An ultra-rare 'Twin Chilly Willy : HB Ice Cream' Original Vintage Irish Fruit Ice Lolly Wrapper from 1980. Good Condition (see below).
TWIN CHILLY WILLY - HB : FRUIT FLAVOUR ICE LOLLY - 1980 Wrapper.
Chilly Willy - So yeah, HB had a habit of choosing names which just would not have panned out well, basically glorified fruit flavoured ice pops, the possibilities for juvenile japes and puns with this "water ice" was endless. We're still not mature enough to take this name seriously. Snigger. Originally released in 4 flavours for a price of 10p. The joy of cheap ice pops is like the joy of cheap crisps. Nothing can bring you slamming back to your childhood faster than the smell of a pungent bag of Meanies or the bright blue goo of a Mr. Freeze. And the sound of the ice cream van used to send us screaming like banshees into the house begging on our knees for money to buy one. HB Metropolitan was the zenith of sophistication - there was nothing like those fancy shmancy Ben and Jerry's then. A Slider made from wafers and a slab of vanilla ice cream - oh we were in heaven. What were your favourite ice pops of yore?
HB Ice Pop Culture - When the HB Rathfarnham factory closed in 2003, it ended the link between generations of Dublin families and the hundreds of different ice cream products they made there. Many of the various pops, lollys, bars, blocks, tubs, cones and cakes are long gone, but some remain on sale today. So, let's slide open the freezer door, dig deep into those cardboard boxes and see what frost covered memories we can unwrap from the past:
HB sold their first Block of ice cream in 1933. Also known as a brick, HB sold six million of these in 1960. The small vanilla Tub first appeared in 1947 and became popular as a treat for cinema goers. In the same year, the Choc Ice made its first appearance, but as a bar without a stick. The first HB ice cream to be sold on a stick was actually also a Bar - with a name which can not be mentioned any longer for P.C. reasons! A small block of vanilla on a stick, wrapped in silver coated paper, which for decades depicted a none P.C. ethnic image which is no longer allowed! (See the company history online for more information - I am unable to quote the exact names in this description due to eBay policies!). The image was eventually removed and, later, its name changed to Giant Bar.
HB entered the Ice Pop market in 1961 with frozen soft drinks on a stick that were half the price of ice creams and very popular with children. Many believed that although HB had the best ice creams, their rivals from Santry, Palm Grove made better ice pops.
In 1963 HB launched Brunch, a strawberry and vanilla ice cream bar on a stick covered in tiny bits of coloured broken biscuits. You couldn't buy them in England, and there was no equivalent, which may explain why they became a favourite for Noel and Liam Gallagher on their childhood summer holidays in Mayo. Meanwhile, the Super Split first appeared the following year in 1964.
Up to this point, HB remained a family owned business run by the Hughes Brothers. Protected by Irish trade tariffs, there was no foreign competition, only domestic rivals like Premier Ices, Palm Grove, Lucan Ice Cream, Suir Valley and Dale Farm from Northern Ireland. With the easing of Irish trade restrictions, the American food company W&R Grace swooped in and bought HB in 1964. Grace sold off the milk business and focused on expanding the ice cream empire, opening a brand new state of the art factory in Rathfarnham in 1967. By 1973, however, another takeover happened when Unilever, the giant British multinational consumer goods company, acquired HB.
Under the Unilever umbrella, HB and other international ice cream companies held forums where ideas, designs, prototypes, recipes and marketing strategies were shared. The HB team brought plenty of experience and expertise to the table and many innovations which started life in the HB Rathfarnham laboratory became worldwide sellers.
The ice pop era of the early 1970s was a prolific period when new colourful products with funky logos and funny exotic names appeared every summer. It was hard to keep up with them, from 1972 alone there included Fizzy Fred, Caramelba, Tiptop, Orang-a-Tang, Flavour Raver, ChuckleBerry, Bandito and Pink Elephant - and it has often since been wondered if that inspired the naming of the Dublin nightclub ten years later. Popular favourites were Loop the Loop (1977) and the Wibbly Wobbly Wonder while other successes said to have originated from Rathfarnham include Little Devil (1977), Little Angel (1977), Funny Feet (1986), Twister (1982) and Chilly Willy.
