Introduction
Welcome to Issue 6 of the Newsletter dedicated to our Company’s philanthropic efforts. The scope is broadly updates on a selection of our pro bono assignments and the work of the Company’s charitable fund. This is effectively a Charities Supper special edition, but first…
The IPM Jailed and Bailed
I’m leading with this article because, after many months waiting, I can finally report on being Jailed & Bailed, the annual fund-raising event on behalf of the Red Cross. On 31st of January I, along with about 30 other Livery Masters (and now past Masters including Julie Fox), attended the Old Bailey where we all crammed into Courtroom 3. (I had never been inside the Old Bailey – it’s all very impressive). Various charges against us were read out in public and we all learned a great deal about each other’s weaknesses and foibles, with Consorts on hand to enjoy this ritual humiliation. With a ball and chain around our wrists we were then all transported, in a vintage Routemaster bus, to the Tower of London where we enjoyed a very convivial lunch in the Fusilier Museum. The Champagne, donated by Pol Roger, flowed freely and we all had our thumbprints and mug shots taken – see below.
I am pleased to report (once again) that I did achieve my target and raised in the region of £1,400 plus Gift Aid. The total raised across the Livery by all the Masters taking part was about £43,000 again plus Gift Aid, so probably in the region of £50,000, all in the support of the Red Cross.
A fantastic effort all round. Very many thanks to the many friends, family members and colleagues from WCoMC who supported this fundraising effort.
Charities Supper 2023
For this year we were at a different venue again – the Saddlers’ Hall. This was a popular event and we were at maximum capacity. PM Patrick Chapman – Chair of the Pro Bono Committee - was again our compère for the evening, and we heard from three speakers from the receiving organisations about the pro bono projects that we have supported:
- Rich Thanki - the Founder and Chief Executive of Jangala, the UK-based charity dedicated to enabling internet access for people in need of urgent humanitarian aid or longer-term development assistance
- Alicia Weston - the founder of Bags of Taste, the charity that transforms the lives of people with multiple disadvantages by giving them the help and practical support they need to buy and cook tasty, healthy and affordable food, making it easier for people to improve their diets, health and finances so they can move out and stay out of food poverty
- Sian Rees – Chair of the Shadow Board for the (to be) merged Welsh Archaeology Charities which have featured here previously. (Sian very kindly stood in at very short notice for Jeremy Lune - Chief Executive of Cards for Good Causes – who suffered a family bereavement).
Well done to all those involved in planning and organising the supper and, especially, a big thank you to all our pro bono volunteers. (Ed: There was an installation ceremony before the supper, but I will report on that separately in the next edition of the Company Newsletter).
More photos from the Supper at the end of this edition...
RAF 600 Squadron
Master Chris Sutton made the inaugural Company award to RAF 600 Squadron (City of London) RAuxAF at the Charities Supper. This award was, and will be, made by the Company to the Officer that has made an outstanding contribution to the work of the Squadron during the preceding year. This year the award was made to Squadron Leader Nigel Moseley.
The creation of this award demonstrates the increasing strength of our relationship with 600 Squadron which is being driven by Court Assistant Jim Foster: the start of great tradition we hope.
Matheson Cup
Talking of tradition, during the Charities Supper, we awarded 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.
This year the cup was presented by PM Patrick Chapman to Chris Wilson for his expert HR client support, provided to multiple clients over many years. Chris joined the Company in 2017 and has become a go-to colleague on pro-bono assignments requiring expertise in working practices, remuneration and employment practices and procedures. He has completed assignments for YBI, SCRATCH, Advice for Renters, Haringey Migrant Support Centre and recently took on an assignment for a significant charity Working Families despite having two other pro-bono clients in progress.
Congratulations Chris!
