In 1908 several market gardeners in the Vale of Evesham formed their own society to do the buying and selling of their produce. Because the society bought in bulk at wholesale prices, members could obtain their seeds, fertilisers and implements cheaper, and because the society sold in bulk to the buyers, growers tended to receive better prices and steadier demand. The society was run by the members themselves through an elected committee. The administration and office routine was performed by full-time, paid staff.
On their golden jubilee in 1958 the society published THE LBG Story: A Chronicle of the growth from humble beginnings of a Society for the collective marketing of produce and the provision of the needs of growers in Vale Of Evesham villages famous for their fruit and vegetables, written by C.A. Binyon and edited by John H. Bird. It was a 54 page 7 x 5 inch booklet with 4 pages of photographs. It is now out of print.
In 2008 Alan Bunting made a digitised version that keeps alive the spirit of the original booklet. Alan Bunting's father, S. F. E. Bunting, joined L.B.G. in 1926 as book-keeper and later became Company Accountant for the period covered by this history.
Download The LBG Story as a pdf file (515K).
Alan has also written an introduction to an article by his father about the 'empties' - the containers which LBG used to transport its produce.
Here is a series of old photographs showing the work of Littleton and Badsey Growers (LBG) and its members. The pictures were kindly loaned to us by Les Grinnell. Captions and additional information were provided by Terry Sparrow and Tony Jerram. The pictures are divided into four sections -
Here are some sources for further information about LBG.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
See
also the article The Trusty Tractor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Click on any of the pictures to see a larger version and for more information.
|
|
 LBG staff about 1930 |
 Petrol at LBG |
|
The book A Brief History of Badsey and Aldington by T C Sparrow, 2002 (second edition), published by the Badsey Society.
The booklet The LBG Story by C A Binyon, edited by John H Bird, 1958, published by LBG Ltd, Badsey (now out of print). More information.
See also Digging for a Living: Market Gardening in Badsey and Aldington.
Empties for LBG - the story behind the piles of boxes once stacked at orchards and grounds across the Vale.
Ron Sidwell's landholding maps from the 1940s.
The website for Blackminster Business Park includes a history of the site of LBG.
 Photographs of buildings in and around Badsey |
 Pairs of photographs show changes over 75 years |
