Reflections on being Master

I was warned that there was nothing so ex- as an Immediate Past Master. I am therefore particularly grateful to my successor for inviting me to contribute this article to the newsletter – a small reflection, perhaps, of how well the Master and Wardens worked as a team last year.

As the Mastership of the Company would be a one-off experience I was determined to make the most of it, by attending as many functions as I could and by giving it my best shot.  I was lucky enough to be able to retire from private practice during the year and have the opportunity to plan for, attend and enjoy events without worrying about the day to day exigencies of professional practice in a City firm. There were inevitably clashes of dates, but I was a guest - sometimes more than once - of more than twenty other Companies at a variety of different events. I have particularly fond memories of singing lustily the Fanmakers’ Anthem in the Crypt of St Paul’s at their tercentenary celebrations, attending a magnificent banquet at the Mansion House hosted by the Lord Mayor, eating lunch at the Old Bailey with one of the Sheriffs and the judges (all of whom sat at the table with their wigs on), visiting Bart’s and driving sheep across London Bridge in support of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal.

 I was lucky to have Jenny’s active and willing support during the year. She was determined to do her bit, as shown by her charity run in May and all the training she put into that. She was able to be with me on a number of occasions but flew solo too when she attended the first-ever Lunch for Mistresses and Escorts of the Modern Livery Companies in the middle of October. This was in the presence of the Lady Mayoress and the Sheriffs’ wives and, by all accounts, a great success!

I have enjoyed the year enormously, and so too has Jenny – and we hope the members of the Company have done so too!   We enjoyed it because of the friendship shown to us by many on the Livery circuit and because the Company has functioned effectively in a number of different ways – a provocative and entertaining Lecture by Professor Phillip Capper, the recruitment of seven new Apprentices, participation in the Financial Services Group, support for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal and the Financial Literacy Campaign, the establishment of firm ties with H M S Mersey, the Charity Concert and a varied and well-supported social programme. It was particularly good to see some of those less active members in the Company (besides our regulars) joining in. I recall inroducing Gaye to one of our very long-standing Liverymen at one of our evening events – she had not met him before. On that day the myth the Clerk knows everything about the Company was exploded, at least as far as I was concerned!

Above all we enjoyed the year because we had so much fun. That does not mean to say that there were no hitches along the way. Having to find a speaker at short notice, just as I was about to take a week’s holiday abroad, lying in bed with ‘flu in the run up to the Livery Banquet and wondering whether I would make it on the night , being told by the singers in no uncertain terms that they needed a piano at the Italian Supper Evening  just ten minutes before they were due to perform  (and without any prior warning) and finding that St Mary le Bow was double-booked for the date set for the Annual  Church Service are just a few which spring to mind (but there were more!)

I take this opportunity to thank all members (and the Clerk, Chaplain and Beadle, of course) again for making 2008-9 such a happy and memorable year for Jenny and myself.