On 1st July, I had the great honour of being elected Master of the Worshipful Company of Launderers and would now like to share a few thoughts on how I see my year in office.
Some of you will already know me or know of me, but for those who don’t, I should perhaps introduce myself: I joined Procter & Gamble straight from Oxford University in 1979, starting off in the Industrial Sales Division.
As I spoke German, I soon transferred to the European Laundry Division, servicing large commercial laundries in central Europe. P&G sold the business to Osmac and I soon moved full-time to Germany to run a manufacturing business they had bought. Osmac sold to Christeyns in 1995 and I started a fantastic journey, building up a small laundry detergent business in a few countries to become market leader with subsidiaries in 24 countries.
I did, though, retain my links to the UK and joined the Board of the TSA in 2015, becoming Chairman in 2017 – a role I still hold. I am also on the Board of the European Textile Services Association and on the Advisory Board of the German trade association.
More importantly, I became a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Launderers in September of 2017 and attended a few events each year. I was then invited to become a Static Court Assistant for a couple of years and joined the Court in February last year with the aim of trying to improve links with current Laundry industry members. In April last year, I was asked to become Treasurer and a few weeks later received a call to say that the Renter Warden could not progress and asking if I would become Senior Warden in July! Whilst this was obviously a massive opportunity, the logistics of living abroad and carrying out the role properly initially seemed too big a challenge and I asked for a few days to consider. Having spoken to a few Past Masters, friends and, of course, my wife, I then decided to proceed and certainly do not regret my decision.
Court and Livery protocol were very new and my limited experience of how everything works has been a challenge. However, I have benefitted from a lot of advice – in particular from my predecessor Simon Fordham, my Steward Colin Hill and of course our Clerk Margaret Campbell.
The role of Master Warden is fairly short and starts with the July/August holiday period, where very little happens. I have used the time to talk with Past Masters and fellow Liverymen and am now looking forward to my first Court meeting in October, preceded by the first Past Masters Luncheon to be held for a number of years.
In my speech at the Installation Dinner, I identified two areas, that I would like to try to improve. Firstly, attracting more of the Liverymen we do not see as often as we would like to attend more events. This may also mean making events easier to attend and we will be looking at the potential for holding small lunches around the country for those Liverymen, who live a long way from London. Secondly, communication – as with all organisations, we can perhaps do more to ensure that members are fully aware of what the Company is doing. In addition, by spreading the word, we can perhaps also attract more new members.
Times are ever-changing and the post-Covid world we live in is, in many ways, different from where we were a few years ago, so I am also keen to understand what Liverymen would now like from the Company and we will be sending out a questionnaire this autumn to try to identify any areas, where we can perhaps improve. I can, though, assure you that behind the scenes, the various Committees are doing a sterling job and we will continue to do our best to ensure that the Company flourishes in the future.
Finally, I can only thank you for your support and encourage you to take part in at least one of our events – the more, the merrier!
Charlie Betteridge
