Annual Report - The Ironmongers` Company

Transcription

The Worshipful Company of
Ironmongers
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 - 2013
The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers 2012-2013
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Contents
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4
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7
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10
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13
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Master and Wardens
Message from the
Immediate Past Master
Foreward from the Master
Message from the Clerk
The Refurbished display of the
Ironmongers’ Company
Riot & Revolution
The Regiment
The Homes Committee
Betton’s and Appeals Committee
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16
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25
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27
29
30
The Wine Committee
The Iron Committee
The Ironmongers’ Foundation
The Ironmongers’ Foundation:
Scholarship Scheme
Sir Robert Geffery’s School
Warden of the Livery & Yeomanry
Artists Represented at the Hall
News and Snippets
Our Girl in Afghanistan
Ironmongers Golfing Society
31 Great X11 Sailing Challenge
32 Inter Livery Ski Championships
33 General Manager’s Report
35 The Beadle at Work
36 New Freemen in 2012/13
37 New Liverymen in 2012/13
38Obituaries
39 Officers and Staff, Master’s Day 2013
40 Summary Financial Statement
The Court, Master’s Day 2013
Back Row: T R Boddy; J P Hudson; D J Worlidge; J A Biles; D J Liming; R P Slade;
Middle Row: Colonel H P D Massey, Clerk; H S Johnson; A R P Carden; Sir Graeme Davies; R C Poulton; A G Wauchope; R C R Twallin;
H J Charnaud; Maj-Gen P A J Cordingley; M A Hudson, J A Oliver, S Walby, Beadle;
Front Row: A H Boddy; R H Hunting; Sir Christopher Slade; A M Carter-Clout, Senior Warden, R J Patteson-Knight, Master; G A Bastin,
Junior Warden; B J Livingston; S D Apsley; W L Weller.
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Master 2012,
Master and Wardens 2013-2014
JONATHAN HUDSON,
MASTER, 2012
Jonny Hudson
became a Freeman
of the Company in
1967. He joined the
Livery in 1979 and
was admitted to
the Court in 1998.
He subsequently
became Master in
2007. He is the
first of the third generation of Hudsons to
be Ironmongers including his father Philip
who was Master in 1963 which was the
Company’s Quincentenary year. Jonny had
a successful career as a banker, and, now
retired, lives in Oxfordshire with his wife
and two sons.
He was elected Senior Warden in November
2011 following the resignation from the
Company of the then Senior Warden and
was elected Master in May 2012.
RICHARD PATTESON-KNIGHT,
MASTER, 2013
Richard PattesonKnight was born
on 15 June 1959
in Hythe near
Sandwich, Kent.
In 1983, he
graduated from
Central London
Polytechnic with
a degree in Urban
Estate Management and commenced
training with Cluttons qualifying as a
Chartered Surveyor in 1986. He gained a
vast range of experience with the firm and
in 1989, he was invited to join Tops Estates
Plc, a specialist retail property investment
company. Following a successful career with
Tops Estates he formed his own Property
Investment Company in August 1998 and
has built the Company’s gross asset base
to a height of £50 million. Currently he is
managing a Joint Venture with RBS.
Richard plays golf irregularly down at
Sandwich and is a member of a shooting
syndicate based on the South Downs and at
home. He has a cottage on Alderney where
he and his family contrive to spend most of
their summer holidays.
He has been a School Governor and is
Chairman of his local residents’ association,
a director of his local estate management
company and enjoys gardening, collecting
(and drinking) fine wine and improving his
DIY skills.
ANTHONY CARTER-CLOUT,
SENIOR WARDEN
GEORGE BASTIN,
JUNIOR WARDEN
Anthony CarterClout was born
in Beckenham,
Kent in July 1948
and was educated
at Cranleigh
Preparatory School
and Cranleigh
School from 1957
to 1966.
After leaving school, he went to stay in
Germany to try and learn the language at a
Goethe Institut but decided the academic
world was not for him! He started working
with a small 2 partner firm of accountants
in Basinghall Street in the City and after a
while decided to take up articles with them.
The firm was later taken over by Hamood
Banner, a medium sized firm of City
Accountants, and he qualified as a chartered
accountant in 1974.
As the world of auditing palled, he decided
to look for work overseas and joined the
Ministry of Defence in the Sultanate of
Oman as an accountant in their military
engineering division in 1975.
In 1978 he returned to the UK to join
Allgood Holdings Ltd, the family business
of architectural ironmongery and was
encouraged to learn about ironmongery
and building and undertook to study for the
industry education diploma. To his surprise,
in 1982 he won the gold medal in the final
examinations of Guild of Architectural
Ironmongers.
He is now Joint Chairman of the Allgood
Group with responsibilities for all property
and legal matters for the Group and as
Chairman of the Pension Scheme Trustees.
He married Fiona in September 1992 and
has two children, Olivia (18) and Hugo (16).
He married Debbie in 1974 and has two
sons, Daniel (35) and Matthew (33).
Richard became a Freeman of the Company
in June 1994 and a liveryman in 1997. He
joined the Court in 2002.
He became a Freeman of the Company in
1984, a Liveryman in 1994 and joined the
Court in 2004.
George Bastin
became a Freeman
in 1971 following
his Grandfather
who was Master
twice in 1938 and
1939 and his Father
who was Master in
1967. After school
at Repton he was
commissioned into
the Tenth Hussars and saw active service
in Aden and later served in Germany and
Norway. Leaving the Army he worked in
Germany for Farbwerke Hoechst before
marrying Sa in 1970 when he left and joined
Babcock and Wilcox with the brief to find
German companies to invest in. He left
to set up his own electronic engineering
manufacturing business without knowing
anything about electronics! The company
now exports 80% of its products to major
utility organisations around the world,
mainly in China and the Far East.
As Warden of the Livery and Yeomanry
he became acutely aware of the lack of
attendance by very many Freemen and
Liverymen. He therefore organised the Great
Twelve Sailing Challenge as an event outside
the normal City arena that might attract
those who found it difficult to get to London
mid-week. It proved a success in getting to
know Freemen of other companies and is
now in its tenth year having raised money
for the Ironmongers’ Foundation and the
Lord Mayor’s Appeals. In 2009 he launched
the Inter Livery Ski Championships at
Morzine in the French Alps, aiming to
involve all 108 livery companies. The event
is now established as one of the major Livery
fund raisers.
George is the Chairman of his Parish
Council. Both his son, Alexander, and his
son-in-law, James Lewis, are Freemen.
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Message from the Immediate Past
Master, 2012 – 2013
J P Hudson Esq
The Immediate Past Master and his family
I was honoured to be elected Master
Ironmonger in 2007 but to be asked to do
so for a second time was indeed special if
under special circumstances. The last time a
member of the Company took the office of
Master for the second time was in 1970 after
an interval of 22 years when Oliver Stedall,
Robert Stedall’s uncle, was re-appointed
following the untimely death of Patrick
Harris during his Mastership. I cannot find
any previous instance of an elder brother
taking over from a younger as Master
Ironmonger. So this was a first.
Following on from the River Pageant
of the Diamond Jubilee last year, my next
outing on the Thames was the Fishmongers’
Race for Doggett’s Coat and Badge. Unlike
the Pageant, the Clerk and I remained
dry whilst on board the William B but got
completely soaked on the short walk from
Tower Pier to Fishmongers’ Hall!
What with the Diamond Jubilee and the
Olympic Games, it was a year to remember.
Team GB’s achievements were extraordinary.
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There were thousands of people who, having
expressed no interest in the games, were
glued to the screen and were completely
captivated by what happened. Of the 21
athletes we sponsored in collaboration with
the other Great Twelve Companies, 9 were
selected. Of these we now know that Robbie
Grabarz achieved a Bronze medal in the
High Jump. I had the privilege of sitting
next to Lawrence Okoye at the Olympic
Fund presentation and lunch at Drapers’
Hall in October. Having made a name for
himself as a discus thrower, he is now doing
well playing American Football for the San
Francisco 49ers.
Another highlight was to be able
to attend the installation of the new
Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most
Reverend Justin Welby, in March. Most
of the Great Twelve Masters and Prime
Wardens were conveyed to Canterbury
and back in a coach organised by the
Fishmongers. Needless to say, they laid on a
sumptuous picnic for us on arrival!
When I became Master in 2007, it was
the 550th anniversary of the Fraternity of
Ironmongers buying its first Hall on 20
October 1457. 1457 was also the year in
which the Company’s coat of arms was
granted by Lancaster King of Arms, and
later ratified by Thomas Benolt, Clarenceux
King of Arms. As you know, the Company
was granted its Charter on 20 March 1463,
so 2013 is an even more important year. Our
Banquet to celebrate it at Mansion House
on 19 April was an outstanding success. We
sat down 360 to dinner, the biggest party
to take place at Mansion House so far this
year. Of those attending, six were present
at our Quincentenary dinner in the Hall in
1963 when my father, Philip, was Master.
I hope that several of those who attended
on 19 April will be present at our 600th
anniversary celebrations. The event was
impeccably organised by the Clerk and
his team and in particular by our Social
Secretary, Catharine Melville.
When I wrote a piece for the Annual
Report last year, I said that, in looking
forward to the rest of my year, there were
several things I would like to see happen.
As a result of the financial crisis of 2007
and the resultant collapse of interest rates,
the portfolio income of the Company had
suffered significantly.
At a special meeting of the Finance and
General Purposes Committee in May 2011,
it was agreed that a significant proportion
of our investments should be realized from
our equities and bonds and re-invested in
commercial property. Yields on commercial
property are significantly higher and
successful investments should help to restore
our income. Members of the Property SubCommittee, under the able chairmanship of
John Biles and helped in no small measure
by my successor, Richard Patteson-Knight,
have spent a great deal of time and energy
seeking out suitable targets and we all owe
them a large vote of thanks. As a result, we
have made several investments for Ferroners
and the Common Investment Fund of
the Ironmongers’ Trust Company and the
portfolios are already beginning to show
significant increases in yield.
We are always seeking to improve
our income through letting the Hall
commercially. In spite of a quiet period
over the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic
Games we ended up with a record year; so
I wish to record my thanks to our General
Manager, Ed Bolling, to our Events Manager,
Paulina Sowa and our dedicated team
from Fare.
On the other side, of course, is the
question of costs. With the retirement of the
Finance Director in January, we took the
opportunity of reviewing our accounting
activities. Following an introduction by
the Chairman of the Finance and General
Purposes Committee, we appointed
John Hayes as our Finance Adviser and,
subsequently Andrew Harrison as our
Chief Accountant. Already, there has been
a noticeable improvement in the speed
and quality of the information that we
seek. The Clerk and Finance Adviser are
actively marketing our shared accounting
services initiative. Initial responses to their
marketing briefings have been positive
1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. He
was admitted to the Freedom of the
Ironmongers’ Company at the Court
Meeting on 6 June this year. Major-General
Sir George Norton KCVO CBE, General
Officer Commanding London District
and Major General Commanding the
Household Division, and the Clerk then
began to discuss the possibility of affiliation.
The Major General, as he is known, is also
the Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding
Grenadier Guards ie he deals with
Regimental matters on a day to day basis in
the place of (lieu tenant) the Colonel, HRH
The Duke of Edinburgh. On 28 May this
year, the Clerk heard from General Norton
that at the Grenadiers’ Trustees and Council
meetings the previous week “all involved
and I am sure that we will be providing an
accounting service for a number of livery
companies before too long.
In July 2011, my brother Martin
presented the Ironmongers’ Millenium
Prize for Excellence at the Joint Services
Command and Staff Course at Shrivenham
to Lt Colonel James Bowder OBE, then
shortly to become Commanding Officer,
were most enthusiastic about the idea of
an affiliation ….. including the Colonel.”
The Grenadier Guards is a modern infantry
regiment, despite being one of the oldest
regiments in the British Army and the most
senior of the five Regiments of Foot Guards.
I am in no doubt that this affiliation will
add a new dimension to our standing in
the City and I am delighted that the Clerk
has managed to achieve this for us. The
first material effect of our affiliation was
that Anna and I were invited to attend Her
Majesty’s Birthday Parade on Horse Guards
as guests of the Major General on Saturday
15 June – a wonderful experience. .
Then, on 26 June, accompanied by the
Master-Elect, our wives and the Clerk, I
attended the inspection of The Queen’s
Company Grenadier Guards and the
presentation of new Colours to Nijmegen
Company, Grenadier Guards by Her Majesty
The Queen in the garden of Buckingham
Palace at the invitation of Major-General
Sir George Norton KCVO CBE. I was
particularly proud to see fellow Ironmonger,
Lt Col James Bowder OBE, command the
parade so professionally.
Finally, on a lighter
note, having finished 2nd
overall at the Seaview
Regatta last year, I said
that it would be absolutely
wonderful if we could
achieve a Gold Medal
this year! Unfortunately,
that was not to be. We
finished 4th in the first
race but thereafter things
got progressively worse.
At least we avoided being
awarded the wooden
spoon! That aside, the
real achievement was to
assemble so many teams
and family from all the
Great XII Companies.
The week-end was a huge
success and the great
thanks of all of us go to
George Bastin for his
tireless efforts to organise
this spectacular event. I
am delighted to say that
by the time you read this,
George will be the Junior
Warden. n
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Foreword from the Master, 2013
By R J Patteson-Knight Esq
I am honoured to be Master Ironmonger
in this 550th year since the grant of our
first charter. One of the benefits of passing
through the posts of Junior and Senior
Warden and arriving at the office of Master
is that I have been given the opportunity
to see the Ironmongers business as a
whole, both on the finance side and on
the charitable giving. The Ironmongers’
Company is making substantive headway at
a time fraught with economic challenges and
yet ripe with opportunity.
Over the last two years strategy, agreed
by the Court, has been put in place by the
Finance and General Purposes Committee
through its sub-committees and driven by
the Clerk. This is beginning to bear fruit,
improving the financial position of the
Company and its Charities. I look forward
to working with the Court and Committees
to develop a secured future and a steady
increase in our charitable work.
The Ironmongers’ Company is making a
real difference to a great many people’s lives.
It has a wide portfolio of target beneficiaries.
The one feature in which the Company has
enjoyed particular success is its choice of
long-term partners for delivery of its aims.
For example, the Bettons Charity has been
supporting a number of initiatives at St
John’s Church of England Primary School,
Shildon, near Darlington since 2005, where
58% of the pupils qualify for free school
meals. In 2004, Ofsted noted that results in
English and maths were well below average.
In its latest review Ofsted describes St John’s
6
as ‘outstanding’.
Need is not limited to inner cities. Sir
Robert Geffrey provided in his will that
money was to be set aside to provide a
teacher at Landrake. Since that time the
Company has been associated with the
school and supported it through successes
and disappointments by providing School
Governors and some financial assistance.
In 2003/2004
the school was
classified by
Ofsted as a
failing school.
In July 2013,
Ofsted classified
the School as
‘Outstanding’
and also it was
shortlisted in the
Times Education
Supplement
Awards in
the Primary
School of the
year category.
Sir Robert
Geffery’s School,
Landrake is one
of the top six
primary schools in the Country! The credit
for this transformation is a very dynamic
partnership led by the Head Teacher, Julie
Curtis with her Staff, and the Governors that
include members of the Company.
It has been a complaint of the Iron
Committee that some conservation and
repairs to ironworks can fall short of a
desired standard.
The Ironmongers’
Company in
conjunction with
the National
Trust and English
Heritage has been
able to contribute
to and influence the
development of the
National Heritage
Ironwork Group’s
‘Conservation
Principles For
Heritage Forged
& Cast Ironwork’
which will act as
a guidance and
an authoritative
standard and best practice statement for
conservation works. This is a significant
practical and influential step forward which
I am sure will be used as a basic standard by
the Committee when assessing applications
for grants.
The Ironmongers’ Company has become
affiliated with the Grenadier Guards, a first
for both parties and a source of excitement.
There are many synergies with the Grenadiers,
and we look forward to a mutally useful and
productive affiliation. Of course this affiliation
will not adversely affect our relationships or
involvement with the London Regiment, the
City of London and North East Sector Army
Cadet Force or the London Area Sea Cadets.
In June, I gave the Company two colonies
of bees and hives, together with associated
equipment. The intention is to raise money on
behalf of the Foundation through the sale of
honey, and if in sufficient quantity, propolis
(an effective antiseptic) and wax to members.
