Newsletter – August 2015
July 7th, 2015Our previous two meetings seem to have followed a chocolate theme, even to the point where chocolate bars were available for members to eat at the July meeting. Our speaker this month was aptly named Alan Thornton and his subject was ‘The Bournville Story’.
His talk was illustrated by a film entitled ‘The Bournville Story’. Made in 1953 and narrated by a young Richard Attenborough, it won a premier award in the ‘Industrial Documentary’ class at the Turin International Film Festival. It portrays Cadburys as we remember it.
George Cadbury was greatly influenced by his Quaker beliefs. He had a deep seated social concern for the way people were forced to live in the overcrowded back streets of Birmingham. Conditions were so poor that healthy living was almost impossible and at the end of the 19th Century life expectancy was about 40 years.
He and his elder brother, Richard, had made a success of their father’s chocolate business, moving from Birmingham City Centre to its present site (then in the country) in 1879. The area around the new ‘factory in a garden’ was named Bournville. Bourn was the name of the local stream, and ‘ville’ was apt because of the French rivalry in chocolate-making at the time.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 6th October. There will be a short 10 minute AGM followed by a presentation by David Simons – ‘The Spire of St Andrew’s Church, Worcester, ‘The Glover’s Needle’: its History, Construction and Repairs’. Visitors are most welcome at all our events – see Home Page for details and contacts.