The Last Newsletter ?
“This could be the last time….” sang the Stones back when I was at school, and this could be the last time that you see a Company Newsletter ……. in this format. At the recent Election Court, it was agreed to move to shorter, more frequent, Newsletter emails much as we did during 2020/21, in the dark days of the COVID lockdown. So look out for a different format, and keep those articles coming in. Without your content there will be no Newsletters!
In this last “traditional” edition (on my watch) you'll find news of new admissions, the Master's final Musings, reports on the Annual Church Service and Reception in September and Get to Know …. Court Assistant Steve Mayhew. There's also a reassuring report on Climate and another on the Company Wine Club’s visit to Rioja - speaking of which, a reminder: The Wine Club is open to all LIverymen. There are costs associated with Membership but if you are interested please contact John Blackburn, Chair of the Wine Club.
Now read on…
Admissions
There was an admission ceremony after the Election Court on 25th September, held for the first time, I think, at the rather grand Stationers’ Hall. At the ceremony Marvin Crichlow and Nina George were admitted as Freeman to the Company.
Two Members - Lin Wong and Olga Croft - were also clothed with the Livery (See the Master’s Musings below).
Congratulations to all of them and welcome to the Company / the Livery. We look forward to further admissions soon. The pipeline is looking healthy.
Master's Musings
Kanan Barot reflects at the end of her year in office:
I write this in the last month of my year as Master and am rather looking forward to a resumption of business as usual, as I return to a new term of teaching in October – not least, as it will allow my digestive system and liver a chance to rest.
It has been an amazing year in many ways, during which I have met a huge number of people, and represented the Company at many ceremonial events, and eaten and drunk far too much.
The last three months have been, on the whole, less hectic, as the Masters’ circuit slows down for summer breaks, though the period immediately following the last Court Meeting kicked off with the Livery Masters’ Weekend, which this year was a “staycation” in London. We ended up wandering around the Tower of London, which neither Chris, my husband and Consort, nor I had been to in years, so it was rather nice to revisit childhood memories. At the Saturday Gala Dinner, our Liveryman Bob Harris was mentioned for his Pan-Livery work in the Master Mercer’s speech but then incorrectly attributed to the WCIT, which resulted in an “Excuse me!” from yours truly – one way to get noticed amongst a large gathering!
Out of all the visits I made representing the Company a highlight is visit to the Feltham Sea Cadets (near Heathrow), on 13 September for their annual inspection. There were plenty of badges and certificates to be awarded and I joined Commander James Nisbet in making the presentations to the young people, watched over by beaming parents. It was really very special to be part of the joyful evening.
Turning to what I’ve been up to within the Company:
I have had meetings with members to discuss areas of Company strategy development, and to help foster better engagement, as well as meetings with the Nominations Committee and Events Committee. I attended a meeting of the Charitable Fund Trustees at the rather plush Cazenove offices, reminding me of my previous life in the financial services world. I was most honoured to be invited to a lunch of our own Past Masters recently, which really reinforced the feeling of being part of our special Company family – this was held at the Reform Club, another grand setting, courtesy of PM Bob Garrett. In August, I was again honoured and very pleased to be asked to attend the Freedom of the City ceremonies for two of our newer members, Lin Wong and Olga Croft. (Both now Clothed – see above). They will both remain very special to me as they were introduced while I was Chair of Membership, admitted at the start of my year as Master and are due to be clothed by me as well, after this Court Meeting, so I have been there for all their Livery ceremonies. I am hoping there will perhaps be more to come as they progress.
I have just started a new mentoring assignment (via the Pro Bono Committee) and am remembering the wonderful feeling of being able to use my experience to help someone develop and achieve their best – this was what I joined the Company to do, and it is fitting that I am doing it again now.
I was saddened not to have been able to celebrate our 20th Anniversary during this year with a special event for our Company though we did, of course, have the grand Mansion House Banquet earlier in the year. Having been around Masters this year whose Companies date back centuries, I can, however, say that we are holding our own, despite being so “young”. After all, whilst the Great 12 may have been the drivers of the economy in medieval times, modern London is all about the trades of the modern Companies and, with the enormous contribution we make to the pan-livery philanthropy totals, I am proud to have been the Master Management Consultant.
I’ll end by thanking all of you for this opportunity and honour, for the support shown to me, and for the camaraderie and feeling of being part of something wonderful. I look forward to working behind the scenes to continue to serve and wish the incoming Master much joy in his year.
Church Service and Reception
As Editor, I am happy to report that the Annual Church Service was held on Wednesday 25 September at St. Martin Ludgate Church, again for the first time.
