Installation Dinner, The Chartered Surveyors Company, Drapers Hall Wednesday 17 October

And so to the beautiful and historical Draper's Hall for dinner to meet the new Master Chartered Surveyor.  Throgmorton Street is currently undergoing renovation and it is not easy at present to negotiate the barriers and roadworks to access the Hall.  However, it is well worth the effort! There is an interesting aspect in this respect about the history of the original Guilds. As trading activities expanded members of the Drapers Guild required a Hall where they could meet to discuss and coordinate business. At first they used individual houses but in the 1420s the Guild decided to build its own Hall.  This first Hall was in St Swithin;s Lane. The present Hall was bought in 1543 from the King and had been the home of Thomas Cromwell but had been forfeited to the King on Cromwell's execution in 1540.  Destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666, the Hall was rebuilt between 1667 and 1671, rebuilt again after another fire in 1772 and later altered in Victorian times.  I can well understand the importance of the Firefighters!  It is a Hall well worth visiting on the open days in the City. The Master, installed at the Court meeting prior to the dinner, Elizabeth Edwards, has worked as a Chartered Surveyor in the banking industry for over 20 years, in particular, working for German banks. During her time as a property banker, she built up a loan book with a value of some £3 billion in a number of well known London properties. Prior to her banking career, the Master had worked for PWC on the privatisation of British Telecom. I do recall Liz when I was at BT. I was hosted by the immediate Past Master, Roger Southam, who is a member of my Past Master's Association, formed when I went to Ironbridge in June. The Master's guest speaker was the President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Michael Newey.  I was most impressed by the RICS Choir who sang throughout the evening, revealing in music the history of the Master's career in true Gilbert and Sullivan style!

Freedom of the City of London Ceremony (Freeman Roz Morris) Wednesday 16th October

It was a pleasure to attend the Freedom ceremony for Roz Morris at Guildhall at her invitation. It is always good to let the Clerk know if you are planning to take the Freedom of the City of London and would like to invite the Master or members of the Company to attend.  Roz was admitted to the Company as a Freeman in 2007.  The short ceremony was conducted by the Clerk of the Chamberlain's Court, Murray Craig, who is an extremely engaging speaker on the subject of the history of the City of London and the Freedom.  Roz is Managing Director of TV News London and, of course, works in the media world.  After the formalities and welcoming Roz as the youngest Freeman, Murray had no hesitation in showing us all, family and friends, photos of all the media personalities to whom he had granted the Freedom to over recent years. 

Murray also regaled us with many both historical and amusing anecdotes of other Freedoms, illustrated by certificates and pictures galore of the past great and the good! It was excellent to see so many of Roz's family enjoying the ceremony with her, as well as a number of Court members. Naturally we all repaired from the Guildhall for a celebratory toast to Roz's progression.

Freemen of the Worshipful Company of Marketors take note! You join a livery company to become a liveryman, and you must first become a freeman of the City of London to progress to the livery of any company.  Only as a liveryman can you participate fully in the traditional life of the City - with rights to vote for Sheriffs and the Lord Mayor. 

Master's City Walk Saturday 12 October

Up early on a Saturday morning an intrepid group of Marketors and two very well behaved dogs assembled on the western edges of London to explore the beautiful and best example of ancient woodland in Britain.

Burnham Beeches is an area of 220 hectares, located close to Farnham Common, Burnham and Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire and approximately twenty-five miles to the West of London. Owned and managed by the City of London Corporation through the City's charitable trust, I recall regularly pushing a pram through the beeches when we lived at Dorney while bringing up our three children, near Windsor. In beautiful sunshine we were greeted by our guides, Jeremy and Jake, two incredible experts in ancient woodland management and preservation. We learned a great deal from them about the important art of pollarding,vital to preserve the beech trees, some of which have only survived through pollarding to be over five hundred years old. 

We walked some four miles within the woods and learned that during the second world war, at the instigation of Winston Churchill, it offered brilliant camouflage for military vehicles, keeping them out of sight of the enemy.

The management of the Beeches is designed to keep the whole area self sustaining, but also encouraging the natural return of heathers, funghi and wild flowers that would have been there originally. It was delightful to see cows and forest ponies assisting in this regeneration. 

