The Livery Marches North....!
The Brigantes – The Livery in the North hosted The Brigantes Breakfast at Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield
Liverymen are not slow at seizing new opportunities! To show the Livery is not a purely City of London affair, The Brigantes have formed to bring together Liverymen living or otherwise connected to the North.
I went to The Brigantes Annual Breakfast in May. Hugely enjoyable, I met many engaging people from other Livery Companies, including of course friends and acquaintances from City activities. I was there with Second Warden David Johnson and Other Halves. Called a Breakfast, it was in fact a lunch - a Livery eccentricity!
The Breakfast took place this year in Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield. The Hall is as impressive as any in the Square Mile. Some guests took the opportunity to visit the cathedral: together with the Town Hall, such buildings are forceful reminders that the Northern cities have splendid centres built from the fruits of the huge technological advances of the Industrial Revolution and the benefactors who prospered with them.
The carpet guard at the stairs saw 310 of us to the functions rooms above, and Past Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf, Master Solicitor was in attendance together with Past Sheriff Adrian Waddingham, a Liveryman Actuary known to a number in our Company. A fine lunch included a performance by the British Imperial Military Band and brilliant solos from the horns in the galleries playing challenges. 
In our bookings we’d declared which place was our Northern “connection”. The table plan placed each of us near similarly connected Liverymen and partners. One of my neighbours went to the same church as my cousin, and another for example wants me to brief his fellow directors! These groupings make the Brigantes’ events distinctively sociable.
Lunch concluded with an excellent speech by His Honour Judge Paul Worsley QC. I’d share the stories but remembering such things are a constitutional problem for me!
The next Brigantes event is in Chester on Saturday 10 December. The city is one of the most attractive in the country: a wonderful riverside on the Dee, Roman city walls and theatre, and a unique half timbered centre with pedestrian walkways (The Rows) above the streets for shopping. The Rows were in parts built 500 years before the idea occurred to the architects of the Barbican! The Brigantes will dine and hold a Carol Service in the Cathedral. Return travel by road or train is very easy, or stay a night and enjoy the city’s sights and shopping!
If you live in the North or have Northern connections, reserve the date in your diaries! Early booking is indicated. If you want to register an interest contact me or david.bentley@spaconsulting.co.uk .
Past Master Edward Sankey