A NEW chocolate museum for York is a timely proposal in the year of the 100th anniversary of Joseph Rowntree becoming an honorary freeman of the city.
Rowntree observed in his acceptance speech that as long as the city had “able and unselfish men” it would continue to “achieve work equally beneficent with that which has been accomplished in the past”.
Chocolate helps to define modern York, with its giant and historic confectionery businesses and its Quaker association with care and concern for people and their welfare. In fact, the familiar sickly-sweet aroma that occasionally locks the whole city in its embrace is still today a potent symbol of the city’s modern identity.
There is an enormous continuity with the past to build on. Let’s hope that the realism and innovation at the heart of Joseph’s thinking will be matched by new forms of thinking that fully reflect York as it is today.
Bridget Morris, Executive secretary, The Rowntree Society, Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York.
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