Charities Supper - 28th January 2025

  
​Celebrating our Members' Consultancy and Mentoring Support

Our professional ProBono work differentiates WCoMC from most other Livery Companies and other organisations providing support to the NonProfit Civil Sector. Our members typically volunteer around £1m of support each year through their consultancy or mentoring work for numerous clients. This last year we added a further 30 new organisations to our client portfolio, with some larger assignments involving small teams of members.

This is one of our defining annual events so we are very keen to share this traditional, yet relatively informal, occasion with as many of our contacts and clients in the Sector as possible, particularly introducing the spectacular setting of a City Livery Hall to them. This year we will again be in the Cutlers' Hall, just west of St Paul's Cathedral in Warwick Lane. The Cutlers' Company has had a regular meeting place in London from 1285; the present hall is their fifth and came into use in 1888. On the outside of the main front wall, as shown to the left, there is a finely carved terracotta frieze by the Sheffield sculptor Benjamin Creswick. Inside is some exquisite stained-glass and the Victorian hammer beam roof in the main Hall is a significant feature of the building. This Hall is a real treat for our event and our guests.

We therefore encourage all members to invite their contacts and clients as guests to ensure this tradition continues. We are delighted to confirm that, as in previous years, this event has been sponsored and therefore the ticket prices, albeit marginally higher than last year, are lower than might be expected. We will be sitting at tables of eight and during the evening we will be awarding the Matheson Cup to a member of the Company who, in the view of the ProBono Committee, has made an exceptional contribution to the support the Company has provided over the last year to the NonProfit Sector.

We will have three speakers, all ProBono clients, who will talk briefly about their work and how they are going "onwards and upwards" following our help:

• Samantha Haspell: the CEO of DAVSS, a Domestic Abuse support charity in West Kent; she recently moved to the NonProfit Sector after over 30 years in policing; DAVSS has a core 20 strong Trustee and Staff team who oversee the work of some 50 volunteers.
   
• Derrick Evans MBE: also known as "Mr Motivator", who when not encouraging everyone to keep fit is deeply involved with the Charity Sector; he is the driving force behind a charity to raise money to get beds, either new or restored/recycled (some 7m beds are thrown away annually) distributed to over 750,000 disadvantaged children in the UK who sleep each night without a bed or mattress.

• Christine Ansell: the CEO of Cards for Good Causes and previously CEO of Wandsworth Oasis; both charities are retail organisations that raise money for other charities, but with totally different operational structures; WO has nine traditional shops in SW London, CFGC is the UK's largest charity card and gift retailer, operating through its website and a national network comprising popup and hosted shops for Christmas.

The supper will be preceded by an Admissions Ceremony, a traditional opportunity for existing members to welcome new Freemen and congratulate those who are being clothed in our Livery. There will then be a drinks reception prior to taking our seats for supper.

Members and registered Event Account Holders can click on this Participant Listing link to see who has booked.

Please note that payment for this event will be processed by Stripe (debit/credit card).

Dress code is "Business Attire" (ie suits and ties etc)