Carole Gray Bamford, Lady Bamford, OBE, is a British business person who founded the Daylesford Organic Farmshops chain and the Bamford brand of women's products.
Personal life
Carole Bamford was born in Nottingham. Lady Bamford is married to the billionaire industrialist Lord Bamford, and is a director of his family's JCB construction company. They live on a 1500-acre estate near Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds. She married Bamford in 1974. They have one daughter and two sons and four grandchildren. In 2006, Lady Bamford was appointed OBE for her services to children and families.
Daylesford
Carole Bamford started converting the family's farms in Staffordshire and Gloucestershire to organic, responsible farming based on traditional methods. This led to the opening of a farmshop and café in 2002 on the Daylesford House estate in Gloucestershire, and creation of an organic deer farm on the Wootton Lodge estate in Staffordshire. Daylesford produces seasonal farm produce. Today there are four stand-alone farmshops/cafés, in Gloucestershire, Pimlico Road, Notting Hill and Marylebone. Daylesford has received over 120 awards in recognition of its produce, sustainable farming methods, animal-welfare commitment and innovative design ethos. In 2006, Lady Bamford was awarded 'Personality of the Year' at the Food and Farming awards. In April 2012, Daylesford received 'UK's Best Organic Retailer' with the virtual online farmshop on Ocado, at the Natural and Organic Product awards.
JCB
Lady Bamford is on the board of directors of the family business, JCB. The company employs around 10,000 people and has eight plants in Staffordshire, two in Wrexham, one in Derbyshire, a factory in Savannah, Georgia, one in Brazil, three in India, one in China and one in Germany. For over 35 years Carole and JCB have supported the NSPCC, culminating in the launch of the Full Stop campaign in 1999. Full Stop was launched with the intention of involving all of society in the bid to end child cruelty. Lady Bamford was involved with launching the JCB Academy in 2011, which is a state-of-the-art facility for engineering and business education.
Philanthropy
In India, the Lady Bamford Charitable Trust formed in 2000, has built schools and communities around JCB factories in Delhi, Ballabgarh, Ladiapur and Ambi. Similar projects have been developed around other JCB factories. In South America, the Fundacao Lady Bamford opened in 2009, and in the USA, The Lady Bamford Center for Early Childhood Development in Savannah, Georgia was opened in 2007. Lady Bamford works closely with NSPCC, the Soil Association and Slow Food Movement. Bamford supports schools, creative training schemes and humanitarian programmes, particularly for disposed women and for children internationally. In June 2012 she was honoured with an International Leadership Award at the Global Green Millennium Awards.
