AJ Charlton & Sons’ staff and customers, past and present, gathered at its World of Wood store one morning recently to celebrate the Somerset family business’ 100 years in the timber industry.
Visitors were invited to bring along their own special memories, stories and anecdotes to help create a permanent record of the company’s history. Among them was Henley Hawkins, now in his late 80s, who started working for the Charltons almost 75 years ago, aged 14. He drove a team of heavy horses to haul the timber from the local woods.
Chief executive Tony Charlton, whose grandfather Frank founded the company in 1903, paid tribute to all the staff and customers who had contributed to the company’s success, “an achievement which my sons, Michael, Peter, David and Adrian and I are very proud of”.