It was pleasure meeting the two new Freeman and two newly clothed Liveryman at the reception following the Service (See the left-hand Margin). I also enjoyed meeting several prospective Members too. It reminded me that attendance at events such as these is a great opportunity for those interested to get a feel for the Company and what our fellowship activities are all about. There was a good turnout with about 50 Members, guests including the families of new liverymen, and those interested as above. We enjoyed some excellent wines from the Company Cellar (the delicious Moss Wood Semillon reminded some of us of our wine trip to Western Australia last year).
The next reception will be the “New Master’s Reception”, but the plan is to hold that a little later than previously – keep an eye out for announcements. And while we mention future events....
Future Events Programme
Collette Stone reports…
September: time for the annual role changes on the Court. Farewell to the Immediate Past Master, Chris Sutton as he hands that baton to Kanan Banot. And hello to Andy Miles as he takes his place as the new Master at his installation ceremony on October 10th, at Ironmongers’ Hall. And to be ready for a busy year as Master of the Company the Court has agreed that Andy will pass his role as Chair of the Events Committee to me.
First things first, then, if we haven’t met before I would welcome saying hello to you in person during the year and to appreciate what it is you like or even love about the Company’s events and what you would like to see more of. I am open to all suggestions for events, good venues, great speakers – by email, back of an envelope, 30 second conversations – all work, because this is one of your routes to helping the Court shape the future of our Company events.
Meanwhile, for events coming up in this Master’s year, the detail of the future is becoming clearer.
As part of the City Livery Movement in London we celebrate our history and achievements with ceremony and fun. Look out for the backbone of our Company’s events in the year – the New Master’s Installation, the New Master’s Reception, the Charities Supper and the Education Supper. Events following the Installation is where we also welcome new members and clothe new Liverymen. Bring friends and family and experience the fellowship of these events.
In this year ahead we are building on our focus on new Members – with open events for prospective, or curious, folk to stop by for a chat with experienced Members; and growing a new programme for the recent joiners – if this is you, and you would like to know more, let the Membership Committee know – or me. I’ll pass it on.
Then, every Master has their preference for the kinds of events to add to the Company calendar in their year – aimed at building our networks, getting to know more people, enjoying the conversation and making new friends. Watch the Company calendar for Andy Miles' ‘Meet the Master’ invitations…
Pulling us all together of course is our philanthropic work and close links to the Centre for Management Consulting Excellence (CMCE). There’s a busy programme rolling out in 24/25 for consultants who wish to add to their professional knowledge,
And if you have some energy left, there’s always the Lord Mayor’s Show in November (come and walk with us!), the Pancake Race at Guildhall, and a wealth of City-led events you can book at will.
To close, as a very new Member hearing about all the events that were offered to the Company I asked a nearby Past Master ‘how does everybody keep up with all this?’ His advice – don’t try to do it all. Pick the events where the history is strong (like the New Master’s Installation), the subject is interesting to you, or there’s new friends you want to make. Any combination will do. See you there.
Get to Know ... Steve Mayhew
I was introduced to the Company in 2018 by Richard Stewart who I met whilst at EFESO Consulting. I was involved in charitable work at Bath University in the 1980s, founding an annual fun run to raise money for Bath Community Action as well as an Ethiopian Appeal concert, and saw the Company as a way back into charitable work alongside a move to part-time paid work. Since then I have worked on pro-bono assignments with 8 very different charities, helping local communities with arts, charity retail, city farms, HIV, homelessness, hospice care, media and theatre. I am currently a trustee at Bath City Farm and Cards for Good Causes
I live in Bath with my wife Eilisha. I am a keen lawn bowler (playing for Somerset and reaching the National Finals in 2023 and 2024) and also play golf, table tennis and tennis with aspirations to get involved in sailing at some stage! I am a huge believer in the value of clubs to local communities and have been Chairman of Bath Tennis Club for almost 15 years as well as recently taking on the role of Treasurer at Bath Bowling Club.
I started my management consulting career in the Manufacturing and Distribution division at Coopers and Lybrand before moving to Bath in 1989 to start up a pioneering home shopping business (a sort of micro West Country version of tesco.com before the internet!). In 1994 I joined former Coopers colleagues in a start-up Supply Chain and Logistics consulting business which eventually became part of EFESO Consulting, where I still work on a part-time basis. I have worked for approximately 100 clients mainly in retail, distribution and manufacturing in Supply Chain and Logistics strategy development and implementation projects. Current and past clients range from huge (including Apple, Coca Cola, and the Royal Mint) to several small and medium sized businesses.
My consulting experience often involved bringing together directors and senior management across functions to agree the strategic direction and plans several years ahead, enabling the right strategic operational solution for the business to be developed and implementedgoing forward. The experience of engaging senior stakeholders and running workshops at key stages has proved invaluable in my pro-bono work.