Livery Food Initiative
Also at the Charities Supper, Steve Cant the Chair of our Charitable Fund was able to present a cheque for £1,500 to Mr Stephen Winningham, Chair of City Harvest - the food redistribution charity. This donation was made as “matched funding” from our Charitable Fund based on personal donations already made by our Members to the Livery Food Initiative (LFI).
The idea for the Livery Food Initiative developed quickly from a Livery Charity Chairs Group workshop in September at which PM Denise Fellows, Treasurer of our Charitable Fund, talked about working collaboratively to increase impact and suggested that the food poverty crisis warranted such an approach. LFI was launched in December 2022 by LCCG. Denise Fellows and Hilary Lindsay Chair of LCCG (pictured above with Stephen Winningham) are on the LFI task group. Livery Charitable Funds are asked to donate funds to help keep City Harvest vans rolling over the next three years and enabling them to provide more much-needed food to London-based charities. So far LFI has raised over £136,000 – enough for City Harvest distribution vans to distribute food for around 1.2 million meals.
Our Charitable Fund has promised to match the first £3,000 raised through individual donations from our Members. The total currently stands at £2,255. Many thanks to all those who have donated so generously and if you would like to help us hit our £3,000 target please go to our GoFundMe page. We would like to present another £1,500 cheque from our Charitable Fund as soon as possible.
Pan-Livery Pro-Bono Interest Group
Bob Harris reports: Our fourth workshop of the year took place on Monday 5th December at the Information Technologists’ Hall, attended by nearly 30 members drawn from 25 Livery Companies. The meeting began with a further presentation on the Funder Plus approach – this time from an external perspective: Jenny North who has recently joined Clothworkers as Director of Philanthropy. She described the ‘Venture Philanthropist’ approach that the Impetus Trust plays in supporting charities to develop and scale up their social impact. (ED: The Impetus Trust was a regular Pro Bono client a few years ago when Jenny was an Investment Director there).
The second half of the evening was focussed on mentoring. I introduced the topic with an “Aunt Sally” classification of mentoring – see diagram – which demonstrates the breadth of mentoring support already provided by Livery Companies.
David Glassman of our Company then described the scope and approach of our mentoring programme which is targeted at Charity Chief Executives and Chairs of Trustee Boards. The professionalism of our approach and David’s presentation clearly impressed the assembled throng. Representatives from the Engineers and the Constructors Livery Companies then described the mentoring support they provide to undergraduate and postgraduate award winners in their professional areas. This led to a vigorous discussion about the range of mentoring support and the skills and training needed to ensure that it was delivered effectively.
After concluding the formal plenary session, there was an extended opportunity for networking and sharing of ideas, fortified by some pleasant house wine and delicacies procured from the local Waitrose. As in previous meetings, the meeting was an ideal opportunity to share experience and good practice and to identify where there might be potential for cross-livery collaboration. More on the latter in the next issue.
Since then, there has been a follow up meeting of a sub-group (of which both I and IPM Steve are members) to develop ideas for future events - building on the interest shown both in enhancing our pro-bono offerings and in furthering collaboration across Livery Companies. We propose to work up some preliminary ideas to establish this collaboration further, which we would see as a multi-year vision. More on that in future editions of GTKP.
Past Master William Barnard
PM William Barnard was Master of the company in 2007 - 08. He now lives near Sydney, Australia but is still an active Member. He attended the Past Masters’ lunch last September and is an active member of the Company wine club. (ED: I hear rumours of an Australian wine tasting trip but I'm sworn to secrecy for now … oops!).
On my recent visit to Australia I was able to meet William for a very enjoyable and sociable supper overlooking Manly harbour. We discussed current activities in the Company and reminisced about his time as Master. It seems that, as Master, he restructured our Committees dealing with mentoring and pro bono work and the unified Pro Bono Committee emerged as we currently know it. (Ed: This brief bit of history is my excuse for including this story and photo here in this GTKP newsletter and not the Company Newsletter).
More from the Charities Supper 2023
Thank for reading this far… more in the summer.
Steve Cant
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