Master Water Conservator

  Every child was received by the welcoming committee!   The Lord Mayor’s Children’s Party, making a great return after the lockdown, was the noisiest event I have been to in years. Livery Masters were invited to bring their children/ grandchildren between the ages of 6 - 9 to the Children’s’ Party at Mansion House. Hundreds of children, together with their minders, enjoyed an old-fashioned (ie non-themed) party, including the Hokey Cokey and Conga (led by the Lord Mayor around Mansion House) and ending, with the National Anthem. I was lucky enough to be with grandson Ben ( aka Spiderman), who was as overawed as I was with the entertainment.  The finale, of course, was the release of hundreds of balloons for the children to take home. The work by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, and the Sheriffs, staff and hundreds of volunteers was amazing, and ensured, I believe, nobody got lost or strayed or borrowed a few pictures! Ben and I thank the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress for the i

Water Conservators’ webinars continue to be popular and relevant – a mixture of technical and environmental - but all directed towards solutions we are going to need as we put pressure on the Earth’s finite resources. On 21 April, Member Allan Barton, Global Business Leader of Arup’s resource and waste business, gave us a fascinating and thought-provoking presentation on Sustainable Resources “Treasuring the planet’s resources for the future”. As an expert on waste management Allan demonstrated the challenges we face and illustrated how nations are developing strategies to meet these challenges. This led to a number of questions, showing the overall concern about the future. My thanks go to Allan for his presentation.

The Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames invited Masters and Clerks to its St George’s Day Lunch at Watermen’s Hall. The Master, Derek Mann welcomed the guests, which included a large proportion from the Livery. The Company was founded in 1514, when the earliest Act of Parliament for regulating watermen, wherrymen and bargemen received Royal Assent from King Henry VIII. In 1700 the Lightermen (carriers of goods/cargo) joined the Watermen’s Company. In 1780 the Company moved into its Hall at St Mary-at-Hill. The Company is a working guild and is very actively involved with the life of the River Thames and those who work on it. Watermen have long standing relations with the Fishmongers and Vintners (see above) and the Master Fishmonger, Sir Alan Yarrow, was the principal speaker. Those with long memories will remember that, in the presence of (Sir) Andrew Parmley, in 2015, I presented the then Lord Mayor with a Water Jug filled with Thames Water. Those with shorter

Holiday it may be, but there is no escape from the issues surrounding water and sanitation in the Western Cape region. The Cape Town water crisis peaked between mid-2017 to mid-2018. Cape Town succeeded in reducing its daily water usage by more than half but, fortunately, strong rains starting in June 2018 led to dam levels recovering. In September 2018, the city began easing water restrictions. Good rains in 2020 effectively broke the drought, and the resulting water shortage, when dam levels reached 95 percent. The legacy of water conservation is evident in daily water use. The notice above refers to a pilot cloud formation initiative on Table Mountain – not altogether welcomed by tourists! At the other end, so to speak, are the problems faced by litter in sewage, especially in conservation areas. Here is some reading material from a toilet in a Reserve in P ilanesberg in the North West Province. I didn’t ask how successful the appeal was. I was on holiday!

  The Election Court, and subsequent Lunch, took place at Wax Chandlers’ Hall. The Guest Speaker was Stephen Smith, Professor of Biomass Systems at Imperial College, who spoke about ways the recovery of products, such as nitrogen, from sewage sludges and liquors, could be very cost effective if the will and the finance were there. This was especially relevant to the high cost of artificial fertilisers and water companies’ high energy usage. He was particularly grateful for the long-term support given by the Water Conservation Trust to needy MSc Bursary students and the connection with the Company, which stretched back over a decade. The Company awards a best dissertation prize for students on the university courses we support. Awards were made to: Michael Ho from Imperial, Madelaine Czura from Queen Mary, Mabel Smith from Cambridge (see above) and Sonia Singh from Birmingham. Through this award, the Company has been able to connect with the very best young people entering our secto

At a meeting of the Twelve Great Companies in 1943 it was decided to hold a Service in St. Paul's Cathedral, to lift the spirit of the City following the blitz. This Service, has become an annual event and is one of the few occasions where the Livery Companies and Guilds of the City gather together as a whole in a religious setting. Admission is open to all Livery Company members, and thirteen members and guests attended this colourful spectacle, to see the Livery Companies and Guilds, represented by Masters, Prime Wardens and Upper Bailiff, together with their Wardens, in their robes and badges. The Procession was led by a Virger, and included the Choirs, the Clergy, and the Lord Mayor’s Party. The Service has a traditionally uplifting theme, with readings relating the Temple in Jerusalem to the City of Jerusalem, and the parallels in major cities, especially London. The plight of Ukraine was also on people’s minds. The service terminated with a rousing rendition of the Nation

  In normal times, each year, the Lord Mayor invites the Masters, Prime Wardens and Upper Bailiff of the Livery Companies to Dinner to celebrate the Mayor’s partnership with the Livery Companies of the City of London, and return the hospitality received during his Mayoral year. After a two-year break, The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor Alderman Vincent Keaveny welcomed nearly 350 guests to the Mansion House, with music from the Salon Orchestra of the HAC Band and the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry. His personal escort was provided by the Pikeman and Musketeers of the HAC. The Lord Mayor welcomed those present to the Dinner and set out his plan for his period of office. The traditional Worldwide visits on behalf of City businesses had been curtailed again because of the pandemic but he was determined to catch up. He also mentioned the charitable work undertaken by Livery Companies and humanitarian assistance given to the people of Ukraine. The Consort and I were placed

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers. The other are the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. The Middle Temple has been at the heart of the legal system since the sixteenth century. With ancient wooden panels dating from 1597, stunning stained glass and the fine timber roof of Middle Temple Hall, the Middle Temple is a unique piece of London history. The Consort’s tour for Company Members and friends was guided by ‘Tim’, starting with the Middle Temple Hall , with its magnificent double-hammer beam roof, which was completed in 1573. Generations of royalty have dined on the 29-foot oak High Table – reputedly a gift from Elizabeth I. It is also said that the first-recorded performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night took place in the Hall in 1602. The side rooms contain much of interest, including a room dedicated to