On Tuesday morning I had a meeting with Woolmark about the sheep drive in October. There are lots of areas of common interest, and they are holding their launch of Wool Week near Tower Bridge on the same day, with a reception in Potters Field.  It was very interesting to hear their plans and see […]

On Monday 24th I drove into London for a meeting with an old Army friend – it is always good to catch up with people from those days and hear all the gossip. That evening, Janet and I were invited by Alderman Vincent Keaveny and his wife Amanda to the Solicitors” Banquet at the Mansion […]

On Thursday night I had a most enjoyable evening at a dinner with the Wheelwrights in Cutlers’ Hall. I had been invited as a guest of Past Master Richard Proctor (Past Master of both the Woolmen and the Wheelwrights) and their guest speaker was His Honour Gerald Clifton.   We were sat at a very convivial […]

Tuesday 25th was a full morning of meetings with the Finance Investment and General Purposes committee and the charity committee. We welcomed Ken Ayers to the meeting and we managed to get a lot of work done before the inevitable thinning out of people who had other things to do.  The sandwiches were as bad […]

On Friday we had an informal curry lunch on board HQS Wellington for about 30 members of the livery. Chris Dancaster had arranged it with Mark Grove of Cook and Butler and we had a very good lunch with our guests.  With so much going on in the world I could hear conversations ranging from […]

On Wednesday Howard Venters and I visited RAF Brize Norton and were made very welcome. After initial discussions with Gp Capt Eddie Cole we were briefed about the new Voyager aircraft and then crawled all over one, including the cockpit.  we were shown the Joint Air Despatch Training and Evaluation Unit where they assess all […]

On Tuesday we took a couple of stands at the Livery Schools Link showcase event at Apothecaries Hall. There were about 30 Livery Companies there and hundreds of school children, who came through in fairly orderly groups and were very interested in everything on show.  And very well behaved! Bill and Jean Skidmore had spent […]

Thursday evening was the reception for the Reserve Forces and Cadets in Greater London at Yeomanry House, followed by a curry supper. The AGM part was a little slow (particularly since we were sat on hard chairs), but then the Lord Lieutenant, Sir David Brewer CMG JP (and former Lord Mayor of the City of […]

It was a great evening on Tuesday night when Janet and I were invited to the Joiners and Ceilers Court of Livery Dinner at Plaisterers’ Hall.  We had a very good time.  Jimmy Perry, script writer for such TV favourites as It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, Dad’s Army, Hi-De-Hi, You Rang Me Lord and many […]

That evening I went to dinner with the Saddlers at their magnificent Hall in Gutter Lane. I can never pass Gutter Lane without recalling the no doubt apocryphal story about Coopers and Lybrand (as they used to be called) who used to have their head offices there.  To mark their 50 years occupancy they asked […]

Tuesday was a busy day starting with the Spectaclemakers Court Luncheon at the Apothecaries Hall – the Spectaclemakers are based at the Hall. The Master Spectaclemaker sat me on his right, so I had a good view of everything that was going on; and on my right was Assistant Don Grocott and Col Stephen Foakes. […]

Back to the Old Bailey on Monday night for a reception and “Trial and Error”, a series of sketches about life in the courtroom performed by judges, QCs, various barristers and solicitors and also some professional actors. A rendering of Mack The Knife was followed by the trial if Major General Harrison, one of the […]

Guildhall was resplendent yet again on Thursday night when the World Traders held their 24th Annual Tacitus Lecture there. Angela Knight CBE talked on the subject ‘Is Energy Just Another Power Game?’ Although the short answer was Yes, as a master of her subject she went into sufficient detail to carry her arguments without boring […]

The Wet Ten livery companies – actually there are thirteen of them, all of who use water or are interested in water to a greater or lesser extent  – held their sixth annual City Water debate at Glaziers’ Hall on Monday. It was entitled Beyond Floods and Drought: Can demand management deliver water security? Professor […]

It has been a little quiet of late, partly because of train disruptions into Paddington and the tube strike, but I was up in London yesterday for the dinner at Guildhall to celebrate the presentation of a Royal Charter to the Honourable Company of Air Pilots (formerly the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators) by […]