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Welcome to Issue 63 of the Company Newsletter - the first of new decade. No need for any introductions from me as the Master sets the scene in her regular feature. (Ed).
Your Master's Voice
Dear all,
I hope that 2020 has started well for you and those who you hold dear.
My Consort and chief bag-carrier, Brian, is pointing out that I am already over 25% of my way through my year. There is still much to do so there is a balance between reporting on things that have already happened and things that are yet to come. Christmas and 2019 already seem like months ago and the inter-Livery carol concerts and services which I attended seem a distant memory. One though which sticks out was the London Area Sea Cadets Carol Service in the magnificent chapel at the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. The readings on the theme of ‘Courage’ were chosen by the Sea Cadets themselves: words from the heart or poems or readings which reflected what courage meant to them. It was moving and uplifting.
Walter Gill joined us as part-time Assistant Clerk in mid-December and many of you may have already met him at various events. We are really delighted that he has joined us. Read more about Walter here. In case you are not aware, both our Learned Clerk, Julie and now our Gallant Assistant Clerk, Walter, are only each employed for 12 hours a week. Chris Edge, our Assistant Treasurer, will remain with us until March to effect the handover.
The final notable event was the Charities Supper in mid-January. As per usual it was a great celebration of our probono activities with talks from three of our clients. A full report is contained in this newsletter.
There will be an opportunity to taste more of our cellar at a very special event on the 26th February. Please make a special effort to attend. Book now. It is great value so bring along a guest too! Our wine cellar has been built up with the support and passion of those on the Wine Committee and in the Wine Club and now represents our largest single asset. Read more about it here.
Thinking of the future, we progress with development of our strategy and 2W Steve Cant writes a little bit more about that below. Following on from the Change Lecture, Father of the Livery Calvert Markham is developing a project ‘Tomorrow’s Worth’. We are hoping that this will provide more engagement with the Management Consulting sector and Calvert is looking for volunteers to support. Again, more about this below.
25th February is Shrove Tuesday and is also the date of one of the most amusing events in the City, the interlivery pancake race. Last year was the first time that we had been able to enter a team and it was good fun to watch and hilarious to take part. We are entering a team again this year and will be even more competitive now we understand the rules and how to abuse them! We’ll send more information around later but if you are interested in participating, especially in the fancy dress race, please let me know.
We work hard at being a modern, vibrant livery company - with a large range of events and activities spanning philanthropy, education and fellowship. But we are not resting on our laurels and we want to understand and improve the impact we are making. So do let me know if there is more that you think we could be doing to bring joy!
Skinners’ Hall was full – well not quite as full as our record last year – for this year’s Charities Supper held on Jan 15th. We thank Jon Moulton and AS Miles Consulting for their generous financial support, enabling us to have many guests from charities present. The surroundings were great, the food followed a game theme which I thought was particularly good and there were terrific wines selected, as ever, by our Wine Committee.
The Charities Supper is a celebration of our ProBono work, compèred by the Committee Chairman, Patrick Chapman and the fun started with the award of the Matheson Cup by the ProBono Committee to a member of the Company who has "gone above and beyond". This year the cup was presented to Nanette Young for her tireless efforts in promoting, developing and delivering our mentoring services. Indeed one of our speakers on the night was one of her mentees. Congratulations Nanette! (Sorry photos will follow next time).
Following this, we were again fortunate to have three exceptional featured clients, speaking between the courses of the supper about our work with them:
Anita Tiessen — Youth Business International
Anita joined YBI as CEO in January 2018 after previous senior positions in several international not-for-profit organisations. She is leading the expansion of YBI into new countries while strengthening the engagement with long established member organisations. Anita acknowledged and thanked us for our ongoing support of the YBI accreditation programme, work led by 3W Bob Harris and involving a host of our members. There’s more to come in 2020 and beyond.
Sue Riddlestone — Bioregional
Sue is the CEO and Co-founder of Bioregional. She was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to sustainable business and to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Bioregional is a social enterprise which champions a better, more sustainable way to live. Sue spoke about the value that she personally and her organisation had gained from mentoring. Sue’s mentor was and is the aforementioned Nanette Young.
