Healthy alternatives
The Larkhall Green Farm Marketing Archive, dating from the 1930s -1990s, is a unique collection charting the growth of a manufacturing company within the alternative health industry and reflecting the tribulations associated with such an enterprise.
(L) Chloe Veale, Rita Greer and Dr Robert Woodward at HAT, July 2013
Dr Robert Woodward, a long-time supporter and Patron of HAT, generously donated his collection permanently to the Trust in 2012, having deposited it on loan to HAT since 1999. He has also donated a substantial cataloguing grant for the transfer of its data to HAT’s new online catalogue (to be launched in 2013).
Matthews and Wilson Ltd was founded in 1864, the result of many mergers and takeovers of small health related companies. In 1962 Dr Woodward, a pharmacist and chemist, joined his father and took the family business from generic pharmaceutical manufacturing into brand creation. With the advent of the Medicines Act 1968, the company decided to concentrate on herbal and health foods and appliances, introducing innovative products for consumers in the UK and abroad. These included the Cantassium range of supplements, Lipcote, Blakoe, Aquamaid and Omniped. The company became known as Larkhall Natural Health in 1986.
From the 1960s alternative medicine was growing in popularity but the restrictions on marketing were also escalating. The Advertising Standards Authority provided plenty of headaches and regulatory authorities banned thousands of herbal remedies with the result that numerous companies closed. Dr Woodward instigated many clinical trials into the efficacy of his company’s products and the collection reveals the controversy surrounding the publication of research data and the media stories that aroused consumer hysteria.
In 1993 Larkhall Natural Health took over Green Farm, a producer of natural vitamins, and a new company name, ‘Larkhall Green Farm’, was adopted. Although Dr Woodward retired in 2005 his belief in alternative healthcare remains undiminished and today he advises the Foresight preconception charity and helps to promote the natural health cause.
In the late 1970s, a range of diet foods, marketed under the ‘Trufree’ brand was created by Rita Greer and has subsequently become a market leader. A skilful artist and copywriter, Rita became influential in the company’s growth in the 1980s, designing packaging and inventing a unique system of symbols on many products.
Rita Greer is a specialist in exclusion diets and has produced several dietary advice books for sufferers from Coeliac disease and Multiple Sclerosis, including ‘Easy Gluten Free Cooking’, which is now in its 5th edition. Her latest paperback,
‘Simply Gluten Free’, published by Souvenir Press, will be on sale in October 2013.
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