We will sell nuclei of bees created as a part of
swarm management at auction. I am pleased
to report that both colonies have settled into
life on the roof of the Hall and I am looking
forward to taking a small harvest of honey at
the end of August, when I return to the Hall
after the holidays. I should be grateful if I
could encourage a few members who live or
work locally to assist with the work involved
with bee husbandry, which is essentially
weekly inspections between April and July,
keeping records. This is not onerous. Perhaps
this could be in the form of a Livery and
Yeomanry Committee, with the Chairman
possibly called the Beekeeper to the Master! n
Message from the Clerk
By Colonel H P D Massey
This has been a year of rebalancing and
consolidation for the Company. As the
outgoing Master has explained in his
message, we have rebalanced the Company’s
investment portfolios by diversifying a
significant proportion into commercial
property which is yielding levels of income
which will more easily allow us to meet
the Company’s charitable objects. And
with the retirement in January of the
Finance Director, we have consolidated the
reorganisation of the Accounts Department
begun three years ago. In his place we
welcomed Mr John Hayes as the Company’s
part time Finance Adviser, and Mr Andrew
Harrison as our Chief Accountant.
With these changes has come the launch
of a new initiative: an accounting service for
other Livery Companies and charities which
will provide a single accounting process.
It will be continually assessed to identify
improvements and ways to lower cost. A
range of optional additional services such as
statutory accounts and annual returns is also
offered. In other words a scaled service to fit
demand is provided, and our first two client
companies start with us in the autumn. The
Accounts Department has moved into the
ground floor of Ferroners House, the offices
adjoining the Hall.
Perhaps the most significant event for
the Company in many years has been the
establishment of a formal affiliation between
the Grenadier Guards and the Company.
There is a comprehensive article about the
Regiment elsewhere in this edition and
the Master refers to
it in his Foreword.
Particular points
to note are that the
Grenadier Guards,
the senior Regiment
of Foot Guards, is
the only Regiment
in the regular Army
to be affiliated to
the Company. It is
planned to celebrate
the affiliation at an
event in the Hall
during the autumn,
details of which
will be circulated
in due course. In
addition the Court
has offered the
Honorary Freedom
of the Company to
their Colonel, His
Royal Highness The
Prince Philip, Duke
of Edinburgh. It is
hoped that this will
take place at a special
Court meeting in the
first half of next year.
This affiliation is one
of which both parties
can be truly proud,
just as the Company is
of its TA affiliation to
the London Regiment.
The Company
has admitted 19
new members to the
Freedom in the past year. We look forward
to seeing them often in the Hall and trust
that they will be actively encouraged by their
proposers and mentors. The members are the
Company, and the Company can only build
its future through its current membership.
I would therefore encourage all of you to
continue to bring your friends to events at the
Hall with a view to admission. Few apply out
of the blue! Furthermore, existing Freemen
of two years standing or more are reminded
that applications to join the Livery are always
welcome.
In this very special 550th anniversary
year since the granting of the Company’s first
Royal Charter by the husband of the White
Queen, I wish to pay tribute to all the staff
in the Hall who work tirelessly and unsung
to ensure that the Hall and the Company’s
business in all its forms are properly run.
I started this piece with the Accounts
Department and continue here with the
Charities Department managed tirelessly by
Helen Sant who has experienced a huge rise in
appeals over the last three years. I am grateful
to her, too, for her quiet, sympathetic and
expert management of the Company’s staff at
its two homes at Basingstoke and Hook. I pay
tribute to our Beadle, Steve Walby, who cares
lovingly for the Company’s silver as well as
leading his staff so ably in the care and upkeep
of the facilities in the Hall. Our Archivist,
Justine Taylor, is responsible for a particular
triumph which merits the Company’s especial
thanks: the restoration by the London
Metropolitan Archive of the Company’s
charters and grants of arms completed in
January and now housed in their purpose
built chest in the Court Room.
The outgoing Master has complimented
our Social Secretary, Catharine Melville,
for her faultless preparation for the 550th
Anniversary dinner at the Mansion House in
April. I add my own special thanks for the
astonishing attention to every detail which
she applies to every Company event, major or
minor, and for the marvellous good humour
with which she treats every member. Lastly I
come to the Assistant Clerk, Teresa WallerBridge. She provides the calm when the
storm is raging! I am especially indebted to
her for her constant support and advice to me
over the last year; and for her sheer dedication
and hard work in putting the articles and
photographs together which make up your
Company’s Annual Report, and which I
commend to you. n
7
The Refurbished display of the
Ironmongers’ Company Charters and
Grants of Arms By Miss Justine Taylor, Archivist
Members who visit Ironmongers’ Hall may
have noticed that the Court Room now
houses a polished and refurbished oak plan
chest. This plan chest was specially made
in the 1950s for the storage and display of
the Company’s charters and grants of arms
with the help of British Museum staff. The
chest had long been consigned to the Archive
vault in the Hall’s basement but today each
of its eleven drawers has a smart brass plaque
summarising its contents and each drawer
contains a conserved and neatly-displayed
charter (or two).
The plan chest was refurbished by the
Company’s cabinet maker, Richard Chys,
who also arranged for the making of the
brass plaques. Conservation and mounting
of the fourteen charters and grants of arms
were undertaken by Paul Thorogood and
his colleagues at the London Metropolitan
Archives (LMA) in Clerkenwell. Some hidden
Perspex strips have recently been installed for
additional mount security by specialist mount
maker Colin Lindley.
After conservation and before mounting,
all the documents were scanned by the
imaging department of the LMA (who also
printed the captions) and, as can be seen from
the two examples reproduced later below, we
now have a high-resolution digital record for
each these important documents.
Packing up the 1241 Grant of the Manor
of Norwood prior to removal to the LMA for
conservation. (Photo © Paul Thorogood).
The 1558 Inspeximus Charter of Philip
and Mary and a small (probably dubious)
1555 charter of the same monarchs being
prepared for mounting on a work bench at the
LMA’s Conservation Studio. (Photo © Paul
Thorogood).
We are now able to display these drawers
and their contents more easily at Ironmongers’
functions and if members are interested in
seeing any of the charters in particular, please
make an appointment with the Archivist (on
Mondays) or the Assistant Clerk (on other
days).
Explanations, translations (from Latin) and
transcriptions of some of the charters will be
found in the second edition (1866)
of Some Account of the Worshipful Company
of Ironmongers, compiled by John Nicholl
(- this book can be consulted at the Guildhall
Library or via the Clerk’s office).
There are fourteen items and the two
principle items are:
8
Packing up the 1241 Grant of the Manor of Norwood prior to removal to the LMA for
conservation. (Photo © Paul Thorogood).
Drawer no.1
Grant of Arms to the Ironmongers’
Company by Lancaster King of Arms
[William Tyndale or Tendale], 1 September
1455; confirmed by Thomas Benolt,
Clarenceaux King of Arms,
16 [October?] 1530
This grant also conferred a privilege which
allowed the bearer of these arms on State
occasions to wear them depicted on a tabard.
Charter of Incorporation for the
Ironmongers’ Company granted by Edward
IV at Westminster on 20 March 1463
This is the Company’s first charter and it
has been sealed with a pendant green wax seal
on silk threads which shows the king as an
equestrian armed and helmeted figure and, on
the reverse, the king enthroned and dressed
in coronation robes. The Charter includes
provisions for one master and two keepers or
wardens, the use of a common seal and also
allows the Company to purchase, receive or
possess land and other property.
Grant of the Manor of Norwood in
Middlesex, to Matthew de la Wike, by Richard,
Bishop of Rochester, 1241
OBTAINING THE 1463 CHARTER
The first charter of the Worshipful Company
of Ironmongers (pictured above) was granted
at Westminster on 20 March 1463 by King
Edward IV (1442-83) in the third year of his
reign and during the Wars of the Roses (fought
sporadically from 1455 until 1485 between the
royal houses of Lancaster and York, the two
rival branches of the Plantagenet family).
Earliest records suggest that the
Ironmongers, then known as Ferroners, were
an effective craft body by 1300, when it took
action against the smiths of the Wealds of Kent
and Sussex over the quality of iron supplied
for the wheels of carts in the City of London.
By 1328 it was regarded as a firmly established
brotherhood, joining in the elections of the
City officials and choosing four of its members
to treat with the Mayor and Sheriffs.
Records of the Ironmongers’ Company
(stored for us by the Guildhall Library)
exist from 1455 when the two Wardens
were Richard Flemyng (or Flemming) (died
1464) and Nicholas Marshall (died 1474).
These two men, both of whom were City
politicians, aldermen and auditors, took over
an established accounting system and bought
a new account book and ordinance book. The
Company obtained its Grant of Arms on 1
September 1455 from the Lancaster Herald
and in October 1457 bought its first Hall in
Fenchurch Street for £100 raised from the
membership.
The Ironmongers’ first Charter of 1463
was the final result of negotiations with the
king and incurred a certain amount of cost.
According to the Wardens accounts of 1463,
Robert Bardesey was paid 40s. for making
it and for taking it to Edward IV whilst the
king was at Leicester on royal business. The
Company also had to pay a fine of £20 to the
Chancery, further fees were £8. 9s. and the silk
for the seal cost 20d. Other expenses included
boat hire, the enrolment (i.e. the copying)
of the Charter onto the Chancery rolls and
a supply of cherries and wine for two men.
There were other payments for legal advice.
The ‘speeding of the Bill of Incorporation’ cost
£5. 6s. 8d. and the Secretary and Privy Seal
were paid 28s. 4d.
The new Charter enabled the Ironmongers’
Company to be a corporate body and to have
one Master and two Wardens. The first Master
was Richard Flemyng and Nicholas Marshall
was named as the first of the two Wardens,
with Robert Toke (a City merchant and
ship owner), being the second. These three
positions were to have a perpetual succession;
the Company was to be called ‘the Master and
Keepers or Wardens and Commonalty of the
Mystery or Art of Iremongers of London’; it
was to be a legal entity entitled to sue and be
sued; it could have a common seal; the Master
and Wardens and Commonalty were to have
the right to make ordinances for ruling the
craft; they were to have the right to elect the
Master and Wardens annually; and the body
corporate could purchase land and other
possessions to the value of 10 marks (£6. 13s.
6d.) per annum.
H S Johnson Esq., Master 1998,
comments further on the background events
and the three men who were involved in
obtaining the Company’s first charter:
The grant of incorporation by means of a
Royal Charter was an exceptional privilege
especially in the case of livery companies
and was only made in the most wealthy and
powerful cases. Perhaps this might in part
answer the comment by Elizabeth Glover
(author of A History of the Ironmongers’
Company, 1991, p.10) on the surprising
order followed by the Wardens in achieving
the Company’s Grant of Arms, purchasing
the Hall building and obtaining the Charter,
in that the pre-existence of the first two
items may have helped to secure the third.
To buy the Hall without the Charter, with
its advantage of perpetual existence in the
Company’s own name, meant that nineteen
members of the Company had had to sign as
its purchasers.
I think it is time to pay homage to the three
men who created our legal being: Richard
Flemyng, Nicholas Marshall and Robert
Toke. In particular we should honour and
remember Richard Flemyng as the apparent
leader and driver to whom we owe so much;
in the course of eight years he masterminded
the achievement of the Company’s Arms, the
purchase of the first Hall and the granting
of the Royal Charter. He was one of the two
Wardens named throughout the Company’s
documented early years until 1463, when, as
we have seen above, he became the Company’s
first Master. As Member of Parliament for
London in 1459, Alderman of Farringdon
Without Ward in 1460 and Billingsgate Ward
for 1460-64, as Sheriff for 1460-61 and the
City’s Auditor for 1463-64, Flemyng enjoyed
all the trappings and status of one of the City’s
principal leaders of his generation, something
which was to characterise so much the quality
of a potential Great Twelve livery company in
the following century.
How did our fraternity manage to achieve
these three great steps in the midst of the Wars
of the Roses? Uniquely among mediaeval
kings, Edward IV in 1461 had usurped a living
king, Henry VI, who then remained alive and
in England for the first ten years of Edward’s
reign before being murdered in 1471. The
preceding and following battles for power,
changes of allegiance, arrangements with
differing French factions, flights to France,
Scotland and the Netherlands, and invasions
with new armies, would, according to my
schoolboy history, have made normal life often
impossible. However, a reading of Henry
Hallam’s Middle Ages leads John Nicholl in his
history of the Ironmongers (1866 edition, p.34
note) to the only possible conclusion that ‘The
trade and even internal wealth of England reached
so much a higher pitch in the reign of Edward IV
than at any former period that we may perceive
the Wars of York and Lancaster to have produced
no very serious effect on national prosperity.’
The infrastructure of law and order,
international trade and finance, and civic
oligarchic stability and power, independently
from the landed gentry, must have been so deeply
imbedded that it could withstand this political
aristocratic mayhem. Equally importantly,
the crown fully understood, supported and
encouraged a flourishing international trading
system which produced such a significant part of
their revenue. Indeed, Edward IV himself was
a fully-fledged wool merchant and exporter of
cloth and took personal stakes in ventures and
particular ships. No wonder he has been called
‘The Merchant King’.
Perhaps nothing can give us a better sense of
reality of day-to-day business in these otherwise
extraordinary times than our own Robert Toke,
including his experience of direct contact with
Edward IV, than the following extract from the
Calendar of the Close Rolls for May 1465:
To the collectors, customers or receivers for the
time being of all customs and subsidies in the port
of Gippiswich, and of the customs and subsidies
upon wool, hides, woolfells, tin, lead and other
merchandise in the port of London. Order to pay
to Robert Toke of London ‘ironmonger’ or his
executors 100 marks a year until 400 marks be fully
paid, and to pay them the arrears since Michaelmas,
1 Edward IV; as he was owner of the fourth part of
a ship called ‘le Margarete’ of Gippiswich, of which
the king has two thirds by grant of William Baldry,
and he purposes to give the king that fourth part
for a reasonable recompense; and of his particular
knowledge, being aware that at great cost the said
Robert was set about the keeping and victualling of
his part thereof, and that merchandise of his and of
others was there laded in that ship before the king
had aught therein, and at the king’s command was
discharged, whereby the said Robert lost the profit of
the freightage of his share, was hindered of the ship’s
passage to foreign parts, and suffered much damage;
by letters patent of 26 June, 2 Edward IV, the king
granted to the said Robert and his executors 400
marks as recompense, to be taken 100 marks a
year from Michaelmas then last of all customs and
subsidies in the port of Gippiswich and in singular
the places and ports thereto adjacent, and of those
upon wool etc. in the port of London until that sum
should be fully paid… [Westminster, 6 May 1465,
membrane 13, Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward IV:
volume 1: 1461-1468 (1949)] n
9
Riot & Revolution:
Sir Robert Geffery 1613-1704
By Dr Penelope Hunting
Geffery/Jeffery/Geffrye/Jefferys or Jefferyes?
Variations in the spelling of Sir Robert
Geffery’s name has caused confusion in
the past, so that was the first knot to be
untangled in the long piece of string that
revealed Geffery’s rise to fame, from modest
beginnings as a Cornish farmer’s son to his
appointment as Lord Mayor of London by
King James II in 1685.
The search for information about Geffery
started with a trawl through all available
archives and records at some of my favourite
haunts: the London Library in St James’s
Square where members doze in armchairs;
the National Archives, Kew, where
researchers are greeted by swans; London
Metropolitan Archives for those maddening
microfilms of valuable documents; the
British Library for the minute books of the
East India Company, and so on. The lack of
Geffery’s personal papers was frustrating.
Who destroyed his letters, known to have
been at Trelaske in the nineteenth century?
Similarly, his family records were casualties
of the bombing of Exeter in the Second
World War and, Robert and Priscilla
Geffery being childless, there were no direct
descendants with a story to tell.
Compensation came in the form of
morsels such as ‘Sir Robt Geffery to sitt
for his picture’ giving a date of 1693 for
the portrait by Kneller that hangs at
Ironmongers’ Hall. I hoped to find out how
much Kneller was paid, but the Governors
of Bridewell and Bethlem Hospitals, who
commissioned the painting, were more
concerned with the discipline of lunatics,
criminals, vagrants and ‘strumpets’ than
with book-keeping. Nevertheless, it was
noted that the sumptuous baroque frame for
the portrait was ordered in 1707.
If vestry minutes sound like dull
reading, not so. The records of St Dionis,
Backchurch, where Geffery worshipped for
fifty years, describe Geffery and his cronies
entertaining Sir Christopher Wren at The
Mitre Tavern while urging him to hasten the
rebuilding of their parish church after the
Great Fire of 1666. In wider spheres, Geffery
was an overseas merchant trading under
the auspices of the East India Company and
the Levant Company, and he accumulated
a fortune trading in gold, slaves and
‘elephants’ teeth’ (ivory tusks) through the
Royal African Company – details survive
about the valuable cargoes transported to
West Africa and the Caribbean. Enterprising
10
Sir Robert (he was knighted by Charles II on
being elected a Sheriff in 1673) also invested
in a trading vessel, the China Merchant,
which sailed to Amoy in 1685 to establish a
base for the East India Company in China.
Personal journals tell of encounters with
hostile Mandarins and the careful packing of
‘tcha’ into tea chests for the English market.
