A new exhibition in York tells how the Terry family and their workers coped with two world wars. MATT CLARK reports.

YOU don’t see many ashtrays any more. Once they were everywhere, from public houses to public libraries, but now they have become objects of derision and ridicule.

However, there is one in Noel Terry’s house that would gain approval from even the most ardent anti-smoker. Because this curious object was honed from a Second World War aircraft propeller made at his family’s factory in York.

For most of us Terry’s was, and always will be, synonymous with chocolate. But in 1939 the company switched production to help the war effort.

And this unassuming little artefact serves as a poignant reminder of our country’s darkest, yet arguably finest hour.

It is just one of the items to feature in a new exhibition opening today at Goddards, on Tadcaster Road, Noel’s former home.

Clare Fletcher, volunteering manager at the house says the aim is to show how life for the Terry family and their workers was affected by both world wars, at home and abroad.

The story opens in Noel’s library and charts the beginning of the Great War through extracts from letters to his wife Kathleen during the conflict.

“He ended up in the trenches at the Somme and these tell us about his experiences,” says Clare. “Some are quite graphic; others simply describe the mundanity of life, such as the amount of mud, the conditions his men endured and the water in their boots.”

But in one especially poignant missive, Noel describes how a silver cigarette case saved his life by taking the impact from a bullet. It left him in pain and using a stick for many years after the war Sadly his son Kenneth wasn’t so lucky. He lost his life, aged just 23, on active service with the RAF and one of the main areas of the new display is in his bedroom.

There you can learn how Kenneth was commissioned into Coastal Command and won the Distinguished Flying Cross when, despite immense enemy fire, he still hit the target before limping his stricken plane home.

The exhibition also documents the Terry family history into the age of luxury in the interwar period when Goddards was built.

Back then business was booming. Noel, together with his step-uncle Francis, had overseen a doubling of production and revenue, not to mention introducing the world renowned chocolate orange.

During the exhibition, you can relive this age of elegance by taking tea in the drawing room. Meanwhile, across the hall, the parlour tells the story of a very English reaction to the outbreak of the Second World War.

“The whole family stood solemnly listening to Chamberlain’s announcement on the radio,” says Clare. “Then they put up some blackout curtains, before auntie Betty suggested that what was needed at this ‘desperately grim moment’ was a game of tennis.”

The family’s racquets are still displayed on the parlour wall. “This wartime display tells the story of loss, love, service and duty,” says Clare.

“We’re trying to give the sense of Noel and Kathleen’s closeness during adversity.”

• Goddards reopens today with Terry’s And War, its new display for spring. The house will be open Wednesdays to Sundays. For more information: 01904 771930 or visit nationaltrust.org.uk/goddards

• Noel Terry’s ash tray is on show with the National Trust at Goddards, on loan from its permanent home of Fairfax House in York, which holds Noel Terry’s collection of 18th century furniture.