While it is partly true that once Cadbury’s was sold off to Kraft (now Mondelez), the firm ceased to be inspired by the Quaker ideals of its founders (Letters, 23 September), George Cadbury had cannily separated the Bournville estate from the factory when he established the Bournville Village Trust, which still retains many of the same values it began with (BVT).
My grandfather, John Henry Barlow, was the first director, and together they created a paradigm for the garden city concept. When he died in 1924, among the many letters my grandmother received was one from Henrietta Barnett, the founder of Hampstead Garden Suburb, saying “Thank God I knew John Henry Barlow. His example helped me in my work in Hampstead, and I learnt to treat others with the same patience and courtesy as I received from him; and so his great spirit goes marching on.” Recently, the garden suburb notion has gained fresh impetus in government planning.
My father Ralph Barlow followed on as director after the war and continued to maintain the whole concept of Bournville of pleasant open spaces, parks, swimming pools, schools and libraries which has helped to ensure the healthy ambience of Bournville, where recent surveys have shown that people live a longer and happier existence. The BVT has continued to havestill has a family member on the board to this day, which ensures it keeps the essence of George Cadbury’s great idea.
Antony Barlow
Wallington, London
