Mr Fred Bashall and Mrs. Thirza Barker on the pop production line. Mr. Bashall has been with Hill's about five years.

From the eleventh of an Express weekly industrial feature "We Can Make It" by Allan Halstead. The series outlines each firm's history and development and tells the story of ordinary people. It was linked with a competition "Unsung Hero '71" with a prize of a holiday in Ireland with a companion. To find all this series of articles search the website using the words - unsung hero.

Hill's was founded in 1901 by Mr. Thomas William Hill, then over 40 and a plasterer. Most sales then were within a radius of 10 miles of Padiham as transport was by horse and cart. Now the firm delivers to an area bounded by Ingleton, Todmorden, Rochdale and Preston. After the founder came his son, Tom Hill, who started just after WW1 and son-in-law Frank Marshall who became a partner in 1922. The founder's Grandson David Hill now carries on the family business. There is now great competition from national firms and pressure to change from glass to plastic bottles to suit the modern supermarkets. Hill's have just had to increase the deposit required for the return of the glass bottles because of the cost of the bottle but the price of the 'pop' has not changed.

One of the firm's guiding principles was to maintain a high quality and this remains. That means the best in fruit juice and a high quality and a high proportion of sugar. The Calder Water Board Pennine water passes through more filters to exclude even more impurities and then bubbles are added in a special carbonator machine.