As Lord Mayor of London (1685-6)
Geffery dealt with anti-Catholic riots,
for which he was reprimanded by the
King: ‘Take heed what you do. Obey me’.
Geffery did not bend to James II’s will and
Londoners respected him for his staunch
loyalty to the City and the Church; even
prisoners he had sentenced to hard labour
referred to him as ‘good Sir Robert’. He
had a commanding presence and could be
relied upon to represent the Ironmongers’
Company on historic occasions: he was
one of the ‘most gracefull, tall and comely
personages...well horsed and in their best
array’ chosen to welcome King Charles
II into the City at the Restoration of the
monarchy in 1660. Geffery was twice
Master of the Ironmongers’ Company and
a generous benefactor: the Company’s
archives recount the difficulties faced in
founding the almshouses (now the Geffrye
Museum) according to the terms of Geffery’s
will (what happened to the two silver flagons
he gave the Company for their pains?).
Samuel Pepys’s diary describes a Geffery
as ‘a merry man’ with whom Pepys drank
‘a great deal of wine’. Geffery was also a
drinking companion of Judge Jefferys
(notorious for his conduct of the ‘Bloody
Assizes’). In 1688, when the despised Judge
tried to flee the country in disguise, but was
arrested and returned to London, he was
consoled by his friend, ‘Sir Robt Jefferyes,
Late Mayor, who cryed and came to kiss his
hand’. Both men broke down in tears.
In his old age and a widower, Geffery
continued to live comfortably at his mansion
in Lime Street where he kept a coach and
horses and was looked after by his niece and
servants. As the revered Father of the City
(the senior Alderman) he was still attending
dinners and meetings during his eighties,
exercising with the Honourable Artillery
Company and enjoying the summer months
in Surrey. When his health failed in the
winter of 1703-4, he was attended by the
apothecary Thomas Gardener and the
surgeon Christopher Talman. A deputation
from the Ironmongers went to pay their
respects to the senior member of the Court
in February 1704 but Geffery was ‘soe very
ill’ that he was unable to receive his friends,
and he died a week later. His will, written in
a fine script by his clerk, and his executors’
accounts, produced as evidence in a court
case, provide a wealth of information about
Geffery’s relatives, interests, propertyholdings and philanthropy.
400 years after Geffery’s birth at
Tredinnick Farm near Landrake, Cornwall,
his reputation as a key figure during a
turbulent period of English history is
now established. His life spanned ninety
years, six reigns, the interregnum Civil
War, plague, fire, riots and the ‘Glorious
Revolution’ that forced King James II
to flee the country as Prince William of
Orange approached London in 1688.
Geffery’s portrait dominates the staircase
at Ironmongers’ Hall, his name lives on
at Geffery’s House and Geffery’s Fields,
Hampshire, at the Sir Robert Geffery Church
of England Primary School, Landrake, and
at the Geffrye Museum in Shoreditch where
an elegant marble monument pays tribute
to Sir Robert, ‘an Excellent Magistrate & of
Exemplary Charity, Virtue and Goodness’.
Geffery’s biography, Riot & Revolution,
is available at £15 from the Geffrye
Museum, Kingsland Road, London
E2 8EA (Hoxton station). Or at £19 to
include packing and postage via
retail@geffrye-museum.org.uk n
The Regiment
By Major (retired) G V A Baker, Regimental Adjutant,
Grenadier Guards
The Regimental Marches are:
Slow Marches: The March from “Scipio.”
“The Duke of York’s March.”
Quick Marches: “The British Grenadier.”
“The Grenadiers’ March” (also used as a
slow march).
Her Majesty the Queen inspecting her Regiment as Colonel-in-Chief
The Regiment was formed by King Charles
II in 1656 at Bruges, in Flanders and has
fought with distinction in almost every
campaign since then until the present day.
Until 1815 the Regiment was known as
“The First Regiment of Foot Guards.” In
commemoration of having defeated the
Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard at
the Battle of Waterloo, 1815, the Regiment
became a Regiment of Grenadiers, and
was accorded its present title, “The First or
Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards.” It is
the only Regiment in the British Army that
has gained its title directly from the part it
played in battle; on becoming a Regiment of
Grenadiers, the whole Regiment was granted
the privilege of wearing the Bearskin Cap
and wearing the Grenade on all other forms
of head-dress.
The Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment is
Her Majesty The Queen. Her Majesty, when
Princess Elizabeth, was appointed Colonel
of the Regiment on 24th February 1942 and
held the appointment until Her Accession to
the Throne in 1952.
The Colonel of the Regiment is Field
Marshal His Royal Highness The Prince
Philip Duke of Edinburgh, KG, KT, OM,
GBE. He was appointed Colonel on 1st
March 1975.
The appointment of Regimental
Lieutenant Colonel is filled by a senior
officer, serving or retired, who has
commanded a Battalion of the Regiment.
Currently, the Regimental Lieutenant
Colonel is Major General Sir George
Norton, K.C.V.O, C.B.E.; he assumed the
appointment in 2012.
The badge of the Regiment is the
Royal Cypher reversed and interlaced,
surrounded by the Garter and
surmounted by the Tudor Crown. The
Grenade is the secondary badge and
is worn primarily as a cap-badge. The
Regimental motto is “Honi soit qui mal y
pense”, meaning “Evil be to him who evil
thinks.”
Today, the Regiment consists of the 1st
Battalion, Nijmegen Company, the 14th
Company (Training Company, Infantry
Training Centre Catterick) and the 15th
Company (Regimental Headquarters and
the Regimental Band). The 3rd Battalion
was placed in suspended animation in
1961 and the 2nd Battalion in 1994.
Regimental Headquarters is based at
Wellington Barracks in London and it
forms the interface between the serving
Regiment, the Regimental Association
and the general public. It is commanded
by the Regimental Adjutant and with a
small staff, it is responsible for organizing
all Regimental events, co-ordinating
welfare support for those in need and for
administering the Regimental Charity on
behalf of the Trustees.
THE FIRST BATTALION
The 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards is a
Light Role Infantry Battalion, based at
Aldershot in Hampshire, and its current
task is to carry out State Ceremonial and
Public Duties, predominantly in London.
The Battalion consists of 3 Rifle Companies
(The Queen’s Company, No 2 Company, and
the Inkerman Company), a Fire Support
Company and a Headquarter Company.
The Battalion has recently returned from its
third tour of active service in Afghanistan;
this tour, whilst highly successful in
operational terms, came at a grievous cost
with five Grenadiers being killed in action
or dying of wounds and a further 46 battle
casualties of which 14 involved life changing
injuries. One of those killed in action,
Lance Corporal James Ashworth, was
posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
for his exceptional courage on the day of his
death.
Lance Corporal James Ashworth VC,
Copyright Sam
The Queen’s Company is so called
because on the formation of the Regiment in
Bruges in 1656, King Charles II reserved for
himself the command of the First Company
11
that Battalion was reformed. On the placing
in suspended animation
of the 2nd Battalion, the
Inkerman Company was
transferred to the 1st
Battalion, but continues
to maintain the spirit
and traditions of the 3rd
Battalion.
which was designated “The King’s Own
Company”. The executive command of the
Company was entrusted to the “Captain
Lieutenant”. So the tradition continues to
the present day, with the Monarch as the
Company Commander and with executive
command of the Company entrusted to
“The Captain”. The Queen’s Company carries
out certain duties within Westminster
Abbey at the Coronation of the Sovereign.
The Company provides the Bearer Party
when the Sovereign dies and The Company’s
Camp Colour is placed by the new
Sovereign on the coffin of the old, at the end
of the funeral service. The Queen’s Company
Colour, the Royal Standard of the Regiment,
is employed on ceremonial duties only when
Her Majesty The Queen is present. On these
occasions, the Guard of Honour is normally
found by The Queen’s Company when
available, or if not, by another Company of
the Regiment. The Colour is only lowered in
the presence of Her Majesty.
It may also be of interest that the
Inkerman Company which now forms the
third rifle company in the 1st Battalion
was the Left Flank Company of the 2nd
Battalion. Originally, it was a Company of
the 3rd Battalion, and was named by Her
Majesty The Queen on 8th July, 1960, at
the Farewell Parade of the 3rd Battalion.
Her Majesty The Queen decreed that the
Company should be transferred to the 2nd
Battalion and should keep alive the spirit
and traditions of the 3rd Battalion until
12
NIJMEGEN
COMPANY
Nijmegen Company
was formed in 1994
when the 2nd Battalion
Grenadier Guards was
placed in suspended
animation following
the 1993 Defence Cuts.
It was named after the
Battle of Nijmegen which
took place in September 1944 and involved
the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Regiment;
it carries the Colours of the 2nd Battalion
and maintains its customs and traditions.
Based at Wellington Barracks in Central
London, it is an independent company and
its role is to carry out State Ceremonial and
public duties in London.
THE REGIMENTAL BAND
The Regimental Band forms part of the
Corps of Army Music. However, the
musicians who are posted to the Band are
very much Grenadiers in every respect, even
though an individual’s tour of duty in the
Band may only be for two years. Not only do
they wear Grenadier uniform, but they also
follow Grenadier customs and traditions
and give significant support to all parts of
the Regiment.
THE COLONEL’S FUND
The Colonel’s Fund Grenadier Guards has
been raising money since 2007 in order to
provide support to Grenadiers who have
been seriously injured in Afghanistan and
their families, and to the families of those
who have been killed. The Grenadiers
have carried out 3 tours in Helmand
Province and have lost 15 members of
the Regiment who were killed in action
or died of wounds; in addition, the
Regiment has sustained a large number of
battle casualties, with many suffering life
changing injuries. There also remains the
unquantifiable number of young men who
will have suffered mentally and who will
need our support in the future.
Whilst the Fund has raised just over
£2m to date, it is felt that more is needed
to ensure that continued support can be
provided to those who really need it. The
Fund provides financial support when
necessary but also, through the work of
the Regimental Casualty Officer (funded
entirely by The Colonel’s Fund) practical
help is provided and assistance given
towards improving the lot of those in need.
Thanks to the Colonel’s Fund and the
Regimental Casualty Officer, the Regiment
is able to provide a “gold standard service”
to its wounded and bereaved - and so it
should.
Even though the Afghanistan
Campaign is winding down, the effects of
it will continue for many years and it will
be the Service Charities, and those like
The Colonel’s Fund which will bear the
brunt of providing much needed support
in the future. n
The Homes Committee
By A H Boddy Esq, Master 1997, Chairman
There are 51 residents at Geffery’s House,
Hook and 57 at Geffery’s Fields, Basingstoke,
all of whom we are very pleased to have with
us. Geffery’s House and Geffery’s Fields each
have ten residents aged ninety and over.
Over the last year we have welcomed
at Geffery’s House: Mrs Beal from Hartley
Wintney; Mrs McEwan from Basingstoke
and Mrs Hammond who returned to the UK
13 years ago from South Africa where she
lived for 36 years.
At Geffery’s Fields we are happy to have
as new residents: Mr Willis and Mrs Smith
from Basingstoke; Mr Payne from Margate
(originally from Basingstoke); Mrs Van de
Merwe who is ex-Zimbabwean and who has
lived in South Africa for a long time; Mr
Gawler from Basingstoke; Mr Forder who
has been living in Exeter having moved back
to the UK from Tasmania where he lived for
27 years; and Mr Potter from Waterlooville
in Hampshire.
Major Arthur Hoare, a resident of
Geffery’s House since 1997, has gone to
live at Oakridge House, a care home. Over
the years Major Hoare was involved in
organising a variety of well-received musical
events at Geffery’s House. He always took
an active and lively interest in everything
that was going on at the Home and he will
be greatly missed by staff and residents alike.
The staff at the Homes has remained the
same. After two years as Deputy Warden
at Geffery’s House, Sandy Tyler-Harrison
resigned as Deputy-Warden at Geffery’s
House in September 2012 and fulfilled
a lifelong ambition to live by the sea.
However, she reapplied for her old position
at Geffery’s House in May 2013 and staff and
residents at the Home have been very happy
to welcome her back.
After 70 years of married life, Mr and
Mrs Rainbow celebrated their Platinum
anniversary on the June weekend that
the nation joined the Queen in marking
her Diamond Jubilee. In 1938, Maurice,
now 92, was serving with the RAF when
he was posted to Rhodesia. There he met
his future wife, Jo, in 1941. Now aged 90,
Jo was originally from Nyasaland (now
Malawi). The couple who have a son living
in Basingstoke, three grandchildren and four
great grandchildren, received a card from
The Queen. Family and friends were invited
to a party held at the Home.
In April of this year the residents of
Geffery’s House and Geffery’s Fields joined
members of the Court and the staff of
Ironmongers’ Hall for lunch at the Hall, an
event which is held every two years. It was a
well-attended happy occasion.
In May the annual Court Visit was to
Geffery’s Fields. The day went very well
and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy
themselves despite poor weather. It was the
first time it rained at a Court Visit in over
seven years. The food was delicious and
the garden looked beautiful. Tony Allcock
who looks after the gardens at Geffery’s
Fields and Geffery’s House continues to do a
splendid job.
The Geffery’s Fields Social Club has
been re-established after five years. The
Committee of six residents have organised
many wel--attended events over the past six
months including theatre trips, afternoon
teas, and a Christmas Dinner at the Red
Lion Hotel. n
Homes Committee Residents allotments at Gefferys House
13
Betton’s and Appeals Committee
By Major General P A J Cordingley DSO, Master 2010
MakeBelieve Arts – Boys project
Life in the Charities Office, for Helen and
Ruth, is never dull or indeed quiet. The
Company is now receiving three times the
number of appeals it used to get two years
ago. We have been forced to streamline
our procedures to cope with the volume
of requests. We have also devised a system
of scrutiny that will allow us to visit more
projects before deciding whether or not
to support them. As before, we continue
to look for projects that will help underprivileged children as well as those that give
benefit to the largest number.
During the year, we have spent time
discussing our two major partnership
schemes: one with charities and the other
with Church of England primary schools.
Three charity partners, Lyric Hammersmith,
MakeBelieve Arts and St Vincent’s Family
Project , were granted a further £43,000.
However, this is the last year of our original
commitment to them. They do flourish
and it has been a privilege to have helped
them. No decision has been taken yet as to
whether to continue our aid.
Our eight partnership schools are all
thriving and it is a pleasure to report that
our grants, although small, are well-used
and very welcome. But it seems that our
moral support which is just as valuable as
the money; as a result the feeling within
the Committee is that we should continue
our aid for some time to come. The Heads
of the schools came to the Hall in May
and afterwards one Diocesan Director
of Education, Andy Mash, wrote an
encouraging testament. I quote from the
letter, at some length.
14
“Because Betton’s has been content to
invest over a period of time, it allows a
project and its impact to become embedded.
It’s a key feature. It brings longevity,
durability and reliance, which is what
a school needs. As, more than that, do
children.
“The annual meeting in Ironmongers’
Hall is invaluable. It enables the eight
schools to come together to share dialogue,
ideas and mutual support about projects in
train.
“The Ironmongers are characteristically
modest about this but they should not
underestimate the impact and value of their
association with a school for that school. “
If that is very satisfactory, I have to
report that for the first time in many years
we are not able to afford to send one pupil
to Christ’s Hospital every year. For those of
us who have been donation governors this
(Above) Children at our partner
school, St John’s CE Primary School,
Shildon creating the Spiritual
Garden funding by Bettons.
(Right) Damien Dibben,
an internationally bestselling
children’s author, at Make
Believe Arts.
is a great sadness. We hope to rectify the
situation in the future but for now we can
only support one pupil every other year.
It is a great honour to serve on the
Betton’s Committee. We are always on the
look-out for new members who are willing
to visit schools or the projects we support.
It is rewarding and also, very often,
humbling. n
Lyric Hammersmith Youth Group
The Wine Committee
By Mr J S Dudbridge, Liveryman, Wines Adviser
Buitenverwachting (meaning beyond
expectation) Wine Estate in Constantia, Cape
The 20th century was a marvellous time to
be drinking wine. The grandest producers
had looked largely to the ‘western world’
for their main market place and traditional
merchants in the United State , Britain and
other Northern European countries grew
used to having more than their fair share of
the ‘goodies’.
Things began to change in the last
quarter. From the mid 1970’s onwards
came the extraordinary growth in ‘wine
journalism’
coinciding with the
expansion of the internet bringing wine
knowledge into everyday parlance. Then in
1989 came the seismic disintegration of the
old Soviet block. This led to the freeing up
of previously closed markets and at the same
time the regeneration of previously state run
estates and wineries.
Over time tastes changed and the once
widespread use of the top German Estates
declined in favour of drier styles. The ready
availability of the grandest domaines and
chateaux allowed us all to have more than
a passing acquaintance with the classed
growths of Bordeaux and the top growers of
Burgundy and the Northern Rhone.