I am keen to continue with pro-bono assignments whilst meeting new members and helping them to get actively involved through setting up some new "Round Table" events via my participation in the Court of Assistants.
Wine Club Trip to Rioja
The Company takes pride in its Wine Cellar and Third Warden Collette Stone has provided an update about the latest Wine Club expedition which the Company joined to taste and buy wine.
“Last year - Western Australia. This year - northern Spain. Same objectives - for Wine Club Members to experience unusual and great tasting wines (plus sourcing their personal allowances too of course), and for the Company to replenish the wine cellar .
The Wine Club organisers of these trips put their heart, soul, brain and ingenuity into crafting weeklong events for Wine Club members that combine education with fellowship, beautiful landscapes and quite a lot of laughter.
The result this time - a group of 15 'pilgrims' travelled by van, car and ferry, and some by plane, to the Rioja region to meet some very special and resilient makers of Riojan wine. Special because of their shared vision for growing the best wines they can from the small plots and parcels of land inherited from their great grandfathers. Resilient, because their kind of winemaking innovation takes years to come to market. The wine makers told us about the dozens of tough choices they make for each vintage. Which grape varieties to go with this year - mostly Tempranillo or not so much. Old vines or grafted young vines.
Then what's the direction of the sun on the slopes, the terroir, how high is the ever earlier high heat, how cold the chilly night time mountain air. Exactly what day and time to harvest. Should it be oak wood barrels or concrete tanks this time, or the big plastic egg... Shall we age it in bottle for one year or three, be organic, biodynamic or go for full on chemical additions - copper, sulphites or no sulphites? It really was an education…
We look forward to tasting the wines we tried at our dinners and events. When the chance comes remember it came from a small, family run enterprise somewhere high up above the River Ebro valley.”
Patrick McHugh, Chair of the Company’s Wine Committee, adds:
“The trip resulted in the purchase of 402 bottles of Riojan wine for the Company's wine cellar which the Company imported as part of the total of 1200 bottles on two pallets. The “pilgrims” also kindly used their own personal allowances to bring back for the Company 120 bottles of Premier Cru Champagne. I was really surprised at the quality and value for money of Riojan white wines.”
Some welcome optimism about the climate crisis
Fourth Warden Jim Foster reassures us:
Although it may seem hard for anyone in the United Kingdom to believe it, the European Union’s Copernicus Programme has reported that Summer 2024 was the hottest on record globally and for Europe. This is the latest in the regular reports of extreme weather conditions and their catastrophic consequences. It has, therefore, been encouraging and enlightening to read “Not the End of the World” authored by data scientist Hannah Ritchie in which she outlines how our generation can be the first to build a sustainable planet.
She introduces the subject by quoting research that of 16 to 25 year olds in the UK, 51% consider that “Humanity is doomed” and 72% consider that “The future is frightening”.
This is not helped by a lack of understanding of what is actually happening. For example, a survey in which two thirds of people considered that emissions in the US had increased by 10% or more in the previous 15 years, while only 19% responded correctly that they had fallen by 10%.
Hannah takes a more positive approach, providing a range of pragmatic solutions to how we can make improvements relating to air pollution, climate change, food, deforestation and ocean plastics, and provides hard evidence that it is possible to achieve change. For example, Delhi often tops the rankings as the world’s most polluted city but it has similar levels of pollution to those experienced in London in the first half of the 20th century. London’s levels are now a tenth of Delhi’s.
“Not the End of the World” is a great read for anyone interested in sustainability.
You may also be interested in these upcoming City events:
7 October: The 695th Lord Mayor's Lectures: Globalising Net Zero Aviation
22 October: The LCAG Annual Conference – Planning for a Resilient Future.
And Finally ....
Your editor has been our Company Representative on the Financial Services Group for the past two years. The FSG are planning a “Strategic Awayday” on 18th October 2024 and, in a moment of recklessness, I volunteered to “facilitate” this session. I am now in the process of planning the workshop, working with Richard Burge, the Deputy Chair of the FSG but I can’t get out of my head the notion of “Herding Cats”. (as in “it will be like…”). This phrase entered the public consciousness about 15 years ago because of an excellent marketing video by EDS (the former US information technology equipment and services company), that ran in the Superbowl final. EDS is long gone but the brilliant video still available on YouTube. More importantly Kanan Barot has agreed to take over from me as FSG rep. from October, so this workshop should be my FSG swansong. And finally, indeed ….
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According to informed opionion at Court, you, dear readers, have limited attention spans, so a special thank you to those of you who made it this far.
I hope to see you at the Installation Dinner on 10th October.
Steve Cant
Editor
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Nina George
