The last lap and a heady height!
Since my last Blog, I've chaired the Election Court, which to my great pleasure, elected First Warden Edward Sankey as my successor and advanced Patrick Chapman and David Peregrine-Jones to First and Second Wardens. I wish Edward every success in his year which will start on Thursday.
Also elected were Noorzaman Rashid and Gia Campari as Third and Fourth Wardens respectively and we welcomed four new Assistants in Liverymen Elizabeth Consalvi, John Corneille (Chair of the Pro-Bono Committee), Anastasia Kourovskaia and Heather Matheson. Our heartfelt thanks are due to the retiring Assistants, Past Masters William Barnard and Keith Burgess and to Liveryman Patrick Lavin who has done so much to create and maintain the Company’s mentoring programme. We have been truly fortunate in both our past, and newly elected, colleagues and I know that the team is well set to carry the Company forward.
Another most pleasant activity of the past few weeks has been the start of the “Leadership Lunch” programme which has brought eminent business people to enjoy an informal lunch with Liverymen and guests of the Company. Sir Malcolm Williamson, Chair of the Prince of Wales’ charity, Youth Business International, and Jon Moulton, the doyen of UK private equity players and a great friend of the Company, have been our guests along with a number of CEOs, MDs and Managing Partners from MCA member companies. The lunches have given us the opportunity to enjoy a thoroughly stimulating conversation in the excellent setting of Coopers' Hall, and to extend our visibility with current leaders of the profession.
Changing tack (pun intended!), last weekend I ticked off one of my “bucket list” activities which was to climb to the “fighting top” of the Sea Cadets's square-rigged Training Ship Royalist, on which Melanie and I were enjoying a great day’s outing with the Master, Roy Taylor, and his crew of both full-time staff and really enthusiastic Sea Cadets.
As a real enthusiast for Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels, I’d mentally climbed the futtock-shrouds hundreds of times but this was the chance to do it for real and although it did not quite compare with stormy passages round Cape Horn or the smoke of battle – we were anchored in a pretty calm Weymouth Bay! - it felt really great! The photo shows the view beneath my feet which certainly made me feel good!
I’m looking forward to my “Exstallation Dinner” on Thursday when I’ll hand the baton to Edward Sankey to whom, once again, I wish a very successful and enjoyable year as Master and finally, I would like to thank all of those members of the Company who have given their invaluable support, help and advice during my year.
It has been an honour and privilege to serve the Company as Master for what has seemed a very short twelve months!