Presentation of Addresses Ceremony

A short while after the Silent Ceremony Marianne and I had kindly been invited by our Clerk, Adele, to witness the Presentation of Addresses ceremony which was held in the upper foyer of Guildhall art gallery. This is a very strictly 'invitation only' affair. Both Sheriffs and the Lord Mayor attend since it is to them that the 'Presentations' are made.
These are presentations of gifts of appreciation and congratulation from members representing the various Livery Companies, City Wards, or other organisations of which the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs are members. The gifts presented varied from inscribed silver trays to decanters, pens, glasses and silver photograph frames. Each gift was announced by the Remembrancer and formally presented. Adele presented a gift as President of the Aldgate Ward Club. An unusual event to be able to witness.

Silent Ceremony

Last Friday the 11th November I was in the Great Hall at Guildhall to witness the historic Silent Ceremony when the new Lord Mayor, already elected, is officially appointed. Apart from a short declaration of office by the in-coming Lord Mayor not a word is spoken. The lights are lowered for an atmospheric occasion. It is one on which the new Lord Mayor is sworn in and the retiring Lord Mayor passes on his symbols of office to the new Lord Mayor.
The principal items passed include the sword, sceptre, seal and inventory of the Corporations possessions (for which the new Lord Mayor takes responsibility) It is a ceremony full of dignity and ritual with much bowing, or 'reverences' as they are called, as the symbols of Mayoralty pass from the old Lord Mayor to the new one.
The ceremony was filmed and Stephen Fry was a guest since this ceremony will be incorporated into a TV film about the City to be aired later and he will be the narrator. Study the TV guides!

Gardening Leave

It is a privilege of the Master to be allocated by the Marketors' Trust the sum of £2,000 for a charitable donation of his choosing. I have reflected for some time on the choice. It seemed to me that such a sum would be most valued by a small charity with real focus where it would have a greater significance than if given to one of the major charities. With this thinking in mind I have given the donation to to a small, fairly new (founded in 2007) charity called Gardening Leave. The charity aims to improve the mental and physical well being of ex-service people by offering horticultural therapy in walled gardens. They provide peaceful, unpressurised environments where mentally damaged veterans can participate as much or as little as they like in the life cycle of the garden. Many who attend at the sites have difficulty making the transition from military to civilian life and also suffer from combat stress reactions. Gardening Leave offers them structure, routine, being with like minded individuals , being outside and having something constructive to do.
So it was with pleasure that I handed over the Trust's cheque to Anna Baker Cresswell, the founder, at the charity's walled garden within the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. There are sites elsewhere in the UK and over the next 5 years the charity aims to open new projects in walled gardens throughout the country to bring companionship and reassurance to more traumatically stressed veterans young and not so young.

Garden of Remembrance St Pauls

The City's Garden of Remembrance Service was held on Monday in the Garden on the North East side of St Paul's . Unlike last year the weather was clement. I was privileged to be there.
We gathered in the Crypt to begin and after refreshments were briefly addressed by the President of the Royal British Legion, John Kiszely. Explaining that this event was very well attended, as indeed it was, he commented wittily that there were even people camping outside to try and get in. . More seriously he told us that the annual one day collection in the stations and streets of the City had raised over £400k significantly more than the £250k raised last year.
The service in the garden was short but moving with the band of the Scots Guards and the Royal British Legion Flag Bearers adding to the occasion. The crosses on the Remembrance Garden lawn were planted by representatives of almost all the 108 Livery Companies together with representatives of of other City Organisations.
The service finished with the Kohima Prayer :

''When you go home, tell them of us and say,

For your tomorrow we gave our today''

It was a ceremony that allowed all who were there to reflect and demonstrate in a small way gratitude for the sacrifices made on our behalf in the past and today

At Home

My wife Marianne, our Clerk Adele, and I went to a very happy ''At Home'' in the Egyptian room of the Mansion House last Thursday at the invitation of Lady Mayoress Barbara Bear. It sandwiches, cakes and tea which never stopped coming. There were quite a few Masters of other Companies there whom I knew but in the main they had recently become Past Masters. It is very common that Masters' years end in the autumn.We are unusual in having a middle of January change of Master.

I was able to chat to Barbara Bear and it was the perfect opportunity for me to give her the cheque for all the money that was raised in our Prize Draw for 'Bullet Bear'. As the afternoon went on champagne duly appeared. There were no speeches, it was a simple and informal affair and all the better for that.

Miss World :Beauty with a Purpose

If you are a man you might think 'Miss World' is frothy fun with very attractive girls; if you are a woman your feminist hackles might rise with a feeling that naive young women are being exploited. Both wrong. Very wrong. At the heart of Miss World is the charity, Beauty with a Purpose, which works tirelessly across the world and raises hundred of millions of pounds mainly for the benefit of disadvantaged children. From funding cleft palate teams in South America, Russia and Sri Lanka, supporting the Nelson Mandela Trust in South Africa to fund raising for the Vietnamese Red Cross and special childrens' villages catering for abandoned and neglected children the charity operates world wide. Miss World Country representatives actively support and promote these charitable causes and raise funds in their own countries.

All this has been instigated and is run by the charming but irrepressible Julia Morley, a long standing member of the Marketors. Why she has not received public recognition for her colossal charitable efforts I do not know. She kindly invited four of us with wives to the Miss World Charity Dinner on Monday night. The 120 contestants from around the world were there, the final of the competition is on 6 November. The contestants mingled and chatted with guests before dinner and sat with them at dinner. On our table we were graced with Miss Denmark and Miss Czech Republic.

Like all the contestants these were mature and intelligent young women. None of the contestants aspire to be hairdressers. Many are studying law and medicine; some are already qualified teachers; they are bright as well as beautiful. It was a very happy dinner which with a charity auction probably raised £100,000. Beauty with a Purpose indeed.

Halloween

There are now 17 of the 108 Clerks of Livery Companies who are female(and several Assistant Clerks). They met yesterday for lunch as they do every Halloween----as a witches coven (I'm not making this up, I was told by our Clerk). With great wit they decided that the main course which was most appropriate was grouse. 'nuff said.

For the avoidance of doubt, as my lawyer has advised me to make clear, I must state that the picture to the left bears no relation to any known Livery Company Clerks.