Bernard Matthews dies aged 80

Bernard Matthews, founder of the country’s best-known turkey company, died peacefully at his Great Witchingham home on 25 November.

Mr Matthews started out with just 20 eggs and an incubator in 1950, but by the end of the decade had built it up to a 50,000-bird business, based on 320 acres of ex-Second World War airfields.

In the 1960s he launched his first brand – Norfolk Manor Farms turkey – before branching into processed meats and ready meals in the 1970s. His advertising slogan “Bootiful” was launched in 1981 and has endured to the present day.

Darker moments were experienced in 2007, when the company was caught up in the UK avian flu outbreak.

Mr Matthews retired as chairman of the company in January this year on his 80th birthday, by which time the business employed over 2500 people and had a turnover of £330m.

Group chief executive Noel Bartrum praised Mr Matthews for his entrepreneurial spirit and clear focus. “Rarely has any business been as synonymous with the hard work and values of one man,” he said. “He is the man who effectively put turkey on the plates of everyday working families and in so doing, became one of the largest employers in rural East Anglia.

“Through his own struggles as a young entrepreneur, he was always keen to support young people, and the company was a founder charter member of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme.”