 Famous for being the setting for a great many films including Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, it transpired that all financial proceeds from the filming traditionally went back to 'City Cash' until it was negotiated that this daylight robbery should remain with the Beeches management!  After our excellent walk in glorious sunshine we retired to the nearby Crown Inn for a pint and a well-earned lunch.

Fortified, we then adjourned to Past Master John Petersen's nearby home, Dropmore Farmhouse to have an offered tour of his extensive vineyard.  We learned a great deal about the viticulturalists busy year - wine making is clearly not just about picking grapes - and not only had the opportunity to test the sugar content of grapes for their readiness but also some of the possible leaf signs for chemical imbalance.  This vineyard was all the more remarkable for being fairly newly planted on former paddock land - it had clearly been set up with some considerable expertise and knowledge. It only remained to sample some of the excellent Dropmore wine - a white and a blush met with full approval.  10,000 bottles this year, I believe, will be produced this year. 

Retiring eventually to the house for a superb tea with Feona, we left after enjoying a really superb social day in the fresh air away from the City - which I suppose was exactly why Burnham Beeches was originally acquired for the people of London.

Dropmore - proudly shown on the map of UK vineyards

A busy year

A variety of grapes being grown

Busting with grapes!

Very neat well spaced rows

Sampling the produce - excellent!

St Florian's Installation Banquet Thursday 10th October Worshipful Company of Firefighters

Cutlers Hall is always a superb venue for a livery dinner and my husband and I were invited by the Master Firefighter Beryl Jeffery as principle guests, along with the Master Bowyer and Sir Nicholas Young, Chief Executive of the British Red Cross.

We were met at the door and hosted by the Immediate Past Master.  Talking to my fellow guest, the Master Bowyer, I was reminded that the Bowyers have the tradition of a Master serving two years, not one.  Whilst this helps with achievement of longer term plans in providing additional continuity, it also doubles the work involved and in a larger Company like the Marketors, this might be a challenge if combining with full time business commitments. 

St Florian is the Patron Saint of Firefighting, as well as being the Patron Saint of Poland. Legends abound of people who have been saved from burning after invoking the name of St Florian.  During the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians, reports reached Rome that Florian, a Roman Army Commander was not enforcing the proscriptions against Christians in his territory. Aquilinus was sent to investigate these reports. When Aquilinus ordered Florian to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods in accordance with Roman religion, he refused. Florian was sentenced to be burned at the stake. Standing on the funeral pyre, Florian challenged the Roman soldiers to light the fire, saying "If you do, I will climb to heaven on the flames." Apprehensive of his words, instead of burning Florian, he was executed by drowning in the Enns River with a millstone tied around his neck.

I last saw Sir Nicholas at the Tower of London whilst awaiting to be bailed in the “Jailed and Bailed” and we had a good conversation over dinner. He delivered an excellent toast to the guests, detailing how the Red Cross is increasingly working in conjunction with Firefighters and assisting with the practical immediate aftercare of those who have lost their homes through fire. The Red Cross was recently involved in the aftermath of the Nairobi shopping centre shootings assisting victims. 

It was interesting to learn that the Fire Brigade, a uniformed body, also has an official formal mess kit for officers as their evening uniform.

Altogether an excellent well organised event which was most enjoyable in a hall abounding with elephants and tusks.

Freeman Laurie Young 1955 - 2013 - Funeral Friday 4 October

Laurie sadly died on September 18th from a massive heart attack.  At his funeral his partner, sons and other family members spoke of having seen him as usual, with his wide smile and energetic conversation, literally on the day.  What a way to go we might say, but the sadness and feeling of bereavement hits extraordinarily hard to all those close to him when it is such a sudden and unexpected loss.  A hole in everyone's lives is created which we can only now fill with all our memories of him. Laurie was an international specialist in the marketing and selling of services, focused mainly on the professional services and technology sectors.  Having been a leading partner in PWC as well as having held senior roles with BT and Unisys, Laurie founded, built and sold his own consultancy company. He was a great public speaker and a published writer with several books under his belt and, I believe, a latest book shortly to be published.  He was also a friend to so many, including the Marketors, and we were proud to lure him into the Company only a year ago.  He was admitted at the Bowden Dinner in October 2012 and immediately became an active member of the Think Tank. True to form the funeral service started with the love theme from Blade Runner.  One of his three sons played the organ (having only ever played the piano) for the large congregation to sing Amazing Grace.  Several tributes were made from family and friends and at the end of the service, we exited to Eric Idle's 'Always look on the bright side of Life' - and Laurie did.

