| Description | Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury remarks that she was very busy in this letter. She writes about the opening of the new temporary school in Bournville, remarking 'we had 250 children instead of 180 as we expected, and we have not enough mistresses.' Taylor Cadbury comments on writes about the problems of obtaining suitable staff, complaining about the poor quality of female teachers.
Taylor Cadbury remarks on her involvement with the Gentlewomen's Employment Bureau and notes that she had attended a meeting of the District Council of the Y.W.C.A. She writes that fifty women had been present at the meeting but had been very reluctant to contribute. She writes 'it is very exasperating when one has large committees and people will not speak.'
Taylor Cadbury notes that her husband George Cadbury had been busy in London with the 'Daily News', writing that there had been 'a variety of difficulties' with the newspaper which had been 'very annoying'. In her husband's absence Taylor Cadbury had read Zola's book 'Travail'. She refers to Zola's 'lurid description of the troubles of labour in France;', concluding 'things seem in a worse state from his account there than here.'
Taylor Cadbury writes that she had attended an Education Committee meeting at Worcester, having served on the Worcestershire Education Committee since 1903. However, she remarks that she was considering resigning from the committee, writing 'I do not think I shall keep up that much longer, it takes so much time going and coming'. Taylor Cadbury notes that the Education Committee had discussed 'the question as to how we could give the pupil teachers religious instruction without favouring one church more than another.' The issue of religious education within schools was a prominent and controversial question during this period.
Taylor Cadbury remarks again on her dislike for the name which her brother Claude Taylor had given to his new baby who had been called Christopher Beech. Taylor Cadbury's sister Margaret Taylor had suggested that the reason for Beech was to reflect the names of Claude Taylor's daughters who were 'named after flowers'. Taylor Cadbury remarks 'I have always extremely disliked flower names.'
The letter concludes with reference to correspondence and photographs which Taylor Cadbury had received from her family. She also offers to send out some cocoa to her family who were living in South Africa. |