The wheel turned and the rest of the
world awoke, and the Asian markets in
particular excited the producers. Not
surprisingly prices hardened in response
to the new demand from this increasingly
global marketplace. A timely reminder of
this trend has been with the relatively niche
market for Vintage Port with the 2011s
opening in the region of £400 whilst the
1963’s were sold for around £12 per dozen.
The main role of the Wine Committee
is the care and replenishment
of the Company’s wine stock.
A dry statement made more
palatable by the subject matter.
From a Freeman’s point of
view the success or otherwise
of the Committee’s actions is
in the glasses set out at one
of our dinners. There is a
natural tendency to drink with
our eyes, and so the grand
chateau name on the menu
card is an impressive start to
the occasion. Given the pomp
of a City Dinner and the
anticipation that the event and
its surroundings inspire, it becomes clear
that the fulfilment of this expectation is in
some part dependant on the food and drink.
Thankfully the Wine Committee only has to
worry about the liquidity of the evening.
While the top Old World wines have
been in the limelight other traditional
vineyards have re-emerged. They have
benefitted from improved vineyard
and cellar management. In new regions
the better sites have been identified and
plantings have already or are reaching
optimum age. So now from around the
world we have a huge choice from a
wonderful variety of wines which certainly
stand up in any company. Some of the
greatest names in Bordeaux and Champagne
for example own vineyards and make wine
in South Africa, Chile, California, Brazil,
China and England. With the spread of
expertise the technical quality of wine is
assured and the exciting makers will make
stand out wine.
The style of wine being made is to an
extent dictated by the market and the tannic
structured wines of old fit less well in a
world that expects immediate satisfaction.
White Burgundy no longer is safe to be aged
for the fifteen and twenty years possible with
vintages pre 1996. From the above it can
be gathered that our holdings in the future
might well have raised an eyebrow from the
Worthies of previous generations whose
shields line the Hall. What can be taken as
read is that even if the provenance is less
well known the wine will be interesting and
of top quality.
At the wedding of Alexander III of
Scotland in 1251 the guests consumed 1300
deer, 170 boar, 7000 hens, 60,000 herrings
and 68,000 loaves of bread washing all that
down with 25,500 gallons of wine. We can
safely assume the feasting erred towards
quantity rather than quality. n
Alexander III of Scotland
– the unlucky King
15
The Iron Committee
By S D Apsley Esq, Master 2000
Promenade shelter in Ramsgate
One of the more interesting tasks of the Iron
Committee is the judging of Oxford students
for the Award of our Oxford Medal. This
year the assessment of the presentations of
their work took place in Week 2 of Trinity
Term and twenty-eight people gave twelveminute talks over the 30 April and 1 May.
For the judging panel, Dr. Keyna O’Reilly
from the Department of Materials was
joined by three Ironmongers: the Master, the
Chairman of the Iron Committee and Mrs.
Mary Harris. As usual, the talks covered an
eclectic mix of subjects, some of which are
really at the forefront of current scientific
knowledge. The standard of presentation
was high, with a number of students being
short-listed before the panel reached its
unanimous verdict, deciding that Lucy
Durrans was this year’s winner. Lucy’s
subject was an investigation of ductileto-brittle transformation temperatures in
Molybdenum under different strain rates.
(Molybdenum is of considerable interest
for use in fusion reactors, which are being
investigated for future nuclear energy plants,
and its physical and chemical properties
16
under widely varying conditions need to be
researched).
The Committee’s involvement in
university education is not, of course,
restricted to that at Oxford. The Company
makes annual grants to the universities
of Cambridge, Manchester, Sheffield,
Birmingham and Imperial College. The
Heads of the Materials Departments ensure
that these (currently £4,000 p.a.) are used in
accordance with a set of guidelines which
they receive.
Besides its support for education, the
Company is deeply involved in the repair
and conservation of ancient ironwork and
at its May 2013 meeting the Committee
considered appeals for financial help
from seventeen organisations. With
approximately £53,000 made available
from the Ironmongers’ Foundation, it was
able to agree to contribute financially to
eleven of the appellants. These, of course,
differed widely. Amongst them were The
Ancient Technology Centre in Dorset,
seeking support for the manufacture
of replica Viking and Roman tools, the
College of Arms in need of handrails, York
Minster requiring iron candle stands, Fort
Amherst Heritage Trust seeking to restore
a WW1 anti-aircraft gun and a number of
churches whose gates and railings are in
need of repair. The largest sum approved
at the meeting was £10,000 for St John the
Evangelist Church in Sparkhill, Birmingham
(a very deprived area of that city).
In many instances, the rate of
deterioration of iron and steel objects
or structures could have been reduced
considerably by appropriate selection of
materials and development of adequate
maintenance procedures. The Committee
has decided that, in future, requests for grant
aid will need to show that appropriate steps
to reduce or prevent corrosion are planned.
The Committee is naturally pleased to
note the improvements resulting from the
Company’s generous grants. For example,
it was glad to receive from the Ramsgate
Society a photograph of a Promenade
Shelter, the restoration of which was funded
by the Company. n
By R C R Twallin Esq, Master 2006
Richard Twallin, Chairman of the
Ironmongers’ Foundation, Laura Hare,
Scholarship Student and Mr Martin Verden,
father of Julian Verden, Liveryman.
2013 is of course the 550th anniversary
of the granting of the Company’s first
Royal Charter. It is also fifty years since
the Ironmongers’ Foundation was set
up to commemorate the Company’s
quincentenary. The Foundation, originally
named the Quincentenary Charitable
Fund, was established in order to allow
us to support charitable causes and
other initiatives relating to the steel and
engineering industries, which our other
charities, Sir Robert Geffery’s and Thomas
Betton’s do not. Since its establishment the
Foundation has accumulated a capital sum
of £2.5 million, principally as a result of
surpluses from the Company’s activities and
donations from freemen.
Income for the year ended 31st March
was £166,000, slightly reduced compared
with the previous year’s £174k (excluding
extraordinary items). The Foundation makes
grants under three headings: ‘heritage’,
whose distribution is administered by
the Iron Committee; ‘relief-in-need’,
administered by the Betton’s and Appeals
Committee; university scholarships and
the promotion of engineering and science
to school students. Total grants last year
were £147,000 compared with £168,000 in
2011/12, the difference being largely due
to the reduction in university scholarship
payments.
The university scholarship scheme was
introduced in 2007, aimed at addressing
the shortage of graduates entering the
engineering industry. By offering financial
support to talented but financially
disadvantaged students who might
otherwise not be able to afford to go to
university, the scheme was expected to
generate high-achieving Engineering and
Materials Science graduates, ready to enter
the industry. The Foundation has made
awards to 22 students. 14 have graduated,
four with 1st class degrees, nine with 2:1s
and one with a 2:2. These outstanding results
are a great tribute to the hard work of the
scholars. They also justify the tremendous
financial support we have received
from our industry sponsors, the British
Constructional Steelwork Association, the
International Steel Trade Association and
steel trading company Stemcor, who have
shared our vision and enabled us to award
more scholarships than would otherwise
have been possible.
Following significant improvements to
the Government’s student loan scheme,
the Company decided last year to close
the scholarship scheme to new entrants,
although those who are still completing their
courses will continue to receive funding.
This has freed up money for other initiatives
including the encouragement of secondary
school students to consider engineering
as a career and to make the right subject
choices at GCSE and A-level, which enable
them to study engineering at university.
The fourth annual Serious about Science
event took place last September. Generously
sponsored by Stemcor and Platts (a leading
global provider of energy, petrochemicals,
metals and agriculture information) the
day was once again an outstanding success.
A total of 254 students from 18 London
schools attended a programme of talks,
demonstrations and practical work. We
were once again very fortunate that Kate
Bellingham, the renowned TV presenter
and STEM ambassador, agreed to chair the
event. Further details are on our website
http://www.ironmongers.org/company_
serious_about_science.htm and I am
delighted that our sponsors have enabled us
to run the event again this year at the Royal
Institution on 27 September.
While the feedback received from the
schools who attend Serious about Science
is good, the Foundation has looked at
alternatives which deliver a more sustained
programme of inspiration to students,
rather than just the one day a year which
Serious about Science delivers. With
effect from this academic year we are
therefore planning to invest £10,000 per year
in a schools programme, designed by the
Arkwright Scholarships Trust, which has
the same objectives as the Foundation; i.e.to
increase the number of young people joining
the engineering and science fields.
The Foundation has also decided to
support a PhD student at the University of
West of Scotland who is investigating ways
of reducing the environmental impact of the
steel production process, in particular adding
a procedure to the steel-making lifecycle to
reduce potentially toxic elements and recycle
valuable resources. Stemcor have funded the
first year of the three year programme and
the Foundation is proposing to part-fund the
second and third years.
I would like to reiterate the Foundation’s
thanks to our partners, Stemcor, BCSA, ISTA
and Platts, without whose generosity and
sustained support much of our work would
not be possible. We are grateful also to those
who participated in the Serious about Science
event, particularly Paradigm, the Bloodhound
SSC Project and the Royal Corps of Signals. I
would also particularly like to thank all those
freemen who support the Foundation, either
through annual donations or by raising money
through sponsored events (runs, bike rides
etc).
As will be evident from this report, a key
part of the Committee’s work is to decide how
our income should be allocated: how much
should be distributed in grants and how much
ploughed back into the capital fund in order
to generate a higher sustained income stream
in future years. The donation form includes
a field where freemen can specify how they
would like their money allocated. May I
invite any members who have not made their
preference clear in the past and now may wish
to do so to let me or the Clerk know and we
shall make sure that your wishes are carried
out.
None of our work would be possible
without the hard work of the Clerk and his
team as well as my fellow committee members.
I would especially like to thank the Assistant
Clerk and the Charities Manager for all they
have done during the past year.
The Company can be proud of what the
Ironmongers’ Foundation has achieved during
its first fifty years. I thank all those who are
helping make our vision a reality and urge you
to continue, and even extend, your support to
help change the lives of young people as well as
benefit the engineering industry. n
17
Scholarship Scheme – Our Students
SOME OF OUR STUDENTS RESULTS:
STUDENT NAME
UNIVERSITY
COURSE
START
DATE
COURSE
YEARS
DEGREE
RESULT
Louise Aspinall
Manchester
Civil & Structural Engineering
2008
4
1
Laura Hare
Imperial College
Materials & Nuclear Engineering Meng
2009
4
2:1
Edward Fitzpatrick
Imperial College
Material Science and Engineering
2009
4
2:1
Danielle Mew
Oxford
Engineering Science
2009
4
2:1
Steffen Hoyemsvoll
Oxford
Physics
2007
4
2:1
Wei Wang
UCL
Civil Engineering
2007
3
1
Richard Murphy
Leeds
BEng/MEng Architectural Engineering
2007
4
2:1
David Nzuruba
Oxford
Chemistry
2007
4
2:1
Mohammed Malik
Imperial College
Civil Engineering
2008
3
2:1
Alaric Taylor
Imperial College
Physics
2008
4
2:1
Raffaele de Leon
Oxford
Material Sciences
2008
4
1
Robyn Jackson
Sheffield
Civil Engineering
2008
4
1
Amanda Austin Arthur
Exeter
Civil Engineering
2009
3
2:2
Tony Trofimczuk
Bath
Natural Science
2010
3
2:1
JOANNA MAGUIRE
Civil Engineering, Birmingham (2010)
During my first year we were given basic
knowledge of all engineering disciplines.
However during my second year we have
become more focused on civil engineering
topics such as; soil mechanics, structural
engineering, floods and river systems,
engineering design and construction
management and practice.
One of the most interesting modules we
completed this year was ‘engineering design’.
In the past it has been a theoretical project
created by the module leader, however this
year we have worked in partnership with
Engineers Without Borders to participate
in their global challenge. This year’s project
focused on engineering improvements in
rural Vietnam. We decided to focus on water
and sanitation, implementing a clean water
18
system utilising rainwater collection and a
bio sand filter. After our final submission
as one of the top three teams from our
University we were entered into the national
competition and we were selected to go to
the finals. This means we were one of the
top 20 projects in the UK and Ireland, and
we will have the opportunity to present our
project to the engineers without borders
panel. If we are successful our project could
be implemented in real life. Furthermore
I have been inspired by this project to
complete my own EWB placement this
summer in Bambui, Cameroon. I will be
working in partnership with REIGNITE and
looking into improvements in agricultural
irrigation systems for local farmers.
This year we have also been focused more
on independent study and report writing. In
our soil mechanics module we had to write
a 10 page report on identifying the best soil
for a specification provided from a site. This
meant analysing the provided raw data and
understanding the fundamental nature of
soil. In addition we wrote a report analysing
the data we collected in our hydraulics
experiments conducted throughout the
year. I particularly enjoyed the floods and
river systems module as it is relevant to the
summer work placements I have been doing
in the water division of Mott MacDonald
Bentley.
There has also been more of a focus
on engineering construction. During the
structural engineering module we have been
looking at the design of steel and concrete
beams and structures for sites. Also we have
completed a module called construction
practice and management this was split into
three sections concrete design, site safety
and construction management. This has
been especially useful to me as I haven’t
had that much experience on site, with only
short visits during my work placements.
The techniques taught in construction
management have given me a better
understanding of the scope and information
required to create and implement a
construction project successfully.
I have also completed an optional
module on sustainable development this
covered, hydrogen technology, sustainable
energy, climate and population, resource
flows and recycling. This was very
interesting as there is a lot more focus
on sustainable engineering and our
responsibilities to the environment.
On a more personal level I have also been
involved in the creation of a new society for
Women in Engineering, at the University
of Birmingham (WISE). I feel is something
that should be encouraged because there has
been a decline in recent years in females in
STEM subjects. n
DANIEL GRADECI
Physic with Theoretical Physics,
Imperial College (2011)
I have just finished my second year of
university and am glad to inform you that it
has gone very well. I have enjoyed this year
tremendously and my interest in physics
has increased as well as my understanding
of it. This year I studied many interesting
things such as Quantum Mechanics and
Atomic Physics and have read much more
than previous years. I sat my first exam on
the 24th of April and my last on the 22nd of
BRADLEY PERRY
Material Science and Engineering MEng,
Sheffield (2011)
Currently I am on a leave of absence from
my second year of reading Materials Science
and Engineering at Sheffield University.
The reason for my leave of absence is
due to unaddressed learning difficulties
compounded with health problems. I fully
intend to and am on track to repeat my
second year starting in October of 2013.
The first semester of this year had many
similar themes to the first year of my course
in the sense of establishing a foundation of
knowledge. As the subject is so broad in its
content the second year of study still has
a focus on universal aspects of materials.
Physics, crystallology and industrial
processes make up a large proportion of the
subject matter of first semester. However,
we have had several short lecture series
going into the specifics of different areas
of materials. Many of these may only be an
May. I had eight exams in total, the majority
of which went very well. I found the maths
modules fairly easy and believe I have
exceeded expectations in those modules.
The physics modules went similarly well
with the exception of one (Statistical
Thermodynamics) for which did not go too
well as I found the exam difficult; which is
such a shame because I really enjoyed it, that
said my grade in this course should still be
of a satisfactory level. Overall I believe I am
on target for a 1st this year and will send you
my transcript as soon as I receive it; which
should be around the end of July. I also
enjoyed a wide range of extra curriculum
activities this year. I am vice-captain of the
football team which was very successful this
year. I was also part of the founding of the
UCL Albanian Society which was created
this year to bring together Albanians and
anyone that may be interested in Albanian
culture at UCL. I have also recently applied
for the position of vice-president of the UCL
physics society “Event Horizon” at UCL. My
aspirations for the future are, at this current
time very clouded and unclear, I have many
ideas and am still struggling to decide. This
time last year I was sure I wanted to go into
the finance sector but after some enquiring
I realised it was definitely not for me and is
the one thing I am sure of. I guess I would
like to do something that involves physics
or maths, certainly not a teacher but maybe
in industry, something like engineering
or manufacturing. This said the fact that I
enjoyed learning physics so much this year
really makes me want to stay in academia; I
would like to do a Doctorate after my degree
and go on from there. I plan to apply for as
many research internships as possible next
year and hopefully obtain some experience.
I also plan to read all of my next year’s
modules throughout summer which will
hopefully prepare me well and make things
a little easier next year. Lastly I would like
to say that the Ironmongers scholarship has
been a great help for me and I appreciate it
immensely. n
introduction into the field of ceramics, steels
or glasses but they nonetheless offer valuable
insight into those fields of study.
When I began my course last year I had
very little interest overall in the engineering
aspect of my course. I had imagined
that much of the engineering aspect was
materials selection and that materials
selection in and of itself was a simple matter.
Since then I have seen how the engineering
aspect also includes material processing and
case studies. Further I have realised that
materials selection is not simply a matter
of deciding which properties you want
and after doing some calculations having
a single material remaining to use. During
my first semester especially I gained an
interest in the engineering aspect to my
course. Materials selection is enjoyable in
the challenges it poses and the solutions one
can concoct.
