127. Mansion House Dinner for Master’s & Prime Wardens

Every year the Lord Mayor hosts a white tie dinner at the Mansion House for Master’s & Prime Wardens and their Consorts. This very grand event took place earlier this week and Fiona and I were honoured to attend along with a total of some 300 other guests.

The excellent meal and wines were accompanied by music from the Band of the Royal Yeomanry and a trumpet fanfare before each toast or speech The Lord Mayor gave an excellent amusing, but City focused speech. The response by the Master Grocer (which focused on cricket) was sadly lost to everyone in the audience!

A wonderful occasion. Many thanks to the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress for inviting us.

Photographs show the invitation and menu card, Fiona and I on arrival and the beautiful Egyptian Room full of guests.

126. Entertaining the Princess Royal

This photograph made it onto the front page of the City, University of London’s website this morning. I thought I should put it on my blog rather than wait to be teased.

I have no idea what I said, but I could potentially end up in the Tower of London!

125. Princess Royal at City, University of London

Some of you may recall that I obtained my first degree (Civil Engineering) from City University, London. The university, now part of a wider grouping, is known as City, University of London.

This week I had the honour of representing the Engineering Faculty Alumni and the Livery Company’s of the City of London when the Princess Royal (Chancellor of the University) came along to open the rather grand new entrance and specially commissioned works of art.

I had the privilege of spending a few amusing minutes with the Princess – she quickly recognized my Masters’ badge, having been the Master of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners herself in 2005-07. She unveiled a plaque to commemorate this special occasion for the University.

Photographs show the Princess Royal, one of the specially commissioned pieces of art and the Master standing by the unveiled plaque.

124. Testing the Guinness

We were in Ireland over the weekend visiting Fiona’s Mum and Great Aunt in Galway and Dublin respectively for Mother’s Day. The weather was great (clear blue skies and 19C) – we could hardly believe it!

We didn’t have any test kits with us to test the water but decided to substitute the water for Guinness, which is of course mostly water. I am pleased to report that the sample passed with flying colours!

Photograph shows the Master about to undertake the test!

123. The Worshipful Company of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators - The Tutt River Lecture

Peter Rivers and Sylvia Tutt were distinguished Members of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and this Annual Lecture is given in their name.

The lecture was given earlier this week at the Pewterers’ Hall by Steve Holliday, erstwhile CEO of National Grid plc, and was entitled “Inclusion and Diversity in Business and the Impact on Corporate Culture”. This is a very grand title for a lecture, but Steve quickly dispelled any air of grandeur by explaining that he didn’t intend to give a lecture at all, but would talk about his experiences at National Grid – and very interesting it was too!

Following a lively Q and A session we were treated to a glass of wine and some canapés. This was a well attended event with some ten Livery Company Masters present, along with Members and guests of the Company.

Many thanks to the Master of the Chartered Secretaries & Administrators for an enjoyable evening.

Photographs show the Agenda card and the Pewterers’ Hall.

122. Harrods “Behind the Scenes” Visit

Fiona successfully organized a “behind the scenes” visit to Harrods and 15 Consorts, Members and guests had a fascinating visit led by Tim, the Guest Relations Manager.

We learnt much of the history of the store, about the seven underground floors, the tunnels that connect the lorry delivery point to the store, the details of the 1,000,000 square feet of retail space and the continuous investment and improvement programme (including the new £20m escalators recently installed by entrance no 5).

After the tour breakfast was taken in the Galvin Demoiselle restaurant.

Fascinating visit – many thanks to Fiona for organizing it.

Photographs show Tim, our guide with some Hawaiian Green tea (which retails at £6,000 per kilogram!) and the team going into breakfast.

121. The Worshipful Company of Carmen – 500th Anniversary

This week was the 500th Anniversary of the foundation of the Worshipful Company of Carmen. The Company organized several celebrations including an Evensong Service in St Paul’s Cathedral followed by a reception at Stationers Hall. The service was a colourful affair with Masters and Clerks, in full regalia, processing into and out of the Cathedral. These events were well supported by livery companies with some 96 Masters and their Clerk’s attending.

The Company had commissioned a new oil painting of the Master (Marsha Rae Ratcliff) accompanied by her Wardens and Clerk and a new silver horse and cart to represent the early work undertaken by Members of the Company in the 1500’s! Visiting Master’s were presented with a replica of the horse and cart to commemorate this special occasion.

A memorable evening to celebrate 500 years of work by Members of the Worshipful Company of Carmen, who motto is “let us help you carry your load”. Many thanks to the Master for including us in their celebrations.

Photographs show the Order of Service, the Master being robed in the Cathedral Crypt, the Carmen’s new oil painting and the silver horse and cart.