The Company was well represented by the Master, Wardens and Past Masters.  RIP Laurie, you will not be forgotten and are sadly missed.

Conservative Party Conference, Manchester Tuesday 1 October

As Chief Executive of the Industry and Parliament Trust I would each year attend all three Party Conferences. This gave me an incredibly useful view not only of British politics and the present issues, seen from different perspectives by each party, but an insight into the possible impact of political decisions made by the Party in power and how well MPs and MEPs understand the potential impact on business.  As time was very limited I attended a wonderfully spirited session on the political scene chaired by Eleanor Laing MP, who had presented me with the Voluntary Sector Achiever of the Year Award in 2007. Sir Robert Worcester, an old friend and founder of MORI, who attended my installation, provided his usual wonderful insights into elections past, present and future, with Fraser Nelson, editor of the Spectator, giving an entertaining commentary. Over supper afterwards, the conversation ran on to discussion about the next two years and the view I had expressed to the Home Secretary, when with us at Merchant Taylors Hall in January. Nobody votes for a coalition and there needs to be a visible degree of separation between parties evidenced well before the five years are up. I then moved on to discuss European matters in which I make every effort to remain well versed. The City of London is not complacent about the risks of leaving the EU and the possible loss of the foreign banks.  If the UK pulls out we would have to abide by single market rules without any of the benefit and with no influence. The EU could bring in legal rules to protect itself from the City of London. The risk in not being part of the debate is substantial and the competitive agenda is vital to the whole of Europe. The burden on SMEs could be intolerable.  I pointed out that the principle of free movement of people and goods across Europe is not something business or individuals would at all wish to lose.  A salesman commented that he only exists because he can load up his car with product and sell easily across so many countries. British Citizens being stopped at borders would not go down well with the general public, now accustomed to easy entry and departure to so many holiday and business locations.  The UK would lose the considerable political, social and economic benefits which are generated by our membership of the EU.  Focus, as we know, on the costs of membership obscures the fact that a UK outside the EU cannot expect cost-free access.  My last port of call at the Conference was to listen to Boris Johnson, prior to returning to London by train for the Marketors visit to Lambeth Palace followed by dinner at Mansion House with the Lord Mayor in the company of two most distinguished people - Oxford Professor of the History of the Church, Diarmaid MacCulloch and Lord Peter Hennesey, English historian of Government.

Marketors Visit to Lambeth Palace Tuesday 1st October

Being long involved in the Church of England, Lambeth Palace is no stranger to me.  It plays a critical symbolic role in the church as the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury and every ten years we hold the Lambeth Conference - no longer held at Lambeth but retaining the name.

Its position on the South Bank of the river, opposite Parliament, is itself symbolic.  Built well before Westminster or Lambeth Bridges, it was accessed by water and old pictures show it lying directly alongside the Thames which was then rather wider than now.    It is an odd mixture of buildings all built at different times and in different styles, but together makes up a fascinating place architectually to visit.

The corridors and rooms befittingly are large but modest in their furnishing. Whilst a Palace, it is not built so much as to impress but to stand as the geographical and management centre of the Church of England and to an extent, also the spiritual home of the Anglican Communion.   Portraits of successive Archbishops line the walls, including a new one of Rowan Williams I had not seen before.  We visited two chapels, one sitting directly above another where those based at Lambeth come for daily services.

Unfortunately, the Palace is currently partly covered externally in scaffolding as its stonework undergoes restoration.  Our guide Kate was most informative and the Marketors were most appreciative of the chance to see inside this fascinating and iconic building.

Marketors at the start of our tour of Lambeth Palace