The lab practicals this year are also far
more interesting. Whereas last year we
did many practicals to practice scientific
method, this year we are conducting
interesting experiments. We have: poured
glass to take spectroscopy readings; made
electrical capacitors and measured their
capacitance; and fabricated carbon fibre
plates for tensile testing. Whilst I recognise
that establishing good scientific technique
is important it is enjoyable to produce
something physical from my lab practicals.
My second semester focused on resolving
my health problems and ensuring my
learning differences do not restrict me next
academic year. At time of writing my health
has improved significantly. I have been
preparing for my studies next year with
mentoring this semester. I have also gained
additional support for next year during
the semester from the disability service to
ensure my studies go well. I feel confident
that I will be able to return to my studies in
October of 2013.
Outside of my studies I have taken up
sign language this year. I am currently
waiting on exam results to see if I have
passed my level one qualification and have
become treasurer of the sign language
society.
The Ironmongers’ Company has been
a great help this year. After attending the
Christmas lunchl I have realised the extent
to which the Ironmongers can help me
next year with work placements. I also
thoroughly enjoyed the occasion and
meeting everyone there. During my first
year my student grant just about covered my
rent payments so your sponsorship is what
paid for everything else in my degree and
life. This year I have had no student grant
for my second semester. Your sponsorship
has alleviated my financial concern in what
has been a troubling time for me. During my
studies not having the burden of a job has
been helpful and a blessing for which I am
very grateful. n
19
MATTHEW MEW
MEng Egineering Design, Bristol (2011)
This academic year began with great
anticipation as I had started my
specialisation towards mechanical
engineering as well as assuming road captain
duties with the universities cycling club. I
quickly found that I was vastly enjoying my
specialisation as well as having great success
working at promoting sport at the university
- doubling club membership numbers on
last year. I have been piloting a competitive
cycling racing squad this year and have been
getting great success both on a personal
and university level. In the second term
work was focused on a group design project
where I was tasked in a group of six to build
a remote control vehicle with a robotic
arm for moving objects - it also had to be
powered by renewable energy! I undertook
the task of control, wirelessly operating the
vehicle with a PlayStation controller. The
project has been a huge success in meeting
and exceeding all of its design requirements.
Earlier in the year I undertook interviews
for next year’s placement. I am glad to say
I achieved a placement at my first choice,
Babcock. Babcock is based in Bristol and
design nuclear submarines. In particular
they are working for the ministry of defence
in designing the next generation of trident
submarines. It’s been a great year so far and
I’m looking forward to starting at Babcock
in August. n
20
MARIJA SKRAMIC
Natural Sciences, Cambridge (2011)
I am now approaching the end of the second
year at Trinity College, Cambridge where I
am studying for a Natural Sciences degree.
I am currently in the midst of taking my
second year exams in Physics and Maths.
I have been working hard and hope that
they all go well. Next year I plan to study
experimental and theoretical physics and,
as part of my assessment, I have chosen
to undertake a vacation project over the
coming summer.
I will be spending two months working
at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,
where I will mostly be doing 2-dimensional
particle-in-cell simulations in order
to model certain situations during an
experiment I worked on last year. I hope to
reproduce the experimental observations
and use the detailed dynamics of the
simulations to try and explain what is going
on as a laser beam hits a foil and produces
a channel of electrons. I aim to publish a
paper in a physics journal in collaboration
with my supervisor during the project.
In addition to the vacation project I will
ALEXANDROS PAMNANI
Automotive Materials/Engineering,
Loughborough University (2010)
have the opportunity to undertake a “research
review” which will allow me to choose a topic
within physics that is either currently being
researched or has been researched in the past
that interests me. I am excited about this as
an option for next year as I will be able to
collaborate with a supervisor who is an expert
in the field, so I look forward to make the
most of it.
Besides my degree I have found time
to enjoy other things that Cambridge has
to offer; most recently a Poetry reading by
the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir
Rowan Williams, where he read both his own
poetry and poetry by poets that have inspired
him, which I found as a perfect break and
relaxation from exam revision.
This year, I joined the Trinity Women’s
Football team. We have had a successful
season, being promoted to a higher division
within Cambridge, as a result of our training
and approach to matches. Also, over the first
two terms I helped out with several drama
productions at the University of Cambridge
Playhouse at the ADC Theatre as a stage
manager. One of the productions was Elton
John and Tim Rice’s musical “Aida” at the end
of the Lent term. Before university, I attended
drama school so it was valuable experience
to see what was involved in the successful
production of a play.
My second year has flown by so quickly
and I am nearly half way through my degree.
I am very much looking forward to new
challenges that the next two years will bring
me.
I would like to take this opportunity
to thank again the Worshipful Company
of Ironmongers for the generous support
through the scholarship during my time at
Cambridge. n
This year has not been easy for health reasons.
I did not disclose this at an earlier stage as I
was unsure how significant and distressing it
would reveal itself to be. I am currently on
a First Class Honours grade and hoped to be
on a Master’s program at the University of
Cambridge or similar institute this September.
I’ve had significant health issues which
began from the reoccurrence of past
respiratory health concerns which then in turn
resulted in significant distress mentally and
physically due to the frustration they caused.
As a result I will be graduating next year as
opposed to this summer as my university
have allowed me, following medical advice to
sit my remainder studies uncapped next year
whilst I recover. I have had been dealing with
this myself mainly due to my father being ill
himself.
I am happy to discuss these further in
person if easier. I am extremely disappointed
Ironmongers’ Foundation
Scholarship student gets Royal
approval for charity work
Loughborough University student Alexandros
Pamnani has received the Royal thumbs-up for
his work with disadvantaged young people.
Pamnani, 22, founded a not-for-profit
organisation called ‘Future4all’ after the 2011
London riots in an attempt to help youngsters
get into education and work. He has spent
the past year structuring it with a large global
company before going into schools next year.
His former place of study, Croydon College,
asked him to play host when they invited HRH
The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of
Cornwall to see their programme of work in
the community programme.
It capped an incredible six years for
Pamnani who left school with just four
GCSEs but is now hoping to take a Masters at
either an Oxbridge or Ivy League university
in the United States after completing his
degree in Engineering and Management at
Loughborough University.
Pamnani, who is now completing the final
year of his course at the Wolfson School of
Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
said: “They were fascinated by my story and
hard work. Prince Charles asked quite a bit
about where I was working, J.P. Morgan, and
paid tribute to my determination.”
He set up Future4all after the turmoil in
London and across the UK in 2011. He said:
“I formed Future4all after the London riots
to help the majority of innocent and hardworking youngsters in London as a positive
reaction to quell all the negative headlines.
“I came from a college where students had
varied backgrounds. Many smart kids were
unsure in what they wanted to do.
“So it’s something to give them guidance, to
show them what they can do. A lot of students
don’t understand what an engineering or law
degree entails and how to bridge the gap from
school to becoming a professional”.
Pamnani used the contacts he made
at universities around the country while
President and Governor at Croydon College
and got 75 volunteers to back the venture
and offer workshops with employers and
universities.
Pamnani has come a long way since leaving
school with four GCSEs after losing his
mother to cancer. He decided to knuckle down
and did a Car Mechanics course before doing
the relevant A Level/BTEC courses whilst
working part time.
He said: “It made me change and focus on
my studies. It made me put my head down and
focus on getting the grades I needed to get into
university.”
And Pamnani, who is on the prestigious
Ironmongers’ Foundation Scholarship scheme
at Loughborough University, has seen his profile
soar in his three years at the university.
He has just completed an internship at J P
Morgan and has also completed an internship
at HM Treasury and HM Cabinet Office, and
advised educational company Pearson Edexcel on
improving qualifications from BTECs to A Levels.
He is also in talks with local councils regarding
a piece of technology he designed and created to
improve road safety.
Moreover, he was the IMechE (Institute of
Mechanical Engineers) Young Engineer of 2012,
the Vocational Qualification Learner of 2011,
and received the Spirit of London Achievement
through Education 2012 from the Prime Minister,
David Cameron, at Downing Street and the
London Learner of 2011 from Mayor Boris
Johnson.
At Loughborough, he has held significant
posts, and sat on numerous governing boards. He
has been an elected Trustee, Academic Chair, and
Councillor among others within the university
and Students’ Union whilst being shortlisted
last year for “Writing the Best Article in Label”,
the Students’ Union magazine publication. He
is currently a columnist for The Epinal Student
Newspaper.
He said Loughborough University had played
a major part in his achievements. “The support by
the staff I have received has been extraordinary,”
he said. n
at the extra year duration but on reflection,
I have to put my health first. I have been
at university all this year trying to battle
though my health alignments regardless
but will complete my third and final year in
Loughborough commencing this September.
My current grades are on a First Class
Honours percent with a research project
supplied from a leading blue chip firm.
With regards to my year to date, last
summer I gained further work experience
in oil, gases and metals technology within
scientific research at J.P. Morgan with hopes
to make my graduate career more specialist
in a similar role but aimed specifically within
an engineering corporation in the metals
sector. My work included examining precious
metal extraction processes modelling the latest
procedures used in these industries.
Given my stated illness and extreme
difficulties explained, I have stopped any
extra-curricular activities outside my academic
studies.
The only significant things to draw your
attention to are three, non-time consuming
yet significant invitations I received. Firstly I
was invited last year as a Royal Host to HRH
Prince Charles of Wales, and HRH Camilla,
Duchess of Cornwall at my old college,
following years of continued academic and
charitable work in which I was invited to
Downing Street the year previously.
Secondly, I gave a TED Talk at my
university earlier this year. TED is a global
conference which boasts over 1.5 billion
global views with talks given by pioneers in
their area of expertise and previous speakers
include Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. My talk
was on my journey, and how we can utilise
our approach to technology to benefit society.
It can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/
watch?v=4z6YepY9524
Thirdly, I was selected to sit on the National
Higher Education Academy Student Advisory
Forum helping advise and discuss policy for
UK Universities and Colleges. It only meets
2-3 times per year where I add input from
being my department academic chair in past
years in which I won an IMechE award for.
My aim was always to apply for the
Master’s degree, MPhil. Technology Policy,
at the University of Cambridge. I had been
researching this for some time hence why
my illness was very devastating but I still
wish to apply for 2014 entry and have spoken
to relevant admissions tutors accordingly.
I wanted to ask if there is any advice on
applications that the Ironmongers’ may have
experienced from colleagues or previous
Scholar’s who have taken a similar path.
I would like to take this opportunity to
thank you again for your support and look
forward to seeing you very soon. n
21
Sir Robert Geffery’s School,
Landrake
By R C Poulton Esq, Master 2008
WHAT DO YOU DO, WHERE DO
YOU GO, WHEN YOU GET TO
THE TOP OF A HILL?
WHAT A TRANSFORMATION!
Anyone who recalls the progress report on Sir
Robert Geffery’s School at Landrake which
was published in the 2011-2012 Annual
Report will remember that we were able to
announce that the School had been declared
by Ofsted to be ‘Outstanding’ in each of the
four areas of school life where judgements
are made: Achievement of Pupils; Quality of
Teaching; Behaviour and Safety of Pupils; and
Leadership and Management. Automatically,
the final judgement, on “Overall Effectiveness”,
was also “Outstanding”. Moreover, in the same
issue of the Annual Report, Mrs. Julie Curtis
was able to write about the other Awards and
Certificates of Recognition that the School had
earned in the year ending July 2012: the British
Council’s “International Schools Award”; the
Arts Council’s “Artsmark” (gold award); the
Sports Council’s “Sportsmark”; the “Basic
Skills Quality Mark”; the “Eco Schools” ‘Green
Flag’ award; the Healthy Schools award; and
the Investors in People award.
I was left wondering and worrying whether
we could ever improve on this array – and
if not, how we could best maintain these
standards of excellence. It seems that I need
not have worried. As well as maintaining
the standards required for the recognition
listed above, in 2012-2013 the School has
received recognition as a “Food for Life
Beacon School”, a “Thinking School” – and
the School Council (consisting entirely of
pupils) has won a “PADDL” award. This has
nothing to do with living fairly close to the
seaside, but is recognition of “Promoting and
Demonstrating Democracy and Leadership”.
Furthermore, and to cap the sum of all of
22
these achievements, in May 2013 Julie Curtis
was notified that the School had been listed
amongst the six finalists in the Primary School
section of the Times Educational Supplement’s
list of contenders for ‘School of the Year’. In
the article announcing all its selections, after
an early reference to “a primary School in
Cornwall where after-school clubs form the
backbone of the community”, the newspaper
eventually revealed that “Sir Robert Geffery’s
School in Cornwall has set up an innovative
mentor scheme praised by Plymouth
University”. With these two further features
picked out for praise, there was a real chance
that the School might be awarded the top spot
in the Primary category.
It was not to be. On 5 July representatives
of the staff and the Governors attended the
Awards ceremony in London and enjoyed
the company of all the other nominees,
acknowledging their many diverse strengths.
The ‘School of the Year’, the overall winner
from all the sixteen categories which were
being judged, was… a Primary School, which
therefore was obviously adjudged to be the
winner of our section. Whether we finished
second or sixth out of those shortlisted, we
shall never know. Somehow, it did not matter.
Sir Robert Geffery’s School at Landrake had
won the equivalent of an Oscar nomination
or a BAFTA nomination, which represents
wonderful and well-earned praise and
recognition for the work of a relatively small
number of people.
Such recognition prompts two contrasting
trains of thought. The first must be to admire,
to congratulate and to thank those outstanding
teams of women and men who, in the space
of nine years, have raised a little village school
of 210 local children from having ‘Serious
Weaknesses’ (as Ofsted then categorised a
potentially failing school) to this high peak
of achievement. Significantly, almost the first
message of congratulation received at the
School when the TES lists appeared in May
came from one of those Inspectors who had
been so concerned about its progress in 2004.
Rightly, it was a message sent to, and aimed
personally at, the Head Teacher Mrs. Curtis,
whose many abilities and unique leadership
style have forged this dramatic turn-around.
The impact of her energy, her vision and her
total commitment is plain for all to see, in all
areas of school life. She is the first to deflect
much of the credit to the teams around her:
the teachers, the teaching assistants and
the peripatetics; the support staff; the local
Governors; and the ‘London Governors’ (the
Ironmongers). Then there are the Friends of
Sir Robert Geffery, and all the parents, and the
several external agencies which, as an Academy,
we are free to choose. All of these deserve thanks
and praise, but Julie Curtis is the lynch-pin. It
is a fair reflection of her abilities that very able
teachers are proud to work with her and for her,
and totally dedicated local Governors are more
than happy to give their time and expertise and
energy in order to support her and the School.
[Since this article is being written primarily
for members of the Company, I would like to
mention by name the four ‘London Governors’
(now retiring or recently retired) whose support
of the School undoubtedly deserves the word
‘outstanding’: the former Chairman and
generous benefactor John Twallin (who created
the description ‘A School for Enthusiasts’ and
who still exemplifies all that that implies), Sam
Apsley, Ashley Boddy and Hugh Johnson.]
However, as suggested above, there is a
second train of thought which stems from all this
success. What do you do and where do you go
when you get to the top of a hill? Can you escape
from the fact that, once you are at the top, the
only way is ‘down’? It seems only logical that, like
the Grand Old Duke of York and his men, we
should have to come down when there seems to
be no further ‘up’.
My metaphor has become over-strained.
We conceive of hills as being static, which is
a reasonable thought when we are dealing in
human rather than geological time. But the
world of education is not static. Nor are human
beings (some may add ‘especially children’!).
Not only are there constant political and
educational ‘earthquakes’ which can reduce onetime mountains into molehills while throwing
up new shapes and structures which have to
be surmounted. More immediate and more
volatile than any of these external forces are
people, ordinary, normal people, children and
parents, who all have their own personal ‘hill’
to climb. When we trained as teachers in the
early 1960s, ‘helping children to climb their own
personal Everest’ was a popular and fairly topical
description of what we were being encouraged to
do. The academic and social learning of a child,
the role and example of a teacher, the duties
and responsibilities of a school: these things can
never be completed.
Thus the challenge will still be there in 2014
as it was in 2004. “To be the best we can” is
one of Landrake’s explicit aims. It has enjoyed
a wonderful few years, but there will be no
complacency. Next year the School will start
from where it is – and it will still be aiming
upwards. n
Sir Robert Geffery’s School,
Landrake
THE HEADTEACHER’S SPEECH ON
SPEECH DAY -12 JULY 2013
Master, Pupils, Governors, Parents,
Guests and Friends,
We have certainly had another year that
we can celebrate, because once again the
staff, governors and pupils have constantly
tried their best to be the best they can, and
when you have such talent within a learning
community, success is bound to follow.
