84. Happy New Year

Fiona and I are in Sydney to celebrate New Year. We wanted to take the opportunity to say a big thank you for all your support in 2016 and to wish you, your families and friends a very Happy New Year. We hope that 2017 will be kind to you all.

Look forward to seeing many of you at the Myddelton Lunch on 19th January at the Mansion House.

83. Christmas Message from the Master

82. Candlelit Carol Service – St Mary-at-Hill Church

The Wardens, several Past Masters and I (together with our Consorts) attended the Candlelit Carol
Service at the St Mary–at-Hill Church in the City earlier this week. The service was well attended by livery companies and the Chief Commoner was there to represent the City Corporation.

The service was led by our Chaplain, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, and we were treated to some beautiful music provided by the excellent choir. The Master Waterman & Lighterman and I delivered readings as part of the service and we all celebrated with mulled wine and mince pies at the end of the evening.

A very lovely and poignant occasion.

Photograph shows our Chaplain, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin.

81. Christmas Court Luncheon

Members of the Court and some of their Consorts attended a lunch held in the Member’s Dining Room at the Guildhall following the Court Meeting held earlier in the day.

It was a very happy occasion (see photograph of us all sitting around the splendid dining table) and we enjoyed an excellent lunch produced by Mark Grove and his team from The Cook and The Butler.

After lunch I invited Past Master Ivor Richards to stand and tell us his traditionally delivered Christmas Lunch joke (see photograph) and this was followed by two further jokes from our Beadle, Tony Parker (see photograph)!

A thoroughly enjoyable event, which gave me the opportunity to wish the team a very Happy Christmas.

80. Christmas Court Meeting

At our Christmas Court Meeting, held in the Guildhall, earlier this week we had two special very

pleasant tasks in addition to our full agenda of business. The first was to fill the vacant role of Fleet Warden, following the recent resignation of Richard Waller – I am delighted to report that the Court unanimously agreed that Simon Catford be appointed to the role with immediate effect. We all look forward to working with Simon and will give him and Wendy every support.

The second task was to agree a suitable recognition for all the hard work of Past Master Colin Bland. Amongst other things Colin was Chairman of the Water Conservation Trust and the Past Masters Committee and produced and edited The Conservator for many, many years. The Court was unanimous in proposing that Colin be made an Honorary Liveryman of the Company and I look forward to making a presentation to him at the Myddleton Lunch on 19^th January.

Photograph shows the outside of the Aldermans Court Room, where our meeting was held.

79. Candlelit Carol Service – 15th December 2016

Just to remind you all that this years Candlelit Carol Service will be held at St Mary-at-Hill Church,
Lovat Lane on Wednesday 15th December at 6.00pm. The service will be followed by mulled wine and mince pies.

Several Livery Company Masters (including me) will be taking part in the Service. It is always lovely event, and it will be led by our Chaplain, Rose Hudson-Wilkin. I hope as many of you as possible will come and join us.

The photograph shows the interior of the Church.

78. The Worshipful Company of Cutlers – 600th Anniversary

The history of the craft of Cutlers dates back to the 12th century and in 1285 the first reference is found to a “house of the Cutlers”. On 4th December 1416 the craft received its first Royal Charter from King Henry V – the only such Charter given by Henry during his reign.

So this year the Company celebrates its Sexcentenary. Ralph Riley, our Clerk, and I were invited to join in the celebrations held on Monday 5th December – firstly at a Service of Thanksgiving in the beautiful Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great and then a reception in the Grand Hall of the Old Bailey. Both were attended by almost all Livery Masters and their Clerks – a magnificent turnout for a very important celebration.

In his address, the Chaplain said he was looking forward to seeing as many of us as possible in 2416 to celebrate 1,000 years of the Cutlers Company!

Many thanks to the Master Cutler for including us in this celebration.

Photographs show the invitation and order of service, and the magnificent domed ceiling of the Grand Hall.

77. Lecture at City, University of London

As part of our attempts to build a closer relationship with City, University of London (and a member of the alumni), I was invited to attend the George Daniels Lecture at the university earlier this week.

The annual George Daniels Lecture celebrates the life and work of Dr. George Daniels CBE who was considered, during his lifetime by many to be the best horologist in the world and was famous for creating the co-axial escapement which has been used by Omega in their highest-grade watches since 1999. George had a close relationship with the University right up to his death in 2011.

The lecture, given by Matthew Read, looked at how the future of clockmaking is being shaped. In particular with growing awareness of the preservation of horological heritage, scientific analytical techniques are now widely employed in curatorship and conservation to reveal information that would otherwise remain hidden.

A fascinating lecture given by Matthew who teaches foundation, postgraduate and MA horology programmes at West Dean College in West Sussex.

Many thanks to the University for inviting me to attend.

Photographs shows Matthew at work in West Dean and a beautiful marine chronometer made by George in 1953.