Master Water Conservator

An amazing evening!   Along with Livery Masters and Past Masters, the Lord Mayor and City of London representatives, and a great crowd, we had a great evening of music, carol singing and good food, good wine and great company. The Objects of Royal Society of St George include fostering a love of England, strengthening England and the Commonwealth by spreading the knowledge of English history, traditions and ideals, and upholding the Monarchy and the Constitution.   This obviously included having a superb evening of fun and fellowship.   We spent the reception catching up with fellow Masters and Consorts before entering the Egyptian Hall laid out in great style.   Over a four course meal with matched wines we were entertained by the London Banqueting Ensemble and a feast of seasonal classics. The finale was the Post Horn Gallop by horn players on the balcony at each end of the hall.   There was definitely a competition between them as to who could keep blowin...

Members of the Worshipful Company of Water Conservators joined representatives of the City of London Corporation, Volunteer Guides, the Port of London Authority, Byward Kitchen, Bow Foodbank, Amos Trust and other sections of the community for a lovely service led by the Revd Jen Midgley-Adams.   Our Company Chaplain and Vicar of All Hallows the Revd Katherine Hedderly gave us a Christmas address.   It was a lovely service in the historic setting of All Hallows with its Roman Pavement, Saxon arch and connections with the City of London over 1000 years.   It was a timely reminder of the significance of Christmas and the need to take a break and reflect on our priorities and values. After the service we all joined together for glasses of warming mulled wine and traditional mince pies. We are grateful to the church community for welcoming us on this important occasion.

I was honoured to be invited to attend Birkbeck’s 200 anniversary Foundation Day Dinner.   The Water Conservation Trust has been supporting students at Birkbeck, University of London, through a bursary and dissertation prize for two years.   This followed a recommendation to the Company from the now Lord Mayor, Michael Mainelli, who is Vice-President of Birkbeck. Over 200 students, staff, Fellows, Governors, alumni and supporters joined HRH the Princess Royal, the Lord Mayor, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, and Vice-Chancellor Professor David Latchman CBE in marking the occasion and highlighting all that Birkbeck has stood for. Birkbeck has led the way in improving access to higher education and has created opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to transform their lives and the lives of others.   Birkbeck’s Vice-Chancellor gave examples of the commitment of young people in full time jobs also undertaking degree courses to improve themselves and thei...

  “Defend the children of the poor and punish the wrongdoer” - the words over the original front entrance of the Old Bailey. A building looking more like a prison with the blind figure of Justice on its dome, the Central Criminal Court is a frightening place for many, not just those who face trial, but their families and friends.   But inside this austere building is a heart: the courts do not work in isolation but also serve and are sensitive to the situations of victims, witnesses and offenders. Prisoners and their families are a shared responsibility of us all.   Preventing further offending is a way we can do right for the victims of crime and their families. The collection at the Christmas service for staff and friends of the Central Criminal Court is one of many functions in the Old Bailey to raise funds for the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund, helping ex-prisoners into work and a new life since 1808. For further details please see https://sr-fund.org/ . The Gra...

The Stationers’ Company, more correctly the Stationers and Newspaper Makers Company, invited Livery Companies to join them at their traditional annual service in the Guild Church of St Martin-within-Ludgate.   The Rev’d Canon James Milne, the Precentor of St Paul’s Cathedral, welcomed us and gave us a thoughtful reflection on Christmas during the service.    The readings were by representatives of Livery Companies including the Stationers, Makers of Playing Cards, Furniture Makers, Management Consultants, Water Conservators and Framework Knitters.   It is obviously an asset of Livery Company Masters that they ensure that everyone in the church hears the readings. (Spot which Master and Consort we shared a joke with after the service). With members of the Stationers’ Company, we retired for lunch in their adjacent hall, built between 1670 and 1673.   It is very impressive with dark wood and magnificent stained glass windows.   A long case clock in the Stoc...

The Christmas Court meeting was a wonderful occasion for getting work done and enjoying the fellowship of the Court and the Company. After the Clerk, with the assistance of Past Master Mark Lane, admitted Afzal Ginwalla as a Court Assistant, it was my pleasure to admit him formally to the Court. The Clerk and I admitted three new Freemen to the Company: Terrence Jerrom, Gerald O’Shaughnessy and Richard Sawle.  It was great to welcome them to the Company. We also accomplished a substantial amount of work.   I seized the opportunity to thank many members of the Company for their generous contributions of time and support for the amazing number of activities over the past few months, and to come to this meeting.   We confirmed insurance cover for the Company assets, including the gowns and badges, and reviewed our finances.   These are closely aligned to our membership numbers and recruitment.   Following a report from our Past Masters we confirmed the criteri...

  I was invited to the University of the West of England to celebrate the retirement of Professor Jim Longhurst with a day of Air Quality and Carbon Management presentations.   It was a great opportunity to catch up with friends from the University, Bristol and Environment Agency. The day started with a retrospective look at the problems of poor air quality caused by the industrial revolution.  We saw the impact of pollution in Widnes and heard about the development of air pollution control.  Robert Angus Smith who was the first Chief Inspector of the Alkali Inspectorate (1817-1884) lived and worked in Manchester for 40 years.  Following his research on air quality, he was the first person to use the term “acid rain”.  We heard the history of the UK sulphurous smogs including the great London Smog from Friday 5 December to Tuesday 9 December 1952.  About 4,000 people were known to have died as a result of the fog, but it was likely to have been man...

