks business. The Burnley Express article of March 1971 can be seen below in the other images connected to this story:

Thomas William Hill's eldest son Heaton Hill (1888-1918) made a significant contribution to the early success of Hill's Soft Drinks and was the original son in the name of the company T. W. Hill and Son, as the business was first called. In 1901, when the business was founded, Heaton Hill was a 12/13 year old boy who had just left school and helped his father to set up the business, making up, bottling and delivering Hill’s drinks. In the early days, the making and bottling of drinks was done in a red brick, backstreet building close to the family’s home in Shakespeare Street, Padiham. Heaton Hill worked with his father for a total of 15 years until 1916 when he left to fight for his country in WW1. He had learnt to drive at an early age, delivering soft drinks to a wider area than the horse and cart, and enlisted in the Motor Transport Section of the Army Service Corps. Sadly he died while still in service in East Africa on the 14th November 1918, just 3 days after the war ended. If Heaton Hill had survived it is likely he would have eventually taken over the running of the business. His much younger brother, Tom Davy Hill eventually took over.

Heaton Hill was married and had two sons, Robert Hill (Brian’s father) and Harry Heaton Hill, both born in Canning Street in Padiham. Following WW2 Robert Hill ran a car repair business called Bowlee Garage in Middleton, Manchester and Harry Heaton Hill ran a similar car repair business called Ainsworth Road Garage in Radcliffe, near Bury. Harry Heaton Hill became a famous cyclist winning a bronze medal in the 4000m, team pursuit, men, at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He broke a world record when he became the first person to cycle 25 miles in 60 minutes on an indoor track. There is even the Harry Hill Cycleway in Bury. When Harry died at the age of 92 (2009) he was the oldest surviving male winner of an Olympic medal. Much information about his cycling career can be found on the internet.