Let me start with The Cornwall Youth
Games. Three of our teams earned the right
to compete in the finals held in Redruth
representing East Cornwall. This was
no mean feat –however we had to select
the sports as several of the children had
qualified in several sports but could only
participate in one area. The children chose
basketball but we were then invited to
take a swimming team. This proved to be a
great choice as the swimmers made several
finals, and the basketball team won the silver
medal, narrowly missing the gold with a 5-4
score in the final.
Continuing with sport, we had our
second consecutive victory in the Landrake
Run when Isaac Burdon followed in Jamie’s
footsteps, leading the 500 runners in. He
added this to his Under 11 Cornwall Cross
Country Champion title. In fact the cross
country teams all performed well again
this year, thanks to the enthusiasm and
motivation of Helen Ralph who still freely
gives her time.
The netball team once again won the
local round and were second in the district,
and the hockey team won early in the
season.
As hopefully you have already seen
today, our music provision is excellent and
there are plenty of opportunities for every
pupil, in individual or group lessons with
our peripatetic teachers, or in class brass
lessons or in the school orchestra. There
are also class ukulele lessons as well as class
and school singing opportunities and even
choirs for children and adults. Our music
teachers are very enthusiastic and our
musical evenings provide an opportunity for
pupils to perform. The standard seems to
rise all the time and the number who attend
constantly grow – music fills the corridors
and as a non-music specialist I am certainly
inspired by the performances that I attend.
Our ‘Youth Speak’ teams competed again
in the Rotary Club’s Saltash Round and beat
strong competition to come first and second
and then performed well in the finals. Our
writers won the Rotary Young Writers
competition and William Ford was second
in the district that covers all of Cornwall and
Plymouth and West Devon. This was a huge
achievement.
Again in recent weeks, the Eco assessor
and the Artsmark assessor have been
impressed by the wide range of experiences
the children have and by the standards that
they have achieved. The Eco assessor said
that this was the best school she had been
in. The Artsmark assessor could
not believe the range of activities
and the number of visiting artists,
(spacing) in the broadest sense
,who support the learning. We have
been fully accredited with Investors
in People once again and the
assessor recognised the high quality
of the professional team who work
here to maximise the learning that
our pupils enjoy.
I have been asked several times
over the last two months ‘Where
next?’ and ‘How do you intend
to keep improving?’. This in itself
might appear a difficult question
when you reflect upon the high
standards that we always try to
achieve. However with the constant changes
in Education, it is easy to answer – because
we always face the next challenge. This year
as you know we have had to make sure
that grammar, punctuation and spelling
strategies were taught to enable Year 6 to
achieve well in the National tests. We also
can look forward to a new curriculum that
may impact on us.
One thing that we have been working on
and investing time in doing is making sure
we are ready to join teams that will help us
stay on the cutting edge of Education, and
be able to positively impact on teaching
and learning. As a lone school or academy
,we would be very vulnerable, with
education budgets being reduced, and with
expectations always changing. But as an
outstanding school we have been in a great
position to choose our teams and we hope to
be embarking on some exciting new projects
in September. Firstly, we are joining forces
with schools in Exeter and in Sweden to
explore how children learn most successfully
inside and outside the classroom. We are
also looking to make an application to
become a “Teaching school” working in
partnership with several schools in both
Cornwall and Devon. We have been selected
to be a Beacon School for a Natural England
Project sharing good practice in learning
in the Natural Environment, and a flagship
school for Food for Life.
Next year our staff numbers will be
higher than ever before and many groups of
children will benefit from even more specific
additional activities. We always have plans,
and with an ever-changing metaphorical
football field in education, we are always
kept on our toes. In fact there is never a dull
moment, but what we do intend is that we
will continue to turn every stone, so that
our children benefit from any additional
funding, as well as the best learning and the
best teaching we can provide. This in itself
will keep us out of mischief !
It is great when the hard work that
it takes to achieve and maintain high
standards is recognised and to be shortlisted
for the Primary School of the Year did
just that. Although we may not have won,
to make the national top six in this very
competitive category was amazing.
In the classroom and beyond we
always endeavour to look for the good in
all and work from the real strengths that
all learners have. Remaining positive and
encouraging resilience are taught and also
demonstrated by members of our school
staff and for this I thank them all. It is
not always easy to work in a fairly small
school in a village context ,and it is often
easy to become negative, but our staff
have time and time again demonstrated
their professionalism and constantly look
on the bright side, remaining positive and
23
overcoming different challenges
So many visitors who come to
our school comment upon the
positivity and the ‘can do culture’
and for this we owe our staff so
much. I would also therefore like
to thank, on behalf of the school
and staff , the large numbers of
parents who share the positives
that happen and recognise the
hard work. As I tell the children,
saying “thank you” costs nothing
and means so much.
This year brings to the end
Mr Poulton’s term of office as
Chair of Governors and Mr
Apsley’s role as Chair of the
Finance Committee. Both of
these have been talented and
committed governors who will
be a great loss to us. They have
always been on the end of a
phone or email and provided
great advice or a listening
ear – or they have asked the
right question at the right
time. We have been so lucky to
have had them with us and we
have benefitted from their experience and
enthusiasm.
We also say ‘goodbye’ this term to Mr
Bailey who will be taking up a teaching
post at West Buckland, to Amy who will be
starting teacher training in September and
to Claire and Louise who are juggling many
other balls in the air and have decided to
concentrate on different things . Each one
has made a significant impact on learning at
our school and each will be sorely missed.
Sir Robert Geffery’s remains a school
for enthusiasts. Once again in September
we will be full and again welcoming new
members to our team. Our learning journey
will continue with a new chapter and a new
page but we will still be building from our
foundations that have become stronger
and stronger over the years. So finally I
would like to thank the members of the
Ironmongers and the Master as it is because
of this unique and special relationship that
our learning community continues to thrive,
building on the past and looking forward
to the future. We still as a community owe
so much to Sir Robert Geffery who ensured
that for hundreds of years, members of the
Worshipful Company of Ironmongers would
oversee the learning of children in Landrake.
I hope that wherever he is, Sir Robert
Geffery is feeling as proud as we are of the
education and achievement of our pupils
this year. Thank you n
24
Warden of the Livery & Yeomanry
Mr A G Pellatt 2012 - 2013
This is a summary of my times twice in this
post. I’m pictured below with a predecessor,
Izaac Walton, Warden of the Yeomanry
1627, he of fishing fame. Although much
has been reported previously to the Court
and the Livery & Yeomanry (L&Y), so much
has been so very unusual and out of the
ordinary I feel it should be included here.
First up was my appointment, in October
by the Master and Wardens to replace
Liveryman Mr David Liming, who had
been elected at the usual L&Y AGM in
April 2012. He had now been elected to
serve on the Court and was thus ineligible
to continue as Warden. Under the bye-laws,
when this situation occurs, someone who
has held the post before is appointed. In
their great and infinite wisdom the Master
and Wardens decided that I should be
elected, having served in 1972 as Warden of
the Yeomanry (as it was then).
Shortly after that, as I told the Lord
Mayor at the Mansion House later, the
bye-laws were amended by “careful
constitutional choreography”, with the
agreement of the Livery & Yeomanry, by the
Court to change the date of the Livery and
Yeomanry AGM from April to October. This
was done so that the Warden’s year conforms
to the Company’s and Master’s year. The
publication date of the Annual Report has
also been moved to August.. The Livery and
Yeomanry agreed that I, as current Warden,
should continue to serve until the AGM
in October. My most sincere thanks go to
all who supported the Company, and me
personally, through these changes.
It is not unprecedented for someone to
serve as Warden twice; several have done
so in successive years in the 19th Century
including Theophilus C Noble, the author of
a History of the Company. But serendipity
plays a part in that my grandfather,
Frederick M Pellatt, was elected Warden in
1914 (incidentally at the last Meeting in the
Old Hall in Fenchurch Street), and also the
following year, presumably because of the
Great War. But I doubt anyone has taken 40
years to repeat the exercise as I have.
So what did I have to do so long ago?
And more to the point, what did I do? Not
a lot! The Wardenship was a minor and
undemanding role mostly kept firmly out
of sight and shall we say “off-Court”. My
main task during the year was to arrange
a presentation for the retiring Clerk, Mr
John Adams Beck, the fourth successive
generation in that post of that family.
This was at the Combined Dinner when,
as now, the Warden of the L&Y makes a
speech. It may be of interest to note that
Members mostly gave sums ranging from
50 pence to £2 and we raised enough to be
able to give Mr Adams Beck a silver salver
inscribed with the Company’s Arms; and to
send Mrs Beck a large bouquet of flowers,
because of course wives weren’t invited.
So apart from the speech for the
presentation, the only functions I recall are
the City Dinner, and the lunch after the
AGM when I was elected. That afternoon
was when I wrote up the AGM minutes,
by hand directly into the leather-bound
book used today. I was well supported by
the incoming Clerk, Mr Richard Brayne
OBE, though certainly I had little to do
concerning the Yeomanry, or any Company
business.
In contrast, an annual task these days
is an outing to somewhere interesting and
hopefully relevant. Last November, Freeman
Charlie Morgan arranged a tour of the
Houses of Parliament and the fine rooms of
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
This proved most successful, despite a
9 a.m. start and a restriction on numbers.
A prestigious event, and this year
another. Our 550th Anniversary Banquet
at the Mansion House in April was our
Combined Dinner (for the Court, Livery,
Yeomanry and guests) for this year. It
quickly became apparent to this Warden
that he was not going to be let off making a
speech; far from it; “muggins” would have to
welcome the Company’s guests including the
Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress..
Now wasn’t that an occasion to
remember, for the history books? Thanks
to the enthusiasm of all Members of the
Company we turned out in force, family, and
many guests, in white tie and black. What
an extraordinary setting, the three-storey
high Egyptian Hall, with the back-lit marble
statues, gold plate and huge soaring pillars;
and we had trumpets! Come to think of it,
the menu was rather special too. When else
do you have four desserts on one plate?!
My own moment of awe came when I stood
up to speak; that was when one could see
everyone there, 360 in all. My sincere thanks
to all who made it such a success, and for
showing me their appreciation.
Communication and participation:
these themes are apparent in previous
contributions to this space, and quickly
surfaced after my appointment. “More
involvement” is the cry, still echoing from
back in 1972. Certainly huge progress
has been made in this regard, though
seemingly slow year on year. Tangible
achievements are the much swifter progress
through Yeomanry to Livery and onto
Committee, together with the admission and
involvement of that previously rare species
known as “women”! Latterly we have had
a significant increase in younger members,
and I am pleased that the newly established
Events & Social Working Group and another
for Communications are making progress.
For my part I believe I have kept the Livery
& Yeomanry well informed and up-to-date
with all the changes of management. None
of this would have been possible without the
close attention
of the Clerk
for which
I am most
grateful.
In
conclusion I
hope I have
covered
the “Now”,
revealed a little of what was “Then” and that
most will agree this Warden’s year has all
been “Quite Extraordinary”. n
25
Artists Represented at the Hall
by Leslie Weller DL FRICS FSA, Master 2001
An Enigma
Henry Cooke / Edward Cocke (or Cook)
As with most early Livery Companies, the
Ironmongers’ collection of portraits of Lord
Mayors, past Masters and Benefactors is
diverse and eclectic.
Attribution to early artists is always
difficult (in Bernard Berenson’s magnum
opus Italian ‘Painters of the Renaissance’,
at least 50% of the paintings illustrated
have been re-attributed by virtue of current
scholarship).
The early paintings of the 17th century
at the Ironmongers are no exception. In
Smith 1847, (an extinct reference book), he
states that there are seven portraits by Henry
Cooke. Research shows that this cannot
be true, as all of those listed except for the
portrait of the pious Mrs Margaret Dane,
were painted by Edward Cocke (or Cook).
Margaret Dane is the only lady represented
in the collection – she was the wife of
William Dane, Master of the Company in
1573 and Sheriff in 1569. She is depicted
kneeling at prayer. She left £2,000 in her
will of 1579 to be used by the Company for
charitable purposes.
The confusion continues as this painting
was ordered by the Court and was said to
have been executed in 1604. However the
only Henry Cooke recorded in the various
Dictionaries of painters worked at the end of
the 17th century and was aged 58 in 1700!
The records show that Edward Cocke
was commissioned to paint five posthumous
portraits in 1640, as recorded by W Herbert
in The History of the Twelve Great Livery
Companies 1836.
The sitters are:
Sir James Campbell (1570 – 1640)
(Master 1615, 1623, 1641)
(Lord Mayor 1629)
l
l
Sir William Denham
(Master 1531 and 1549). He owned large
estates in London
l Thomas Hallwood
(died 1621)
(Master 1621). Left the
Company money to
fund two scholars to go
to Oxford and
Cambridge annually.
l Thomas Lewen
(Master 1535, Sheriff
1537). His estate in
Bread Street was left to
the Company.
It was to pay for two
poor scholars to attend
Oxford and Cambridge
and an Alms house to
be built and called after
his name.
l Thomas Mitchell
(Thought to be an
early Master of the
Company) His will in
1527 gave two areas of
land to the Company.
The mystery
deepens – who was
Edward Cocke? The
only reference to him
as an artist is in works
26
relating to the Ironmongers Company.
The ‘Dictionaire des peinteurs,’ by Benezit,
published in 10 volumes, “the Bible” for
everyone working with paintings, does not
have any entry for him. This in itself is very
surprising, as the editors pride themselves in
annotating even minor artists.
The only Dictionary to record Edward
Cocke is the Dictionary of Portrait Painters
(Stewart & Cutten) where he is recorded
as having painted various portraits at the
Ironmongers Company; there is also a
reference to W. Herbert’s book on the Great
Twelve Livery Companies.
Finally did Edward Cocke have earlier
paintings to work from or perhaps
engravings of the sitters? I have asked many
experts in English portraiture if they have
ever seen work by Edward Cocke – the
answer is always negative. I will however
continue my research and one day perhaps
other records of the artist may come to hand
– but I doubt it. n
News and Snippets
By Mrs Teresa Waller-Bridge, Assistant Clerk
UNITED GUILDS’ SERVICE
At a meeting of the Masters and Prime
Wardens of the Twelve Great Companies,
held at Goldsmiths’ Hall on 1 February
1943, it was decided to hold a service in St
Paul’s Cathedral for the Livery Companies
and Guilds of the City of London. The idea
behind the services was to help lift the
spirits of the City following the Blitz during
the Second World War. Having regard to
the religious origins of the Companies,
Thursday 25 March 1943,
Lady Day, was selected as
the date for the Service,
being the first day of the
year according to the
Julian Calendar. The
Right Honourable The
Lord Mayor of London,
Sir Samuel Joseph,
attended along with
the Sheriffs and Court
of Aldermen and the
Right Reverend The
Lord Bishop of London,
Dr G F Fisher, preached
the sermon. As far as
records show, this was
the first occasion on which all the Livery
Companies and Guilds of the City combined
to hold a religious service. Since then, it has
become an annual event and remains one of
the few occasions in the calendar at which
the Livery Companies and Guilds of the City
can gather as a whole.
It is one of the few occasions, apart from
Royal and State occasions, to witness St
Paul’s Cathedral full to bursting with people
Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral greeting
the Lord Mayor
in benevolent and cheery mood. A truly
magnificent event to behold!
The United Guilds’ Service is now
organised by a committee chaired by Mr
A H Scott DL, a past Prime Warden of the
Fishmongers’ Company. In October 2012,
our Clerk, Colonel HPD Massey, was elected
one of the Trustees. n
The Clerk catching up on news!
Processing out at the end of the Service
27
News and Snippets
By Mrs Teresa Waller-Bridge, Assistant Clerk
LADIES WASHROOMS
The ladies washrooms have had
a facelift. The old ones were
reminiscent of school washrooms
or public conveniences. The
new ones are stylish, modern,
comfortable and unique. They
have a ‘wow’ factor, which has
been reflected in the increased
lettings of the Hall this year, as
well as the interesting gossip that
takes place within their walls.
Below are photographs of before
and after, for those who have not
seen the masterpiece as yet, and
for those to be reminded of what
they were like before!
This year, it is the turn of the
Gents... n
LIVERYMAN EXTRAORDINAIRE
Billy Dove MBE JP
Sadly, we do not
see as much of
Billy Dove as we
would like, but
those who know
of his dedication
and loyalty
as an elected
member of the
City of London
Corporation, whose members meet as the
Court of Common Council, realise why.
He follows in the illustrious footsteps of
Sir Greville Spratt and Sir Michael Oliver,
but, unlike them, has not sought to be the
Lord Mayor! Billy was first elected to the
Common Council in 1993, and within
a short time, he was elected Chairman
of the Education Committee – a fitting
appointment as his teaching career
began at Sir John Cass’s School in the
City where he served from 1960 to 1965.
