June got off to a flying start with attendance at the 1^st Pan Livery Charity Chairs Conference, together with IPM Peter Blair-Fish and Engineers Trust Chair David Johnson.  There was an opportunity to meet some 60 other Companies, together with a very interesting talk on the benefits of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (ICO) status for Trustees.

The same week Middle Warden Dolores Byrne delivered her Warden’s lecture on board HMS Belfast on the subject of realising the value of innovation to ‘Engineer the Future‘.

The following morning I represented the Company at a breakfast meeting with Alderman Robert Hughes-Penny in support of our Ward of Cheap and then attended the Ironmongers’ City Livery Lunch, before departing with my Consort John for our second trip to Sheffield for the Masters’ weekend.

The Masters’ weekend is where important informal links with other Masters serving over the same year are cemented into an ongoing informal organisation.  More than 200 members of the Livery and their partners attended, including the Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs.  It was an excellent weekend, very ably organised by the Master Cutler of Hallamshire, Mr James Tear.  The technical visits included locations which I have visited as part of my work in the aerospace industry.

I also had the opportunity to be the guest of my Consort John in his role as a member of the Guild of Freemen on a visit to Allington Castle. This spectacular private home is a restored moated Castle, built at the end of the 13th century by the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

The same evening I returned to London as a guest of the Fishmongers at a civic reception to celebrate their 750th anniversary and held in their newly refurbished Hall. The evening involved a presentation on their charitable activities – the affidavits from the individuals and organisations that have benefited from their Trust were particularly impressive. 

At the end of the week we visited the Becket Pageant in the Guildhall Yard for an open air performance of ‘London’s Turbulent Son’ – the life story of Thomas a Becket’. Again I received a considerable amount of new information, especially about the strong connections Becket’s family had to the City.

The following Monday John and I represented the Company during the Lord Mayor’s annual visit to Treloars School.  The school was founded in 1907 by Lord Mayor Sir William Purdie Treloar and provides education, care, therapy, medical support and independence training to young people with physical disabilities. The dedication of the staff and the innovative technology they deploy is impressive.  We are planning to hold a Zoom soiree later in the year on the subject of adaptive technology as illustrated by the benefits of assisted living within the school.  

Our second Soiree of the Master’s year took place two days later on the subject of ‘Warehouse Scale Computers’. It was presented live from California by Dr John Wilkes Principal Software Engineer and Google Scholar who works for Google in automation and provisioning of computing, storage, and networking resources to Google worldwide.  His excellent presentation can be seen on our YouTube channel.

At the end of the same week several Members of our Livery exercised our duty at the Election of Sheriffs in the Guildhall, where Alderman Alastair King and Andrew Marsden were appointed to serve for the year 2022-23.  Immediately after the Election we repaired to Painters’ Hall where we were joined by our partners and members of several other Livery Companies.  I am pleased to report that, despite our numbers being affected by both Covid and the rail strike, we gave a very credible cheer for the Engineers in the traditional end of lunch inter-Company competition.

I also represented the Company at the Glaziers’ Dinner, where alongside the Master Glazier, Plumber and other Livery Masters, we provided some light entertainment to the tune of Flanders and Swann’s ‘ The Gas man cometh’ (I taking the role of the Electrician).

June concluded with a third trip north, this time to Blackpool for the Brigantes Breakfast, arranged by the ‘Brigantes, The Association of City of London Liverymen in the North’, but who none-the-less welcome members of the London Livery.  Past Master Richard Groome is on the organising committee, and they did a splendid job in organising the meeting in Blackpool.  More than 400 attendees met in the Tower pavilion situated below Blackpool Tower.  There we had an amusing and informative talk about the history of Blackpool entertainment, pre-lunch drinks in the ‘Circus’ and then a breakfast on the floor of the Ballroom, Special guests were Strictly celebrities, Ian Waite and Erin Boag, who illustrated a variety of ballroom steps – and even taught us to ‘chair dance’.

Images courtesy of John Canning

Audrey Canning

Master, Worshipful Company of Engineers