154. Worshipful Company of Plumbers Banquet Mansion House 8 April 2024


My Consort Eileen, and I were delighted to join the Master and his Mistress along with other Masters and Consorts at their Annual Banquet at the Mansion House in the glorious surroundings of the Egyptian Hall.

In his welcome to the guests the Master acknowledged the collaboration of the Water Conservators in organising the Lord Mayor’s Coffee Colloquy on UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation. We also heard from the Lord Mayor Locum Tenens, Alderman Vincent Keaveny.


The principal guest and speaker was Mark Vessey, Professor of English Literature at the University of British Columbia since 1990. He was an expert in English literature of Shakespeare’s time and has an international reputation in Christian Latin literature. A focus of Mark’s work was Erasmus, the Renaissance internationalist whose curriculum became the model for schools run by Livery Companies. Erasmus's path-breaking New Testament was published in 1516, the same year as Utopia by his friend Thomas More. While Erasmus complained about English beer, More experimented with the hydrology of a fictional island roughly the size of England and imagined a modern political system owing nothing to the Christian tradition. Mark views More as a pioneering thinker on social/urban infrastructure. The London Banqueting Ensemble provided entertainment during the reception and dinner while their affiliated unit, Richmond Sea Cadets, provided a fine Carpet Guard.

Our grateful thanks to the Plumbers for a super and most enjoyable evening.

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