His next appointment was as Chairman
of the Governors of the City of London
School, where he witnessed year by year
improvement in standards in examinations
and in the number of boys going on to
‘Oxbridge’ universities, which continues to
this day.
The Company has had many dealings
with Billy through the Housing the
Homeless Central Fund, of which he was
Clerk to the Trustees from 1986 to 2007 and
28
After
Before
where he very successfully organised
the bulk of the Company’s work giving
small grants to individuals in times of
need. His deep interest in the plight
of the homeless, the unemployed and
the poor began with his eleven year
connection with Toynbee Hall, where he
was a resident from 1962 to 1973. This
vast experience also led to his becoming
Chairman of the Corporation’s
Community and Children’s Services
Committee, which covers a huge range
of activities- especially in housing,
where, in addition to the Barbican,
the Golden Lane and Middlesex Street
Estates, the Corporation has over 6,000
tenants in the inner-London boroughs.
Currently Billy chairs the City
Bridge Trust, which distributes some
£16 million each year to charities in
the Great London area. An additional
£2 million was provided for grants
to local communities to celebrate the
Diamond Jubilee and, in recent months,
Billy and his Committee had additional
funding to offer £100,000 each to the
thirty-two London Boroughs to help
with their scheme for NEETS (Not in
Education, Employment or Training).
Billy’s contribution during fifty years of
service to the community resulted in his
being honoured with the appointment
to MBE, and his tireless work, serving
on some thirty committees has brought
honour to our Company. n
The Junior Warden, Mr G A Bastin, with his
presentee, Simeon Kemp, on the occasion of his
Confirmation. Simeon is 13 years old and started
at Christ’s Hospital in September 2011. His
father is a vicar and the family currently live in
South Nutfield, Surrey.
Our Girl in Afghanistan
By Katherine Charnaud, Liveryman
IT’S A SMALL WORLD…
In the modern, communication-frenzied
world of social media and 24 hour news ‘it’s
a small world’ is an all-too-common refrain.
However, on this occasion, I have to agree. It
really is a small world….
Given the small number of Ironmongers
who currently work in the Ministry of
Defence, the chances of deploying abroad
together are always slim. So, Oli Harry and
I were as surprised as anyone when we met
over a cup of instant coffee and a defrosted,
indeterminable-meat pasty at Minhad Airbase.
We were both on our way to Afghanistan.
The questions running through our minds…
“Do you come here often? And, more to the
point, what are you doing here?” were followed
swiftly by a sense of relief at meeting a friendly
(civilian) face in an
all too unfamiliar
(military)
environment.
I was on my
first duty as the
Policy Adviser
to Brigadier
Doug Chalmers,
Commander of the
12th Mechanised
Brigade. We were
on a Command
Group Recce
as part of our
pre-deployment
training for
Operation
HERRICK 16. It
was my first trip
to an operational
theatre. You
could say I was
well outside my
comfort zone –
for a start I was
clutching a helmet
and body armour and had a pair of bombproof pants packed in my luggage!
I applied for the job in 2010, inspired in
2006 by Lt Gen Sir John Kizsley during a five
week course at the Joint Services Command
and Staff College, Shrivenham; where the
Ironmongers award the annual prize for
outstanding excellence on the Joint Services
Command and Staff Course. In 2011, I
spent seven months at US Central Command
Headquarters, Florida, by way of preparation.
During that time I learned how to speak
‘American’ and refined my understanding
of the US military and the campaign in
Afghanistan. I also had the privilege of
working with Gen John Allen before he
took over from Gen David Petraeus as the
Commander of the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF), Afghanistan. But
on 21 November 2011 it all seemed a bit less
academic and a bit more real.
As the lights dimmed, and I found myself
strapped into a robust seat on a C17 transport
plane, about to start the descent into Camp
Bastion, I mulled over the enormity of the
challenge that lay ahead. As a 30-year-old
woman, with just six years in the Ministry of
Defence, how would I hold my own with the
best of the British Army and their wealth of
experience and training? Would I be credible?
Would they listen?
After all, who wants
to hear the ‘Whitehall
perspective’ when
you are dealing with
the cut-and-thrust of
counter-insurgency
operations in Central
Helmand – it is miles
away.
As I reflect on
my tour, from the
relative comfort of
a desk in Whitehall,
it is hard to recall
my pre-deployment
expectations. But
whatever they might
have been, they were
exceeded in every
respect. I deployed
at a fascinating
time in the Afghan
campaign. Day-today issues ranged
from the strategic
challenges of working
in an international coalition to the provision of
timely policy advice on the tactical decisions
across the Task Force.
The Afghan Security Forces were
increasingly assuming the lead for security
in Central Helmand. Our focus was on
enabling the Afghans –training and building
capacity across their security forces in order
to set the conditions for UK forces to return
home. At the same time we were managing
the immediate response to high profile events
24 hours a day. Incidents such as the increase
Katherine Charnaud in the shade!
in ‘green on blue’ attacks, Prince Harry’s second
deployment and a baby born in theatre. No issue
adhered to ‘office hours’. On the contrary we were
in constant dialogue with officials in London, not
to mention trying to keep up with the 24 hour
ticker tape and microscopic scrutiny from the
international media. Simply put, no day was the
same and the pace was frenetic. I loved it.
I would be lying if I said it wasn’t hard;
sometimes it felt impossible. It was undoubtedly
my toughest job but for totally different reasons
to those I expected. No matter how demanding
the situation the Task Force rose to the challenge.
To my mind there is no higher performing
team than the military on operations and
to be accepted as a part of that team was an
honour and a privilege. Through commitment,
dedication and sheer hard work the Task
Force thought and breathed as one, striving
for a common objective. An objective which
intrinsically mattered to each individual.
However, there are things I will not miss. The
dust storms and the inconceivable amount of
dust that lodged itself in my hair on a daily basis;
wearing body armour, a helmet and bomb proof
pants in 50 degree heat while trying hopelessly to
look professional; the 18 hour days; being away
from my family and friends in an environment
that is so far removed from ‘normal’ life, it can be
hard to know what to say when you call home.
But what an experience – and one I wouldn’t
swap for anything. It was genuinely lifechanging, thanks to the amazing people I worked
alongside and knowing that together we achieved
things that really matter.
I am also pleased to learn that I shall now
have the pleasure of reminiscing at Ironmongers’
events. The Company’s new affiliation with
the Grenadier Guards has welcomed Lt Col
James Bowder, the 1st Battalion’s Commanding
Officer during their deployment in Helmand
during Operation HERRICK 16. James is also
a previous winner of the Ironmongers’ Prize for
Excellence. It really is a small world…long may
the memories continue. n
29
Ironmongers Golfing Society
By Mr John Gorton, Liveryman
...another busy year
for our stalwart
supporters which
started with the
annual match between
the Great XII. Our
promising finish last
year was unfortunately
not repeated as we
were out gunned by all
the other Companies.
Our match against the Shipwrights was
held again at Richmond Golf Club in early
May. A really good match was enjoyed by
everyone, with our opponents just squeezing
a narrow victory.
Not depressed in any way from that slow
start to our season, we gathered for the
Ironmongers’ Summer Cup at Leatherhead
Golf club. Good support, as shown in
the photograph below. 10 July dawned
bright and sunny. The course, in the heart
of the beautiful Surrey countryside, was
in fine condition. After a fiercely fought
competition the spoils went to John Baker.
Partnered and encouraged by Richard
Carden, he carded a very respectable 34
points getting his name on the Trophy for
the second time. Very well done, John!
In the ensuing celebrations the cards got
mislaid but as far as we can remember
Richard Patteson-Knight and Jeremy
McIlroy tied for second place, scoring
32 points.
A bit of a break before the fourway tie
against the Drapers, Leathersellers and
Coachmakers at Tandridge on 17 September.
We could only muster a reduced number
of players but what Trojans they turned
out to be. Clinching a magnificent victory,
and resulting in the Ironmongers being the
first Company to be recorded on the new
Trophy, is shown in the photograph supplied
by the Coachmakers. Extremely well played
gentlemen!
Finally, our last match for this season.
A head to head with the Drapers’ Company,
held at the lovely Royal Ashdown Forest
Golf Club on 5 October. Both Companies
fielded a team of 5 players, so a match play
format could be used for the first time. Our
opponents proved too good for us winning
by 4½ points to ½. Well played the Drapers!
Anybody wishing to join the Golf
Society or requiring information please do
not hesitate to contact either me or Mike
Pearson. n
30
Two new recruits for the Ironmongers’ Golfing Team
Golf Swing progression
Great X11 Sailing Challenge
By Mr G A Bastin, Junior Warden
The ninth Great Twelve Sailing Challenge
was held in Seaview on 1 June under
excellent sailing conditions in sunshine and
good winds. We entertained 180 sailors and
their supporters over the weekend.
The final result of the livery sailing is as
follows:
1Salters
2Haberdashers
2Vintners
4Grocers
5Skinners
6Goldsmiths
7Drapers
8Fishmongers
9Mercers
9Clothworkers
11Ironmongers
12
Merchant Taylors
We were blessed this year with fine
weather and a good breeze which was a
considerable improvement on last year when
gales blew in and sailing was limited to two
races in the morning followed by ten-pin
bowling in the afternoon.
The Ironmongers’ ships decanter was
therefore awarded to the Salters’ Company.
The other Ironmongers’ ships decanter
was awarded to the Grocers’ Old Guard who
finished first in the final race.
Our Junior Team: Tom Allison, Michael Dowling, Gavin Park Weir, Gini Coates
The Vintners’ Claret Jug was awarded to
the Haberdashers’ Young Guard who were
the first of the Young Guard teams to finish.
The Salters’ Salver together with the
Berry Brothers’ magnum of Champagne for
the cruiser race was won by Richard Agutter
of the Goldsmiths’ Company sailing his
Beneteau 411.
The Ironmongers’ performance was
slightly disappointing. The Old Guard raced
Our Senior Team : Jonny Hudson, Mark Lee, Martin Hudson, David Coates
to the finishing line but turned back before
crossing it, meaning that we dropped from
7 to 11 place. They were not the only team
to do this!
Next year the Great Twelve Sailing
Challenge will be held on 6 and 7 June 2014.
Round the Island Race is scheduled for 21
June unless they decide to move it again!
The plan is to try and encourage more
cruisers to race so that we can keep the
keener sailors in Mermaids and entertain
the social sailors on cruisers. It would be
helpful if those in charge of the teams would
bear this mind.
Finally if any Ironmonger has a contact
that they think might be interested in
sponsoring the event George Bastin would
love to hear from them. We think that after
nine years the event is well established and
that the right sponsor might gain some
kudos from a small investment.
As ever we were grateful to Saffery
Champness, Chartered Accountants, for
sponsoring the event for the ninth year
running. We are also most grateful to Berry
Bros & Rudd for generously providing
a magnum of champagne as a prize.
Their generosity allows us to entertain
all the participants and their supporters
to a reception after the races. As usual a
donation was sent to the Lord Mayor’s
Appeal from the money raised.
Finally thank you all for your support
and we look forward to seeing you again
in 2014. n
31
Inter Livery Ski Championships
By Mr G A Bastin, Junior Warden
Some of the Ironmongers’ participants.
2013 RESULTS
The fourth Inter Livery Ski Championships
took place in Morzine, France on 25 and
26 January 2013, and yet again it proved to
be a huge success with some serious skiing
and serious partying. Some 150 participants
and their supporters attended the two days
of racing and 25 livery companies were
represented. A night slalom held under
floodlights on Friday evening was followed
by a Giant Slalom on Saturday morning. The
weather offered excellent skiing conditions
and this year we congratulate our veteran
champion, Christopher Hudson, Freeman. His
son Hugo actually beat him, but since he was
a guest, his time did not count. Perhaps next
year! Like last year, Christopher was gainfully
supported by the Hudson clan, Richard
Christopher Hudson
receiving his trophy.
Hunting, Liveryman amongst others.
At the reception and dinner the prizes
were presented as below. However the real
fun at this livery dinner is the extraordinary
interaction between the participating livery
companies. Toasts are proposed between
companies and ‘wine is taken’ for the most
bizarre reasons. It is probably one of the
best and most humorous livery events in
the entire calendar. Come and experience
it next year on 24 and 25 January 2014. You
will not be disappointed.
The event raised £1,500 for the Lord
Mayor’s Appeal, up 300% on 2012.
The results of the Championships were
as follows:
Team Champions
(Vintners Cup)
Vintners Company
George Stoy, Ali Mabey, David Mabey
Ladies Champion
Caroline Gough-Cooper, GAPAN
Young Champion
Will Brewster, Stationers
Mid Champion
George Stoy, Vintners
Veteran Champion
Christopher Hudson, Ironmongers
Master Champion
Michael Turner, Vintners’ Company
Stationers Prize
(For the First Livery Company
with 200 years skiing experience)
Stationers' Company, Graham Griffiths,
Martin Woodhead, Ian Locks
Actuaries Handicap Cup
Vintners Company
George Stoy, Michael Turner,
Roger Hodgson, Edward Bowen
Shipwrights' Court Trophy
Leathersellers Company
Antony Barrow, Mark Williams,
Mathew Pellereau
Lady Guest Champion
Fran Georgel, Stationers
32
The Hapsburg Eagle in Morzine
THE EAGLE’S TALE
by R H Hunting Esq, Master 1996
As I looked down upon the scene
I thought, as if it were a dream
Who are this crowd of Brits so bunched
I think I could have one for lunch
I wonder why they’re gathered here
They strangely seem to show no fear
My eagle eye surveyed the scene
I think a race is where they’ve been
Then I stretched my wings in flight
I hope I made a splendid sight
Perhaps they saw my every feather
They clearly love the sparkling weather
I flew down and saw a feast
A hearty meal at very least
But then I knew it was my man
On eating him there is a ban
So looked around for other prey
But none so tasty met my gaze
They come more tender under forty
Just have to wait for next year’s sortie
Richard Hunting met this Hapsburg
Eagle during the Inter Livery Ski
Championships in January 2013 and
was inspired to write the poem.
General Manager’s Report
By Mr Ed Bolling
At the beginning of September, we were
exceedingly sad to see Cristina Fantechi
leave us for the Royal College of Physicians.
However it wasn’t long before her shoes were
filled by Paulina Sowa, who is Polish and
had come to us from the Mermaid Theatre
in Puddle Dock
THE BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS
HEAD COACH ANNOUNCEMENT
Our first major event of the year took place
on 4 September 2012 when the British
and Irish Lions gave a live press release on
Sky Sport to announce the appointment
of Warren Gatland as the Head Coach
for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour
to Australia. Chosen for its proximity to
the former site of the Manchester Hotel,
Ironmongers’ Hall was the location to
celebrate the 125th anniversary of the
creation of the Lions. The live broadcast
required miles of cable, parking spaces for 2
outside broadcast vans and 3 cameramen.
Clearly a good start to the tour is
important and with a 2-1 victory over the
Wallabies, Ironmongers’ Hall clearly gave
them the mettle to succeed accordingly, or
was it something else? n
Someone had to look after the
Lions Trophy overnight…
Tour Manager Andy Irvine and Head Coach Warren Gatland arriving at Ironmongers Hall
THE ACC LIVERPOOL
In order to reach its London based clients,
The ACC Liverpool chose Ironmongers’
Hall, the best venue in town, to hold its ‘Tale
of Two Cities’ showcase on 21 November
2012. More than 140 industry professionals
attended the Dickensian themed Showcase.
Hosting another venue’s event is always
fraught with peril, but to look after the
biggest and best venue in Liverpool was
altogether in a different league. However my
team rose to the challenge and impressed
the team from the ACC and their clients
alike. n
MICHEL ROUX JUNIOR AND THE
CHEF’S PROTÉGÉ
Filmed in October 2012 and broadcasted
on BBC2 in May 2013 the Chef ’s Protégé
featured three of the UK’s most renowned
chefs, Tom Kitchin, Theo Randall and
Michel Roux Jr. They each looked for a
young student to take under their wing,
someone they can mentor and inspire,
eventually becoming their protégé.
A cooking competition like no other,
The Chef ’s Protégé, centred on the
relationship between apprentice and master.
We were fortunate to have Michel Roux
working in the kitchens at Ironmongers’
Hall. Our Banqueting Manager, Gabor
Mocsar, also featured on one of the episodes
which took place in the top floor kitchen
and the Drawing Room. n
Michel Roux and contestants in our main kitchen
33
STRONGBOW
This summer, the Hall was taken over
by a production crew filming the latest
commercial for Strongbow. With a cast of
over a hundred extras, a traditional wedding
breakfast was created, along with confetti
and cake.
Lighting was placed all around the Hall and
at one point the Hall was inundated with High
Court judges, sporting wigs and robes alike. The
most fascinating part of the filming was the use
of an indoor zeppelin to illuminate the room to
the correct lighting levels.