Dr Sam Joseph is a veterinary surgeon and one of the two Co-founders of StreetVet. StreetVet was formed in 2016 to help homeless people on the streets of our towns and cities by giving free accessible care to their dogs (and other animals), inspired by the bond between owners and their animals that results in life changing potential for both. Sam spoke about the support and advice he had received from PM Patrick Chapman and Simon Engwell as his charity has grown fast. It now has over 500 volunteer vets and nurses working with outreach organisations across the UK to provide help 'on the street'.
I thought between them these speakers gave a good representation of the wide range of work we do across the not for profit sector and the impact our volunteers have on the organisations they work with. The ProBono Committee express here a big thank you to all those involved in the planning and preparation for this event, including the Clerk and her team, the Wine Committee and all those involved making the evening such a success.
The greatest vote of thanks must go to our Volunteers, our members who continue to give their time energy and expertise for the benefit of not for profit organisations. Our sincere thanks to them, one and all.
Next Year: The dates for next year’s Charities Supper has already been fixed: Wednesday 20th January 2021. Get it in your diaries now!
At the New Master’s Reception on 20th November the Wardens circulated a single diagram which summarised the 3 year Strategy - A Strategy Map:
That was work-in-progress but you can find a readable version here. Work to add more detail is continuing and a workshop with Members of the Court is planned for 2nd March. As part of this work and again at the New Master’s Reception we ran a simple survey. We asked:
- What things would you like to do in you company?
- What would you like from your Company?
The results have been analysed and will be factored into future plans. You can find a short report here.
There will be a report further in the next Newsletter.
I am pleased as the new Second Warden to join the Wine Committee ex-officio. This Committee founded in 2002, is one of the longest running committees of the Company and has been very successful over the years. As I understand it the Company has built strong reputation since the late 90’s’– among the City, Members and guests alike – for serving interesting and good quality wine at our events, which has matched the selected menus well. The Wine Committee is expected to exercise judgment in finding interesting wines that are good value for money at prices that are reasonable in the context of the events where they are to be served.
The Company wants to be known for the quality of its wine and the Committee’s role is to:
- be engaged in the preparation of all events, before decisions are made, so that it may advise on wine arrangements;
- oversee the sourcing of wine for events (even if from caterers);
- purchase wine for laying down in the Company Cellar;
- maintain the Company’s relationship with a default supplier.
Recently the Company and the Wine Committee have made several positive developments including growing the Company Cellar to be worth £15,300 at cost and the Wine Fund be worth £11,000. Together they are the largest asset of the Company valued at over £26,000.
Back in 2012 the idea of setting up a Wine Club for Liverymen of the Company was developed, and the result is a unique organisation for a Livery Company where our Wine Club Members support the Company’s Wine Committee to build the Company Cellar with interest free loans to the Company. So far, the Wine Club Members have provided over £20,400.
We are the only modern livery Company with our own wine cellar which allows us to consume wines at our events that offer a far better price, quality combination than we can get by using caterers – who can make a gross profit per guest of over 75% on the wine they sell. The key point to note here is that it’s not all about price, it’s about quality too. The good news is that if you spend just a few pounds more, you get a lot more wine for your money. In order to shed more light on this PM Patrick McHugh the Chair of the Wine Committee has provided an interesting and comprehensive article which you can read here.
We want to enjoy good quality wine at prices that are reasonable in the context of the events where they are served. To achieve this a trade-off is important, but the Wine Committee manages it on all our behalves. In practice that means buying when wines are good value for money, while avoiding anything of poor value. For my part the wine that I enjoyed at the New Master’s Reception (the Delaunay Sauvignon Blanc bought on a Wine Club trip to the Loire) was exceptional. Exceptional enough to make me join the Wine Club too.
If this has tickled your taste buds, then I hope to see you at the next tasting event – Already trailed by the Master above. So if you haven’t already, please click on this link to make your reservation. It's good value at £42 a ticket and will be great fun!
As noted by the Master we are please to be joined by Walter Gill. Walter’s role will include assisting the Clerk, Julie, especially with the database, website and accounts. Walter is also happy to assist members of the company should they require help with IT problems or if they need help planning a special event. You contact Walter by email at: assistant.clerk@wcomc.org or by mobile: 07809 792588. Walter has an interesting and varied background which is detailed here.
