219. 2024 Brigantes Breakfast, St George’s Hall, Liverpool, 20 June 2024

The Brigantes are City of London Liverymen in the North.  They hold regular meetings and events either side of the Pennines.  A highlight of the year is the Breakfast, which usually finishes about 16.30 in the afternoon - definitely a late breakfast.

The event began the previous evening when Liverymen from the south descended on the city.  We met up with the Master Butcher and Master Turner in a bar overlooking Liverpool Lime Street Station.

 

After a good night’s sleep we explored the city.  Even at 09.00 in the morning it was quiet, obviously an evening/night time city!


We were the first on the red carpet.

The day started with the 2024 Brigantes Lecture, ‘The History of the Cunard Line’, held in the Concert Room.

The Guest Speaker was Sam Balls, freelance travel writer and former Public Relations Manager for 27 years for the world-famous Cunard Line.

He described how Cunard relentlessly captured the headlines over decades as it ferried moguls and millionaires, royalty and film actors across the Atlantic in ships almost as famous as the company itself – Mauretania, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and QE2.

The latest Cunard ship, the ‘Queen Anne’, is the 249th vessel to fly the Cunard flag and was officially named at a Ceremony on 3 June in Liverpool, Cunard’s original home port.


 The Principal Guests for the Breakfast included the City Sheriff Alderman Bronek Masojada and retired Old Bailey Judge and best-selling author Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC, the Master Pewterer.

The Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside, Mark Blundell, gave the ‘Welcome to Liverpool’, with Grace said by the Rt Revd John Perumbalath, Bishop of Liverpool.

Sir David Wootton, Past Lord Mayor and member of the Brigantes Tribal Council, proposed the Toast to the Guests.

The entertainment drew upon Liverpool’s rich theatrical, musical and maritime heritage, with songs from the Beatles and Blood Brothers. Brigantes member and Past Lord Mayor Alderman Sir Andrew Parmley played St George’s Hall’s wonderful organ for us with great energy.  It is one of the largest in the UK.

It was a great day meeting many Liverymen from different companies.  Thanks to the Brigantes and Liverpool for a warm welcome.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

230. Installation Court, Apothecaries’ Hall, 3 July 2024

Image
The Installation Court was held in the magnificent setting of the Apothecaries’ Hall. The focus of the Court meeting was on the growth of the Company and increased activity and income. The Company was very pleased to welcome Liam Hogg, Lee Morton and Gerald O’Shaughnessy as new Liverymen, and Martin Ballard, Avtar Jirh, Tom Morton, Michael Nates, Lina Nieto, Elizabeth Price, Mark Smith, John Ward, Judy West and John Wylie as new Freemen of the Company.
Read more

229. Sunset Cruise and Dinner, River Thames, 2 July 2024

Image
My thank you event for the Court and Company had to involve water, so what better way than a sunset cruise on the Thames!   I wanted a memorable expression of thanks to members of the Court, Past Masters, Fellow Masters, Consorts and friends. I took the advice of the Master Waterman and approached several companies to hire a boat for the evening. The first we declined when we found that the catering was not of the required standard. Everything was going well for the second boat until I advertised it to the Court and had more responses than could fit on the boat. So we got a bigger boat and filled it. The caterer was concerned how they could feed us all but I was confident it would work. On Monday morning I took a call from the boat company to say that the refuelling on Saturday night had resulted in contaminated oil getting to the engine and they offered a fourth boat …. the Wellington ! I politely declined, as I knew the Wellington would not be cruising anywhere. Eventually the...
Read more

148. The City Water Debate, Go with the flow: working with nature and managing catchments, Bakers’ Hall, Thursday 21 March 2024

Image
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...
Read more