Songs of Praise: Season 2023, Episode 16

2023 - 16: Faith and Philanthropy

Aled Jones travels to the garden suburb of Bournville to explore the faith and philanthropy of the Cadbury family, whose Quaker beliefs inspired the design of their revolutionary factory village. Aled meets heritage manager Daniel Callicott and takes a tour of the original workers' houses and their long and productive gardens, designed to encourage healthy living and to contrast with the squalid inner-city Victorian workhouses of the time. Along the way, Aled meets Caroline Cadbury, the great-granddaughter of the co-founder of Bournville, George Cadbury, and finds out why she believes Quakerism created a spirit of peace and tranquillity.

As well as housing, the family invested in schools, recreational centres and places of worship, including a stunning Serbian Orthodox Church, funded in part by the Cadburys for Serbian workers, many of whom were World War II refugees. Aled speaks to Natasha and her grandmother Biserka, a former refugee, about what it meant to the community to have their very own Orthodox church – and the first ever in the UK – built in Bournville.

Also, James Lusted meets David Stretton-Downes, a Christian entrepreneur and creator of 'Bobbies Brownies', a start-up founded with the vision to help elevate children out of poverty. They get stuck in making a brownie tray as David tells James about the motivation behind his philanthropic enterprise, viewing his business as an opportunity to help others and his belief that everyone can practice mission work in their everyday lives.