Double duty with the Drapers and Information Technologists, Thursday 17th June 2010

A delightful day visiting Drapers' Hall, with its lovely garden containing mulberry trees - the fruit is used to make the dessert at their Ladies' event in the autumn. The site was originally owned by Thomas Cromwell (if you have read Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" you will know all about Austin Friars) but sold to the Drapers by Henry VIII after Cromwell's downfall.

From there a number of Livery Company Masters walked to St Paul's Cathedral for the start of the Charter celebrations for the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. This is a great day for any company and we were luck enough to sit in the quire stalls (between the altar and the choir singing the Evensong service). Many congratulations to their Master, Charles Hughes, and the Liverymen and Freemen of the WCIT.

Fire! Fire! Wednesday 16th June 2010

Visited the museum of the London Fire Brigade as a guest of the Worshipful Company of Firefighters. First established in about 1830, it grew during the Victorian era into a professional and effective service held in high esteem worldwide. The most famous Chief Fire Officer, Sir Eyre Massey Shaw, was even mentioned in Gilbert & Sullivan's political opera, "Iolanthe".

Most memorable item: the fabulous crested helmets, originally copied from mainland Europe and made out of brass (in the days when most buildings were not electrified). The crests were allegedly to protect the wearer from falling debris, but actually just looked terrific. Even in today's kevlar versions, the trace of a crest can still be seen.

Ironbridge Museums Weekend - a "must visit" place, 11-13th June 2010

Last weekend about 80 livery company Masters and guests, making a total party of about 150, did a whistlestop tour of museums in the Ironbridge Gorge. You must have heard of this place but perhaps don't realise its significance in our industrial history.

This is where, 300 years ago, mass production of iron started. If you have children doing GCSE Chemistry they will have learnt about blast furnaces (limestone, iron ore and coke) and at the Coalbrookdale Museum you can see the real Old Furnace built by Abraham Darby. Originally designed to produce large quantities of cheap cooking pots for the poor (it actually said that in the patent application), this technique crashed through materials science of the day and enabled iron to become the construction and ornamental material of choice.

And that's just the start. Spectacular tiles, pottery and the reconstructed Victorian town of Blists Hill, all faithfully reproduced and peopled by enthusiastic volunteers all itching to engage you in their stories. Don't miss it.
http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions

The weekend ended with an agreement to form a Masters' Association for the "class of 2010", as a way of keeping in touch with each other after our years as Masters are over.

Fellowship with the Carmen - 7th June 2010

On Monday this week the Master, Wardens and Court of Assistants of the Worshipful Company of Carmen invited the Masters and Clerks of the livery companies with which they have a close relationship to lunch. The Carmen were originally carriers of goods and were responsible for traffic concepts like one-way streets and taxi ranks. They now have strong links with road haulage and other forms of transport but they still conduct the traditional and picturesque "Cart Marking" ceremony each year in Guildhall Yard (21st July this year).

It took place in the Officers' Mess of the Royal Logistic Corps at Regents' Park Barracks - this was interesting since our "own" 151 (London) Transport Regiment are also part of the RLC.

Interesting snippet of history: traditionally the RLC provides cars and drivers for Royalty whenever they attend military functions, and provide The Queen's Baggage Train for the use of the Sovereign and her guests, especially on State Visits.

A (Chief) Inspector calls at Mansion House - 21st May 2010

Allo, Allo, Allo - what's goin' on 'ere then?

Last Friday, the City of London police, led by their 'Chief Inspector' (aka Sir Nicholas Young, CEO of the British Red Cross), arrested 19 Masters of Livery Companies while they were enjoying a peaceful cup of coffee with Sheriff Peter Cook, fastened a ball and chain around their wrists and carted them off (in a vintage bus) to incarceration in the Tower of London.

Prior to being marched out of Mansion House under police escort, each Master was carpeted by the Chief Inspector (complete with belted trench-coat, and am dram skills on full bore) and charged with trumped up 'offences' for which only the payment of substantial 'bail' (a donation to the British Red Cross) would provide release.

We were welcomed at the Tower by a Yeoman Warder - take a look at that sharp halberd he's carrying - to the astonishment of the tourists. They certainly got their money's worth!

After being kept for a couple of hours on bread and water rations (12% proof, deliciously provided by Pol Roger) we paid our dues and were released to endanger the public once again.

Together we raised more than £25,000 for the British Red Cross, the Marketors contributing £1550. I am immensely grateful to the Marketors' Trust and all those who contributed personally to ensure my release.

And what were the nature of my 'offences'? Suffice it to say that there was much related to the fact that I was "A felon, of the female persuasion!"

Shooting Stars - 19th May 2010

For the first time, the Marketors put a team into the Inter-Livery Clay Pigeon Shooting competition - a charity fundraiser organised by the Environmental Cleaners' Company.

From L to R they are Victor Chopin-John, Roger Howes, Anthony Fraser (team captain and Top Gun) and Graeme Doctor.

On a hot May day we joined 73 other Livery Companies at the immaculately-groomed grounds of Holland & Holland to test our skill against some hotshots - the Gunmakers' put in at least 7 teams. We didn't win any prizes, but we had great fun while contributing to the more than £40 million a year given by Livery Companies to charities.

A big thank you to Anthony, for taking the initiative. He even missed his lunch in order to dash across London to fulfil an Outreach commitment - a star indeed.

Scraping Facebook - ouch! 18th May 2010

Last night's seminar, well-organised by Simon Jacobs, attracted an inquisitive audience, ready to challenge our speaker panel on the use of new and old media by the political parties in the recent General Election. There were champions for each of three different views - that television, print and online media had been decisive drivers of the result.

As always, I learned a great deal - some of it articulating what I knew but had never put into words, others a complete revelation. Here are some of them (a little tongue in cheek):

• We change our government more often than we change our mattress; except when we need a new one, we take little notice of our mattress; a new mattress doesn't always deliver the experience we expect.
• Programmes that "scrape" people's facebook pages, can pick up their sentiments by analysing their vocabulary. A different sort of opinion poll.
• The Americans approach their politics very differently from the Brits: they like to join up, to act on behalf of their party or leader, to belong to the movement. The Americans spend significantly more on communications than the Brits and spread out their campaigns over a much longer period. We Brits are more cynical about our politicians ("politics is a blood sport"), more reluctant to believe the messages and our voting habits are very difficult to change. We tend to use media of all kinds, and our network of friends and family, to reinforce existing views, rather than to seek out new data that might change our minds. So the "Obama effect" would be much less likely to be replicated in the UK.
• Typically 20% of seats change in a British general election. In marginal seats, typically 10% of voters are considered "swingable" and will find themselves heavily targeted. Over the 5 years of the last Parliament, the total Labour vote fell by only (very roughly) 1 million votes.
• Young people tend to use the internet for entertainment rather than research.
• All the parties had online strategies, but they failed in execution - not sufficiently flexible to respond to fast-moving events.
• The most effective, memorable messages were either fun (e.g. Duffy) or contained a surprising fact.