One of the duties of being Master is that of liaison with other City Liveries and their Master and I start this month’s blog with sharing with you a benefit of this activity.
I must admit to being interested in anything a bit technical, so the recent lectures of the Worshipful Companies of Glass Sellers and Water Conservators were right up my street. Both have also offered something free for the benefit of Primary Schools and the children in attendance. During the last week of January, the Glass Sellers had a lecture from Emeritus Professor John Parker from the Department of Glass Technology at the University of Sheffield, and although now formally retired he still teaches in Sheffield and remains heavily involved in the Society of Glass Technology, as an Honorary Fellow. The offer of help to primary school children is to be made available from March this year by providing 30,000 kits for them to learn about glass.
If you have primary school children or grandchildren, and their school wishes to take advantage of this offer, please do contact the Clerk of the Company of Glass Sellers at clerk@glass-sellers.co.uk.
The other similar offer came from a lecture that I attended with the Water Conservators and their Master, Peter Hall, who made the offer, again aimed at Primary School Children, for making funds available to help pupils with their education. Master Water Conservator gave an example of one school the Company helped with funds to buy a weathervane to help them understand the link with weather conditions, but other primary schools may have other needs. If you are aware of similar needs of schools, please contact the Clerk of the Company of Water Conservators at clerk@waterconservators.org.
As you will be aware, one of our Education charitable events is to organise the annual “Travelling Scholarships” which in prior-pandemic years has been organised to send four people on visits to European laundry operations for them to learn about alternative methods, however, as this year travelling abroad is restricted the trip has been arranged to visit three very different UK laundries. As The Swiss Laundry is one of the three laundries for the Travelling Scholars to visit, Liveryman and owner of The Swiss Laundry, Guy Turvill, offered to open up the tour to all Liverymen, ten of whom took up the offer immediately. Many thanks to Liveryman Guy Turvill for this generous offer, and to Synergy Laundry St Helens and Micronclean Louth for their kindness in offering their facilities to our Travelling Scholars. Good luck to the participants for their three visits.
It is likely that a similar visit will be organised annually for all interested Liveryman to attend.
On the following Friday, 14th January, we held our first social event of 2022, the “Jack Frost Illuminated River Thames Dinner Cruise”. You can see from the earlier posting what a wonderful, magical cruise it was.
On Monday the 24th of January we welcomed three candidates were admitted as Freemen of the Company, see details on previous entry.
On Wednesday 26th January, I attended the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers Ravenscroft Lecture, “The Glass Age” at Middle Temple Hall delivered by Professor John Parker. Professor Parker discussed the 70th anniversary year of the Pilkington’s patented float glass system, the 680th year of the discovery of a glass artifact and the introduction of the International Year of Glass by the United Nations, suggesting that we are now in the glass age.
Located in the heart of London’s legal quarter, Middle Temple Hall is one of the four ancient Inns of Court and was built between 1562 and 1573 and remains virtually unchanged to this day having survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 and both World Wars. There are four Inns of Court in London located in the heart of the legal district, in walking distance from the Royal Courts of Justice and the Old Bailey. They are Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, Middle Temple and Inner Temple and are the professional membership associations for barristers in England and Wales dedicated to promoting the rule of law and providing excellent education and training to their members. The Inns accept student members who are subject to the regulatory education and training requirements of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and are responsible for “Call to the Bar”, as well as also undertake a unique and essential role in the training of barristers.
