Every Basketmaker is encouraged to make at least one basket before taking the Livery and there was a display of baskets made by their Yeomen members. I was lucky enough to be given one as a gift - most generous.
One Past Prime Warden (Master in basket-speak) introduced himself to me as "An old Basket" which I am sure is a joke with whiskers on, but nonetheless fun to a new hearer. Another assured me that the Company had been banned from the City of London at one point in history because they were suspected, with their bunches of withies, of starting fires.The evening was memorable, not least because the Beadle asked my permission to use the table beside me on which to rest his block of wood. He gavelled with such energy, that the china and glass jumped and 'chinged' each time in unison, and on one occasion a chip of wood flew off the block. I purloined it (the chip) as a souvenir.
No comments:
Post a Comment