Father of the Livery Calvert Markham introduces a major new Company project:
In October’s Company Change Lecture, Lord Willetts set out some of the challenges presented by intergenerational inequality. ‘Tomorrow’s Worth’ is the name given to the project created by the Company inspired by this topic. The Company’s motto is ‘Change through wisdom’, and Tomorrow’s Worth aims over 2020 to identify practical ways in which beneficial change can be introduced to organisations to address some of the issues of intergenerational inequality. The project is not confined to the Company, but aims to engage with other individuals and enterprises that may be interested in what the Company is doing. We are pleased that already the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, who sponsored the Change Lecture, are supporting the project both financially and through their members, and we are anxious that others do so too.
There are some 20 individuals from inside and outside the Company, who have already registered their interest, who have started to define the project areas where the Company might contribute. These are:
- Improving intergenerational collaboration in the workplace
- Providing the HR department with the language and tools to address intergenerational issues
- Intergenerational knowledge transfer
- The possible age discriminatory impact of management control systems
We are working with the Intergenerational Centre (of which David Willetts in President) to develop these projects.
Tomorrow’s Worth has not until now been widely advertised in the Company, but now is the opportunity to get involved. It may be that you would be interested in joining one of the teams working on the projects mentioned, or have an idea for another area of study that should be covered. Equally, you may have a client or be part of an organisation that would benefit from involvement. If you would like to know more about this, please contact Calvert Markham at calvert@cmarkham.com.
Women vs Capitalism
Past and first female Master, Vicky Pryce is Chief Economics Adviser at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, and former joint head of the UK Government Economic Service. She was also director-general for economics at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. Her latest book tackles gender equality or the lack of it. In it, Vicky argues that gender equality is good for business and economies, but that the free market is wired to perpetuate inequality; only government intervention can empower women, with proper support and reward for their work. You can read more here.
Reviews for the Vicky’s book, which was published in November 2019, have been positive:
- In Women vs Capitalism, Vicky Pryce maintains that the free market is failing women and that correcting this is a win-win for everyone - and critical to our economic prosperity.’ — Sunday Times
- ‘This book shines a much-needed light on discrimination that still holds too many women back – and what we can do about it. For policymakers, directors and women wondering what they can do to fight back, this is a fantastic book.’ — The Observer
The Ealing Music and Film Festival
February is nearly upon us and it sounds like 2020 could be the last time that PM Patrick Chapman and his wife Ann will be steering this charitable festival aimed at supporting young musicians and artists through outreach and scholarships. As before, the festival programme is an interesting fusion of film and music, headlined by the internationally renowned choir, Tenebrae, with recitals and orchestral concerts and soloist Rob Burton, the BBC Young Musician of the Year Woodwind Finalist. The film programme includes Tommy, Brief Encounter and Rapsodia Satanica with its original Mascagni score, as well as a presentation of shorts.
Click on the logo to the left to download a copy of this year’s pocket programme or visit www.ealingmusicandfilmfestival.org for all the detail and for bookings.
Consultants from 10 firms granted Chartered status
Members, especially those still plugging away at the coalface, may be interested in this:
Consultants from IBM, PwC, EY, KPMG, (and others) have become the first in the UK to receive a Chartered Management Consultant Award. The new accreditation sees the Management Consultancies Association collaborate with the Chartered Management Institute to standardise the quality offered by the UK consulting sector. This new award should not be confused with the Certified Management Consultant qualification, which I and I’m sure many others have held for many years. More information here.
And finally, this from Past Master Edward Sankey:
Gala for the City Livery Yacht Club!
This year there will be a special gala kick-off to the year of the City Livery Yacht Club! The Commodore of the Club, Nick Havell, is at the Royal Opera House. He has arranged for the annual Fitting Out Dinner of the Club to include a gala music performance. The event will be at Drapers’ Hall. If anyone is interested in coming along, whether it is for the concert, the boating interest, or for the pleasure of attending the wonderful Drapers’ Hall, drop me a line on E.J.Sankey@dial.pipex.com !
The City Livery YC is one of the cross-Livery bodies. Its activities include not only yachting (“stick and rag!”), motor yachting in coastal waters, and boating on the inland waterways such as the Thames. As well as boating events, it has a good programme of social occasions in London as well! The programme is here. It is not a requirement to own a boat in order to join!
(ed) More on other cross-Livery bodies in later editions of this Newsletter. Thanks for reading this far.
Steve Cant (ed)
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