The final scene was the most stressful as it
Gabor Mocsar on fire duty
included the use of special effects to create
jets of flame on the top table. Despite the
reassurances of the Director, we ensured that
we kept our fire extinguisher on standby at
all times. The whole shoot took 2 days and
can be seen on terrestrial TV as part of the
Strongbow”Earn It” campaign. n
An indoor light zeppelin
ICAP CHRISTMAS PARTY
Ironmongers’ Hall turns into Neverland for the ICAP Children’s Christmas Party. Employees of ICAP were able to bring their children
to a party featuring Captain Hook, Tinkerbell and, of course, Peter Pan. n
34
THE GHERKIN CHALLENGE
On Sunday 23 June 2013 Paulina Sowa and Ed Bolling took
part in the NSPCC Gherkin Challenge as part of a London City
Selection team that raised £1730 for the NSPCC in a sponsored
run up the 1200 steps of The Gherkin. The challenge involved
climbing the 38 floors of the iconic London landmark, also
one of the selections member venues, in a race against the
clock and their fellow Gherkineers. A total of £865 was raised
for the NSPCC in donations to support the five brave London
City Selection team members competing in the challenge. This
number was generously matched as agreed with the London
Stock Exchange to reach the total of £1730.
With one member of the team, reaching the top of the
180 metre building in just 7 minutes and 10 seconds (only 2
minutes and 41 seconds slower than professional stair runner
Matthias Jahn) the London City Selection team were rewarded
with a glass of champagne to enjoy along with the views of the
London skyline. n
Pauline Sowa (second from the left) and Ed Bolling (second from the right)
The Beadle at Work
By Mr Steve Walby, the Beadle
What happens at the Hall when there are no visitors or
functions? Surely regular visitors must ask themselves?
A standard day at Ironmongers’ Hall starts at 6.00am
when Traci and Lorraine arrive disturbing the quiet
slumbers of the Master and Clerk with hoovers
roaring, dusters flying and with dramatic tales of
the previous day’s madness in South East London.
Following on close behind them, is me. After a check
of the Hall to make sure all maintenance and security
issues are in order we are joined by one or both of the
Housemen. This is our moment for the first cup of
tea of the day and to go through any issues regarding
forthcoming events, room set-ups, etc. The Chefs also
arrive early for all their preparation work, at which
point it seems sensible to settle in for another cup of
tea. The next excitement is the arrival of the office staff
ie the Accounts Department, Clerk’s Assistants and
the Charities Department, all of them experts in their
respective fields but inept at opening the archive door!
A hive of activity ensues during the course of the
day, which includes the bees on the roof, and all pull
together under the leadership of the Clerk, for the next
cup of tea and/or function……………. n
35
New Freemen in 2012/2013
PAUL BESSEMER
Paul was
educated at
Eastbourne
College and Lord
Wandsworth
College before
graduating
from St. David’s
University
College,
Lampeter
with a BA (Hons) degree in Archaeology
and Classical Studies. He has worked in
Insurance in the City for 28 years and is
currently a Director of the Property &
Casualty Division of the Lloyd’s Broker, Aon
Limited. His hobbies include hill walking,
military history, rock music and real ale! He
lives in Tooting, South London.
NICHOLAS COATES
Born in Tiverton
Devon, Nick
grew up in
Somerset near
Exmoor , before
attending Milton
Abbey and
Marlborough
College schools,
and Newcastle
University. He moved to London in 2009
and started work as a Building Surveyor
working for Marr-Johnson and Stevens LLP.
His Interests are field sports, skiing, sailing,
vintage cars, cooking, gastronomy, travel
and literature. He lives in Putney.
RALPH BOOTH
Ralph was
educated at
Cheltenham
College and
Oxford Brookes
University. After
completing
the NatWest
Graduate Trainee
Scheme and the
Chartered Institute of Bankers exams, he
joined Scotia Capital, the Corporate and
Investment Banking division of Scotiabank.
Having worked on a number of different
loan portfolios within Corporate Banking,
he now heads Scotia’s European Financial
Institution Group covering Investment
36
Trusts and the Insurance sector. Ralph is
married with three children.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL JAMES
BOWDER OBE
After university
James
commissioned
into the
Grenadier
Guards. Since
1996 he has
served around
the world and
deployed on
six operational
tours, including three to Afghanistan. He
was appointed MBE in 2006 and OBE in
2013. He currently commands 1st Battalion
Grenadier Guards. He is married with four
children.
PETER CADBURY
Peter Cadbury
trained and
practiced as a
solicitor with
the City firm
Linklaters before
joining Morgan
Grenfell, now
the investment
banking arm
of Deutsche Bank, in 1970,as a Corporate
Finance adviser, and where he was a director
for over 20 years and its Deputy Chairman
for six. Later he became Chairman of Close
Brothers Corporate Finance, Henderson
Smaller Companies Investment Trust,
DTZ Corporate Finance, his own advisory
firm, Peter Cadbury and Co, and a nonexecutive director of several public and
private companies. Currently he has a small
portfolio of consultancies and advisory
directorships.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Arts and the Royal Geographical Society
and a member of Chatham House.
He is a keen supporter of the Arts, has
travelled to over 100 countries, and outside
the UK is closely involved with Southern
Africa where he has a home in Cape Town.
WILLIAM FORD
Will works as a private client solicitor at
a London City firm and is based with his
wife Jen in Battersea. Their hobbies include
sailing, cricket,
woodwork,
country sports
(and enjoying
the countryside
generally, Will
having grown
up and been
educated in rural
Wiltshire). Will’s
elder brothers James and Charles are also
Freemen.
STEFFEN HOYEMSVOLL
Steffen moved
to the UK from
Norway aged 7.
He was educated
at The London
Nautical School,
City of London
School and
Trinity College,
Oxford where
he read for a Masters degree in Physics.
Following university he entered straight
into a Graduate role with the Royal Bank of
Scotland in their Markets division.
JILL JARVIS
Jill was educated
at Rosary House
Convent and The
Maynard School,
Exeter. She
then went into
banking before
marrying a naval
officer, travelling
around and
bringing up their family. Later on she went
back into banking with LloydsTsb and also
did voluntary work. She and her husband
bought an old farmhouse near Saltash in
Cornwall in 1972. Having renovated it over
the years they still live there and Jill enjoys
gardening and painting in watercolour.
She has served as a governor at Sir Robert
Geffery’s School since 1999. She is a proud
grandmother of one grandson and two
granddaughters.
ISLA KENNEDY
Isla attended Forest School in Snaresbrook
and then went on to Oxford University to
study Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
MARY ELLEN MCEUEN
She got
involved in the
Ironmongers
as a cadet
instructor and
intended to join
the Army, but
after a serious
skiing accident
she decided to
pursue a career as a technology consultant,
working for Accenture. She has just
bought a house in Hackney and is enjoying
refurbishing it.
Mary Ellen was
a member of
the staff of the
Ironmongers’
Company from
1994 to 2002 as
Social Secretary.
She spent all
her working
life working for
City Livery Companies (Goldsmiths’ and
Weavers’) while bringing up a family in
between.
WENDY LANGRIDGE
CAROLYN MAUDE
Wendy works in
finance and is
currently Chief
Regulatory
Officer for
a Russian
investment
bank. She enjoys
music, playing
piano, flute and
piccolo, formerly for the Blackfriars Sinfonia
Orchestra. Wendy has degrees in business
and linguistics and has qualifications in
wine. She lives with her partner Phil and
their two boys.
ROBERT MACVICAR
Robert was
educated at
Rugby School
and Keble
College, Oxford.
He spent 35
years as a City
lawyer, including
28 at Clifford
Chance doing
debt capital markets work, before retiring
in April to follow motor racing and other
automotive interests. Robert has three
children, now at school
and university.
Carolyn
attended Oxford
High School
and Bristol
University.
Married with
twins, she and
the family spent
many years in
North America
during her husband’s assignments there.
Her career embraces engineering market
research, sixth form teaching, public library
services, school governorship and other
administrative activities. Carolyn has been
closely associated with Company affairs
since 1990.
JOHN PIERS ROBB
John Piers
Robb is nephew
and godson
of John Robb
(Ironmonger
since 1966),
and works as
a barrister at
Essex Court
Chambers. He
studied Classics and Law at King’s College
Cambridge, where he sang in the Chapel as
a Choral Scholar. He remains a music-lover
and bibliophile as well as a keen runner.
John Piers is married to Jessica Ballantine
and lives in Greenwich
New Liverymen
in 2012/2013
JAMES LEWIS
TOBY ROLLS
Toby was
educated at
Brighton, Hove
& Sussex Sixth
Form College
and University
College, Oxford.
After Oxford he
joined Merrill
Lynch, working
in mergers and acquisitions, before moving
to Perella Weinberg Partners, a boutique
financial advisory firm. He is married with
a daughter.
CHRISTOPHER WARRINGTON
Christopher was
educated at St.
Peter’s School,
York. He then
came up to
London and
started working
in commercial
property
research for a
boutique property investment company,
before moving career into the Executive
Search industry as Head of Research for a
specialist Equity Executive Search firm. In
2000 he became the Head of Recruitment
for an Equities Capital Markets online
distribution platform, EO, before setting
up his own Executive Search Consultancy,
Human Capital Research, specialising in
Insurance. He is also the Company Secretary
and COO of a family office, looking at
renewable and energy saving investments.
Also LADY EVANS, MRS A D MOSS
and MR CHRISTOPHER EDWARDSSTUART n
DAN AND NICK HUDSON
37
Obituaries
38
BRIGADIER JB BIRKETT OBE
Brian Birkett was born on 2 October 1916
and educated at Marlborough College and
the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He
was commissioned into the Royal Signals
in 1936. In 1940 he was a member of the
British Expeditionary Force which was
evacuated from Dunkirk. After the war he
served as an instructor at the Staff College,
Camberley. Later he commanded 14 Signal
Regiment from 1958-60. He then worked as
a staff officer to the Controller of Munitions
at the Ministry of Supply for which he was
appointed OBE. In 1966 he was promoted
Brigadier and became Deputy Commandant
of the Royal Military College of Science at
Shrivenham. He ended his career working in
the Operational Requirements branch of the
Army in the Ministry of Defence.
A keen sportsman, he was a member
of the MCC and of the Harlequin Rugby
Football Club. He was admitted to the
Freedom by Patrimony in 1938 and joined
the Court in 1965. He was elected Master in
1974. During his Mastership, work began,
and was largely completed, on building
Geffery’s House at Hook; and the decision
was taken to build the offices adjacent to the
Hall known as Ferroners House.
It was a matter of great pride to him that,
since 1844, nine of his direct ancestors had
been Master of the Company. Two of his
three children are members of the Company.
Brian Birkett died on 30 July 2013.
AD MOSS ESQ
Tony Moss was born on 24 January 1932.
He was educated at Cranbrook School in
Kent and later read law at Jesus College,
Cambridge. He worked for some years
for Metal Box before joining a Holborn
solicitors’ firm as a trust and probate lawyer.
He was admitted to the Freedom of the
Company in 1964 and elected to the Livery
and Court in 1979. Eight years later, in 1987,
he was elected Master.
During his year as Master, the extension
at Geoffrey’s House, Hook was completed
and opened by him, and the Company
also bought Borovere, its residential care
home near Alton. The detailed planning of
the rebuild of Sir Robert Geoffrey’s School
Landrake took place and the Company
bought the Chinese bowl now on display in
the drawing room in the Hall.
In 1989 Tony was elected to the Court of
Common Council for Tower Ward and in
1992 he was elected Lay Sheriff of the City
of London for the year. He was a governor
of Christ’s Hospital and of the Museum of
London. He was also a trustee of the Geffrye
Museum and a member of many other
organisations. He died on 1 December 2012
and is survived by his widow, Jennifer and
their three children, Pippa, Charlotte and
Nicholas. Both Jennifer and Nicholas are
members of the Company.
SIR GREVILLE SPRATT GBE TD JP DL
Sir Greville Spratt was born on 1 May
1927. Educated at Charterhouse and the
Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, he was
commissioned into the Oxfordshire and
Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He was
seconded for two years to the Arab Legion
in the Middle East. Later he joined the HAC
which he commanded from 1962 to 1965.
He became Regimental Colonel from 1966
to 1970 and again in 1978. He was appointed
ADC to The Queen from 1973 to 1978.
He was admitted to the Freedom of
the Company in 1977 and he was elected
Alderman for the ward of Castle Baynard
in 1978. He was elected to the Court in
1982 and, two years later in 1984, served as
Sheriff. He was elected Lord Mayor in 1987.
Subsequently he was appointed GBE. After
his mayoralty Sir Greville continued to serve
as an Alderman until 1994. The following
year he became Master of the Company for
1995-1996.
He and his late wife Sheelagh are
survived by their three daughters, the
second of which, Georgina, was married
to another member of the Company and
Court, Anthony Webb-Bowen who died
suddenly in 2008. Sir Greville died on 13
December 2012 aged 85.
Obituaries
SIR RICHARD EVANS KCMG KCVO
Richard Evans was born on 15 April 1928.
Educated during the war years at Repton, he went
to Magdalen College, Oxford as an exhibitioner
in 1946 before completing National Service as an
officer in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.
He then joined Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service
and attended the School of Oriental and African
Studies at London University before being posted
to the Embassy in Peking. In the following
years he had a varied career serving in Berne,
Stockholm and Paris where he was the British
Government’s Director on the Board of the
Compagnie Financière de Suez. It was in Paris
that he was appointed CMG.
Perhaps the pinnacle of his career was as Her
Majesty’s Ambassador in Peking when, in 1984, he
set the ball rolling for the restoration of Hongkong
to China in 1997 by contributing to the Joint
Declaration with the Chinese. For this he was
formally thanked by the Cabinet and appointed
KCMG. Later in 1986, when The Queen made
a State Visit to China he was knighted again,
this time as KCVO. He was not just a successful
diplomat but a formidable Chinese scholar who
wrote an acclaimed biography about their late
leader, Deng Xiaoping.
He was admitted to the Freedom in 1979.
He joined the Court in 1988 and was elected
Master in 1999. He was the first Master to
present the Ironmongers’ Millenium Prize for
Excellence presented annually by the Master
to the outstanding student at the Joint Services
Command and Staff Course at the Defence
Academy, Shrivenham. He was also a keen
champion for the admission of women to the
Company. He is survived by his wife Grania,
and his two sons, Mark and Peter, all of whom
are members of the Company. He died on 24
August 2012. n
Officers and Staff, Master’s Day 2013
Back Row: Ken Weddell, Houseman; Shilpa Baldwin, Accounts Assistant; Radek Kutkiewicz, Kitchen Porter ; Justine Taylor, Archivist;
Cristian Dumitru, Chef de Partie; Traci Houlihan, Housekeeper; Gabor Mocsar, Butler; Paulina Sowa, Events Manager; Dean Robinson,
Executive Chef; Lorraine McHugh, Housekeeper; Christopher Lapworth, Houseman;
Front Row: Catharine Melville, Social Secretary; Maggie Hou, Financial Accountant; Andrew Harrison, Chief Accountant; Teresa WallerBridge, Assistant Clerk; Colonel Hamon Massey, Clerk; Helen Sant, Charities Manager; Steve Walby, Beadle; Ruth Eglesfield, Charities
Assistant; Ed Bolling, General Manager.
39
550 Anniversary Banquet
TOAST LIST
THE QUEEN (proposed by the Master)
THE PRINCE PHILIP, DUKE OF EDINBURGH
THE PRINCE OF WALES
THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL
AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY
(proposed by the Master)
THE LORD MAYOR, THE CITY OF LONDON CORPORATION
AND THE SHERIFFS
(proposed by the Master)
THE IRONMONGERS’ COMPANY, ROOT AND BRANCH
AND MAY IT FLOURISH FOR EVER
(proposed by the Rt Hon the Lord Mayor)
THE MASTER, WARDENS AND COURT
(proposed by the Warden of the Livery and Yeomanry)
OUR GUESTS (proposed by the Master)
TO THE NEXT 550 YEARS
(proposed by Mr J.P.H.S. Scott and Mr A.W.C. Edwards)
MUSIC The London Banqueting Ensemble
MENU
Mâcon Villages Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon 2010
Porcini Crème Brûlée
Confit of Free Range Chicken
Wild Mushrooms and Pickled Artichokes
Château Puech-Haut Prestige Coteaux du Languedoc 2009
Hereford Beef Fillet with Salt Baked Beetroot
Mini Oxtail Pie and Hispi Cabbage
La Tour Blanche 2003
Warm Banana Bread, Caramelised Banana
Toffee Sauce and Caramelised Pine Nuts
Croft 1970
Coffee
Handmade Chocolates
Hine Early Landed 1984
40
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Annual Report - The Ironmongers` Company

Transcription

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