Master Water Conservator

The Modern Liveries’ Dinner is the opportunity for existing Masters to introduce their senior Wardens to other Masters and Wardens.   It is a relatively informal evening with a lot of fun and enthusiasm as befits the modern Livery Companies.    The evening is hosted in turn by each of the 33 Companies and we also welcome the Companies without Livery and the Guilds.   This time there was no seating plan and we ended up in a completely random arrangement that worked. The response to the toasts was given by Joanna Hughes, Founder and Director of Joanna Hughes Solicitor Apprenticeships who spoke about, you guessed it, solicitor apprenticeships.   It was a fascinating example of how the Livery and the major legal companies have worked together to support young people joining the profession. The response on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Solicitors was given by the Master.   I was going to precis it but the Master was good enough to share it with me so i...

The Security Professionals joined with the Management Consultants and the Security Institute in a joint celebration for their 25, 20 & 25 year anniversaries in a Banquet in the presence of the Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress and Sheriff, Dame Susan Langley.   My consort, Eileen, and I were invited to join the celebration with many other Livery masters.   We had speeches from both the Master Management Consultant and Master Security Professional (pictured) as well as a toast from the Chair of the Security Institute.   The response to the toasts was given by the Lord Mayor, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli. Air Vice Marshal Mick Smeath CBE gave the principal address.   He has extensive staff experience in the Ministry of Defence having completed tours in several areas including operations, capability development and people.   He spent two years as the Principal Staff Officer to the UK Chief of the Defence Staff.   He was subsequently promoted and appointed...

Our Livery Company has had strong links with the Master Mariners’ Company, not only because of the mutual interest in water but also as they looked after our regalia, provided a post office address and hosted many Company events. When the Mariners left HQS Wellington we also parted company with the ship but have retained regular connections with the Mariners. Our Clerk and I were invited to their Livery Court Luncheon for Masters and Clerks.   It was an impressive event in the striking Tallow Chandlers’ Hall with many Masters, Clerks and Mariners present.   We started with a Grace based on a poem by John Masefield Let us give thanks for safety from the sea, and for this bread with these our gathered friends. May the light guide us till our sailing ends. After lunch the Master gave us a history of the Company which started with a dinner in Liverpool on 2 March 1921.   The Company was formed in June 1926 and the Company had the status of Livery conferred in 1932. ...

The Raleigh Lecture was created in 2018 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the beheading of Sir Walter Raleigh, statesman, soldier, writer and explorer.   Business then was 'looking ahead to Brexit and new trade deals outside Europe'. Students were invited from private and state schools to the impressive Drapers’ Hall to listen to three short talks showcasing the real world interaction of space and satellite technology with humanity today.   They then discussed the talks before sharing their views with an audience which included many Livery Masters.   As well as the business opportunities, it was very encouraging to hear from the students about the need for regulation to protect space.   The United Nations was cited as a potential leader on the regulation of space but with little optimism that it could actually enforce control.   Air Marshal Phil Osborn delivered the key lecture which was followed by a panel session of academics and entrepreneurs taking...

There was a great turnout from the Company and sector for the third in our prestigious series of City Water Debates.   Organised around World Water Day it was close to 1st April, the 50 year anniversary of the formation of the regional water authorities, based on river basins and catchments.   They are still the fundamental building blocks of the organisation of the water companies and the Environment Agency. We had a high profile panel of speakers: Bart Schoonbaert (Associate Director, Arup) Rt Hon Ruth Kelly PC (Chair, Water UK) Mark Lloyd (Chief Executive, The Rivers Trust) Richard Bramley (Chair, Environment Forum, National Farmers’ Union) Peter Simpson (Chief Executive, Anglian Water) They tackled a wide range of issues including; the scope for a different, less carbon-intensive and more environmentally sustainable nature-based approach for managing future water sector needs, with joint working by many partners, what are the best models for financing and delivering such...

