SEVERAL York residents who came along to our York Remembers Rowntree oral history event at Bootham School during Residents’ Weekend in January asked whether they could still obtain copies of Chris Titley’s biography of Joseph Rowntree.

Janette Ray bookseller at 8 Bootham stocks copies, as does the Rowntree Society (info@rowntreesociety.org.uk).

Readers may also like to know that the same publisher (shirebooks.co.uk) has just released a sister book called Garden Cities by Sarah Rutherford. The Garden City movement was crystallised by the utopian social visionary Ebenezer Howard, with many towns, suburbs and villages designed by Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin.

Their names are known to us locally as the architects and planners of New Earswick in 1902, a balanced village settlement, combining visual appeal with good living conditions, where houses were open to anyone, not just employees of Rowntree. New Earswick in turn set the model for the first garden city, Letchworth, in 1903.

This richly illustrated book is a wonderful complement to ‘Joseph Rowntree’ in that it provides a wider context for understanding the aspirations of these early 20th century practical-minded yet visionary men.

‘Garden Cities’ is also available for sale at the above addresses.

Bridget Morris, Director, The Rowntree Society Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road York.