Court Assistant Dr David Lloyd Owen, Managing Director of Envisager, presented this fascinating webinar to a large online audience of about 75 from the Company and many outside the Company. David explained the background to and build up to privatisation: the Water Act, 1973 had merged 157 water and 1,398 sewerage entities merged into 10 Water Authorities (29 independent SWCs ~ 25% of E&W water). 80% of sewage was treated in 1990, 75% of treatment plants failed to meet their discharge consents. River water quality fell by 5% between 1985 and 1990. The EU was the driver for better water treatment and quality. The public share offer was 5.7 times over-subscribed.   A £1.52 bn “green dowry” was used to ease the cost of EU compliance. Net of the “green dowry”, the share issue raised £3.59 bn. After the 1985 drought Water plcs were put under pressure to increase their dividends and they diversified to increase non-regulated profits. The Golden Share was handed back in 1995 and ta...

Despite travel disruptions, the weather or preparations for a royal visit, a determined group of Water Conservators, partners and friends made it to Westminster Abbey for an amazing tour led by our own expert and guide Court Assistant Christine Jarvis.   In the Cloisters, Christine gave us an introduction to the fascinating history of the Abbey from its Saxon foundation to the present day. Moving to the Nave we learnt the history of the Coronation Chair, made for Edward I to hold the Stone of Scone in 1300, painted and decorated with patterns of birds, foliage and animals. We heard about the graffiti on the Chair from Westminster schoolboys and visitors including "P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800" carved on the seat. After hearing the history of and showing our respect at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier we visited the memorials to Sir Isaac Newton and other famous scientists. Our tour continued to the Crossing where we were we admired the Quire.   The origina...

I attended the colloquy today in the Ballroom at the Mansion House as the Worshipful Company of Water Conservators with the Plumbers’ Company will be organising the next one on 16 January 2024 and I wanted to see how it worked. It was organised by a private company, Astroscale, with ten speakers with four minutes each discussing the opportunity for developing novel finance and insurance products to support the development and exploitation of next generation space technology and in-orbit servicing, addressing the critical challenge of space debris.   They were lawyers, asset managers, insurers, economists, with limited science input.   Interestingly, looking down the delivery of the Coffee Colloquy programme there are no other Livery Companies contributing as organisers. The audience were predominantly from the finance sector although there was one university academic who knew about the science and practical side.   The real risk to satellites is not other satellites d...

The Master, Simon Fordham, Wardens and Court of the Launderers had invited the Master Water Conservator and his Consort to join the Launderers for their Service of Readings and Carols for Christmas – A Child’s Christmas in Southwark Cathedral.   It was a superb experience with traditional carols and readings including a Word for Christmas from the Very Rev’d Andrew Nunn, Dean Emeritus and Honorary Chaplain of the Launderers, and a guest appearance by the cathedral cat.   A cat appears on the Launderers’ Coat of Arms as they are considered very clean animals.   The Beadle also carries a washing dolly rather than a mace! The collection was in aid of the Master’s Charity, Pinpoint Cambridgeshire, that helps parents who have children with additional needs including dyslexia and autism and others as well as physical disabilities.   It was good to support them. We then adjourned to the Glaziers’ Hall where we were greeted with a warm and friendly welcome from the members...

The Consorts were greeted with a welcome hot cup of coffee on this chilly morning and had time to mingle before the Beadle, David Hasler, introduced them to the comfortably cosy Cutlers’ Hall, built in 1888 as a country manor house in the City for the Crathorne family.   The family still have a link to the Worship Company of Cutlers. The entire building was decorated beautifully for Christmas, with many nutcrackers, and fragrant festive candles. The family of the current Master goes back three generations.   Membership stands at 120.   We were shown the BAFTA award presented to current member Adam Gee, and portraits of several members who had been elected Lord Mayor.   Lord Mayors included Henry Winchester, who when an MP a few years before taking office as Lord Mayor, had voted against the Great Reform Bill, and thus had lost a vote of confidence, and, more recently, “Mulberry” Mais, a civil engineer whose design of bridge was crucial in the D-Day landings. A ...

Sean Comber is an environmental chemistry specialist working for Stantec, a global community oriented consultancy.   He works with the sources, fate, regulation, and compliance of chemicals, primarily within the aquatic environment. He mainly focuses on phosphate, metals, and emerging chemicals of concern such as perfluorinated substances, pharmaceuticals and persistent organic pollutants.   He is Associate Professor of Environmental Chemistry in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Plymouth. Before this post, he worked for Atkins and WRc plc. In the webinar prepared with Associates in mind, Sean described recent developments in the environment sector and the many opportunities available to them.   As someone who has worked both for consultants and in academia, he gave some fascinating insights into the key differences, along with a description of his own experiences and the decisions he made. His talk was followed by some int...