The Foreman of the Guildable Manor of Southwark, Lawrence Day ISO CStJ JP, invited several Livery Masters, including myself and my Consort, to participate in a celebration of the 1462 Charter of Edward IV.  The charters of 1327, 1462 and 1550 were for the acquisition of the Guildable Manor and the further acquisition of the King’s manor and the Great Liberty Manor and of all legal rights in the three manors in what is now Southwark.  The charters granted rights to the City to take tolls and customs at Billingsgate, Smithfield and the right of weighing wool.  In 1462 King Edward IV needed money to defend Calais from the French and loans were requested from the City, which was the reason for the 1462 charter.  It includes a clause that no privilege shall be forfeited through disuse. The ceremony marks the City’s acquisition of Southwark from the Crown.   The City maintains a constitutional presence in the Borough through the Courts Leet.   Southwark is an i...

I was privileged to be invited by the Master of the Management Consultants to attend a meeting of her Ward Club.  The speaker was Lord Macdonald, a lifetime diplomat and expert on global issues, who shared with us his personal perspectives.  He chose to focus on Israel/Palestine, Ukraine, USA and the UK.  In each country he drew our attention to local politics and the rise of extreme politics and policies.  Because it was such a fascinating talk I have tried to capture what he said.  I cannot guarantee that I have it all correct! In Israel he drew our attention to the history and the essential support of the USA. He described the power wielded by the right in Israel and the impact of not accepting a two nation approach.   He could not envisage peace for 30 years as a result. His analysis of Ukraine started with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.   In 2007 diplomats heard Putin state that he had had enough of being pushed around in the Cold War. ...

I was pleased to accept an invitation from the Master Engineer to attend a reception by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) to celebrate time.   This was part of a series of experiments initiated by the Lord Mayor of London Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli’s mayoral theme ‘Connect to Prosper’. According to Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, time travels faster as height increases.   The experiment involved placing a highly accurate atomic clock on the 61st floor at 22 Bishopsgate, the tallest building in the City of London, and comparing it with a second clock located at NPL, in Teddington. NPL’s CEO Dr Peter Thompson, pictured above, announced that when the two clocks were reunited, the time on the clock from 22 Bishopsgate had gained an additional 100±30 nanoseconds compared with the clock that stayed at the NPL.   This was consistent with Einstein’s prediction that time does travel faster the higher up you are.   Mind you, you would need to ...

A key date in the Livery Calendar is the United Guilds’ Service in St Paul's Cathedral. I was pleased to attend on behalf of the Water Conservators with my Consort, Eileen, the Wardens and members and friends of the Company. The Livery were a magnificent sight of colour and history. The day started early with a filling traditional breakfast provided by the Cooks and hosted by the Plaisterers in their hall which must have one of the best ceilings in London. Eileen observed that it was probably the best breakfast she has ever had. Eileen, as Consort, was delighted to be seated under the dome in the Cathedral (and was wearing the required hat to be able to do so!), from where she could particularly appreciate the resonance of the magnificent organ. We were welcomed to the Cathedral with Music for the Royal Fireworks by Handel followed by the Imperial March by Elgar.   An incredible trumpet fanfare from the back of the Cathedral announced the procession of the Great Twelve follow...

Until the last quarter of the 19th century the Lord Mayor hosted an annual banquet for the heads of the Great Twelve Livery Companies.   Today the dinner is for all Livery Companies. It is held to celebrate the partnership with the Livery Companies of the City of London and to return some of the hospitality received during the Mayoral year.   It was a great opportunity to meet with other Masters and Consorts of the Livery and Guild community. After passing the guard of Pikeman on the stairs, and being formally welcomed by the Mayor and Mayoress in the reception line, we caught up with other Masters to a backdrop of music by the Salon Orchestra of the Honourable Artillery Company. We then moved into the Egyptian Hall for a fanfare by the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry to welcome the Lord Mayor. Based on the epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren, the Lord Mayor spoke of the contribution of the Livery to the City of London: “If you seek a monument to the Livery, look aro...