When the HB factory closed in 2003, ice cream production moved to Lakeland Dairies in Killeshandra, Co. Cavan, and to larger Unilever factories abroad. For more on the history of HB and Hazelbrook Farm I recommend The Story of HB by Paul Mulhern and Kieran Fagan, published by Unilever in 2006.
[WHAT'S THE SCOOP ON HB ICE CREAM - OUR HISTORY - In 1898, William and Margaret Hughes built their new Hazelbrook farmhouse in Rathfarnham. In 1924, their three sons, James, George and William established Ireland's first dairy factory at Hazelbrook Farm. In 1926, in order to use up the surplus milk that was produced during the spring and summer, the three Hughes Brothers took another momentous decision - they began to manufacture ice cream. From this small, family run operation, Ireland's favourite ice cream brand, HB, was born.
HB Ice Cream (originally an initialisation of both Hughes Brothers and Hazelbrook Farm) is an ice cream brand in Ireland and is part of the Unilever Group's Heartbrand ice cream brand. It manufactures most of the Heartbrand's ice cream range, as well as some products designed exclusively for the Irish market, including the Hazelbrook Farm range of blocks of ice-cream. In Northern Ireland, both HB and Wall's ice-cream (the UK variant of the Heartbrand) are available, and in recent years have been promoted together as HB Wall's. The company was founded in 1926 as Hughes Brothers by James, George, and William Hughes at Hazelbrook Farm in Churchtown, Dublin. The name Hazelbrook Farm was dropped during World War II but brought back in the late 1980s except that it was called "HB Originals" from 2002 to 2005. In 1964, the milk distribution operations of HB were transferred to Premier Dairies. The rest of the company was sold to W. R. Grace and Company and subsequently became part of Unilever in 1973. HB also made sweets and chocolate too at phases. In 2002 and 2003 it made frozen yogurt. In 2003, the HB Ice Cream plant in Churchtown was closed with the loss of 180 jobs. Hazelbrook House, the Hughes family farmhouse, was moved to Bunratty Folk Park in 2001, where it is now on display and open to the public].
An original 1980 blue, white & black iced lolly wrapper with great illustrated 'Chilly Willy' logo and details to the front. Landscape reverse with HB logo at the head, plus 'Keep Ireland Beautiful' logo, contents and ingredients details (see photographs), 'SPOT THE BALL! 50 ELECTRONIC T.V. GAMES TO BE WON!' competition with graphic / grid artwork and the following wording:- 'Study the picture carefully and decide which square the missing ball is in. Write the no. of the square (example M.7.) clearly on the outside of an envelope and address it to H.B. Ice Cream Ltd., Box 792, Whitehall Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. Inside the envelope, put any 2 H.B. Chilly Willy or King Pop wrappers and your name and address on a piece of paper. 10 exciting TV games each month go to the entrants who name the correct square and have the neatest writing. Last entries by 30 Sept. 1980. A list of winners will be published in the Sunday papers.'.
I have owned this wrapper from new (in 1980) & it has been in storage ever since and never displayed, so is in good condition.
At the time of listing I cannot see any more of these original Irish lolly wrappers available for sale worldwide (and none that have been available for sale any time recently - if ever!) - grab an extremely rare good condition bargain.
(PLEASE NO LOW-BALL OFFERS, IF YOU ARE UNPREPARED TO COME ANYWHERE NEAR THE 'BUY IT NOW' PRICE - THESE NEVER COME UP FOR SALE AND IT IS ALREADY PRICED COMPETITIVELY TO SELL, THANK YOU).
Perfect for all Chilly Willy, vintage HB Ice Cream or classic early 1980s confectionery / lolly fans & collectors.
Produced in Ireland in 1980 by H. B. Ice Cream Limited, Whitehall Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, Ireland. Ingredients (as visible + from other 'Chilly Willy' wrappers): Sugar, Glucose, Fruit Acid, Stabiliser, Flavouring, Colouring / 55ml, 1.94 fl oz (Not included obviously!).
(Will be sent in a cardboard box envelope by courier with extra protection and fully insured for a safe delivery - or in comparable materials depending on the number of items ordered. NB: I cannot combine shipping on multiple items after payment has been made [if you wish to purchase multiple items at a time please add them to your basket and request an invoice prior to paying] or on Global Shipping Programme orders due to eBay policies, thank you).
The approximate (complete and flat as shown) sizes are:- Width 3.05" (7.7cm) x Height (Portrait) 5.8" (14.9cm).