  The 18th Ezra Memorial Lecture was given by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Professor Michael Mainelli.   The audience included academics and students, members of the Fuellers’ Company and other Livery Companies. Professor Michael Mainelli started by observing that, for a colourless gas, hydrogen generates a lot of colourful prose, from blue to grey, green, black, brown, yellow, turquoise, white, and pink, if not purple.   He observed that the profusion of hydrogen colours is due more to the optics of economics than science and engineering. 64% of oil, 17% of coal and 155 of gas is traded internationally. He then examined various energy economic aspects from production, to transportation, to storage, to use. Increasingly these economic considerations led the hydrogen markets to interact with the carbon markets.   He also touched on market gaps, particularly the lack of baseload markets for electricity and financial tools for long-term government policy ...

An important, not to be missed, fixture on the Master’s calendar is the visit to Treloar’s School at Alton in Hampshire.  About 180 young people, aged from 4 to 25, with physical disabilities and complex clinical needs, live and learn as independently as possible and achieve their ambitions.  With around 800 staff, 24-hour nursing care, all forms of therapy, independence training and education, everyone focuses on each student’s abilities rather than disabilities. It was founded in 1908 by the Lord Mayor of the City of London Sir William Purdie Treloar. The Masters of 35 Livery Companies, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress and Sheriff and Consort were given a warm welcome by the staff and students.   We were then split into small groups for a tour of the school.   Eileen and I were very fortunate to have a student, Archie, as our guide who wanted to show us everything.   The one challenge was to keep up with him as he sped off in his chair to the house he share...

I was invited by the Master Educator to one of her regular seminars on education-related issues.   The Master and members of the Company hosted Cara (the Council for At-Risk Academics).  It provides urgently needed help to academics in immediate danger – for instance those forced into exile, and many who choose to work on in their home countries despite serious risks. Cara also supports higher education institutions whose work is at risk or compromised. Cara’s roots go back to 1933, and the Nazis’ expulsion of many leading academics from Germany’s universities. The main speaker was Stephen Wordsworth, Executive Director of Cara since 2012.   Previously he was a career member of the UK Diplomatic Service, his last two appointments being in Moscow and Belgrade.   He was appointed Chancellor of Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2022. He told us about Cara’s Fellowship Programme.   “It has been developed in close partnership with 135 UK universities and ...

This webinar followed seamlessly from the dinner with Sir John Armitt on infrastructure.   In order to meet the needs of customers and the environment there will need to be significant investment over the coming decades in the water sector in England and Wales. Helen noted that the sector has various innovative and successful commercial models available for the financing and funding of major projects, such as the model developed for the Thames Tideway Tunnel. She explored and explained the key features of these models, their evolution over time and the application of these models in other sectors.

The Venice Bienniale is well-known.   Within the City of London, another artistic bienniale is the famed Basketry Showcase – so good that Masters, Consorts and other members of the Livery braved the very wet weather to visit the Dutch Church at Austin Friars for this unusual exhibition of an ancient craft - the oldest known baskets were found at Fayum in Egypt and dated to c10,000BC.   Rather more recently (!), the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers was formally constituted by the Court of Aldermen in 1569 to help support the trade.   The familiar figures of the defenders of London, Gog and Magog, at the head of the Lord Mayor’s Parade were made by the Basketmakers. The entrance to the church was appropriately flanked by sheaves of reeds, and we were greeted by ladies in traditional 16 th century Dutch dress. Inside, an amazing variety of basketry awaited us, from the small (woven cord tassels for keyrings, and wicker birds on sticks to enhance a dried flower display...

This was another in the series of Lord Mayor's Coffee Colloquies held at Mansion House, promoting connections that help address the leading issues of the day.   This was the first led by the Royal Society and discussed how to align better the needs of the economy with the capabilities of the planet.   It concentrated on how and where to direct capital at the rate required for nature protection and restoration. The meeting was introduced by Alderwoman Martha Grekos and chaired by Sir John Kingman KCB FRS, Chair of Legal & General Group plc and Barclays Bank UK plc. The other speakers were: Helen Avery, Director of Nature Programmes and GFI Hive within the Green Finance Institute; Tim Lenton, Professor of Earth System Science at University of Exeter; and Dr Steve Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer at Aviva Investors. Tim gave a very simple and effective demonstration of the tipping point with a Mansion House chair showing how our impact on the environment is c...