THE MERCHANT TAYLORS’ COMPANY MAGAZINE MERCHANT TAYLORS’ HALL, 30 THREADNEEDLE STREET, LONDON EC2R 8JB

DIARY OF EVENTS 2013/2014

The following is a list of future events which will be held at the Hall during 2013/14. Further details will be sent to you closer to the time or can be viewed on the Company website www.merchant-taylors.co.uk

8th November Membership Lunch9th November Lord Mayor’s Show12th November Dinner for Court, Livery and guests & Military Affiliates’ Awards11th December Bindings & Admissions11th December Vernon’s Anniversary Service12th December Doctors’ Dinner

201422nd January Quiz Night5th February Dinner for the Lord Mayor & Sheriffs14th February Membership Lunch3rd March Concert by Merchant Taylors’ and St John’s Schools10th March Freemen Drinks 2nd April Stow Memorial Service4th April United Guilds Service9th April Bindings & Admissions14th April Wylford’s Anniversary Service16th May Livery Lunch21st May Inter-Livery Shoot6th/7th June Great 12 Sailing Challenge17th June Election Service & Barbecue Supper1st July Livery Dinner10th July Company Golf Day

If you would like more information on any of the above please contact Kym Ash at: kash@merchant-taylors.co.uk or on 020 7450 4448

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AUTUMN 2013

Front cover:

Diana Princess of Wales – Coat of Arms

The Court commissioned the carving of her coat of arms, which is now on display in the Great Hall opposite that of the Queen Mother (who was also an Honorary Freeman of the Company), which was cleaned and re-gilded at the same time.

2013 SPRING ISSUE

01 Message from the Master

03 CommentClerk’s notes

04 Our History Chinese wallpaper in the drawing room

Sir George Pollock

08 MembershipMaster and Wardens New Liverymen Apprentices and Freemen Staff profiles

14 Committee News15 Charities Nominated charities MYBNK The Speakers’ Trust

18 SchoolsA speech by Dr John Sichel (IPM) A warm welcome

22 Military AffiliatesLife at RAF Halton Royal Yeomanry

28 Events

31 Sports

34 Notice board

36 Obituaries

Please send in your contributions (or feedback) for the next issue of Number30, to: number30@merchant-taylors.co.uk

The Editorial Committee:Mr Hugh CarterMr Peter MagillMr Giles MurphyMr Philip ParkerMr Richard SullivanRear Admiral Nick Harris CB MBEMrs Kym Ash

www.mtaylorsevents.co.uk

The wedding planning team at Merchant Taylors’ looks forward to talking to you about all aspects of your wedding.

Call Liz or Rachael on 020 7562 2325 or email events@mtaylorsevents.co.uk. We encourage you to visit us for a tour of our stunning rooms and to meet

one of our experienced wedding planning team.

It is your day and we enjoy nothing more than creating magical memories for you.

FOR WHEN THE BIG DAY DAWNS

01

is no risk to our assets from market volatility and long term inflation). We are very grateful to the Membership for the increasingly large amounts being donated through the Livery and Freemen Fund. We have recently closed the liabilities for our final salary pension scheme, which now gives us an opportunity to accumulate capital and keep ahead of inflation. We are in the middle of a five year business plan to streamline the Company and make it more effective in the 21st century.

All this doesn’t just happen. It takes our outstanding staff, supported by well chosen professionals and talented and committed Members of the Company, who give their time and expertise. We owe all of them enormous gratitude and...

I t is an enormous honour to be elected as Master of this great

Company and to have the oppor-tunity to lead it forward over the next year of its illustrious history.

I am guided by the Company’s ethos and objectives, which are clearly described in its history and embedded in its DNA. Essentially the Company makes a difference to society by providing education, almshouses and charitable grant making, through comradeship.

Every one of us is privileged to be a member of such a wonderful organization, with all the benefits and the opportunities entailed. With those privileges comes the responsibility to do whatever we can to further the Company’s objectives and the opportunity to use the Company as an outlet for our social responsibilities.

The Company prides itself on being innovative and adaptive to the times; by sticking to its core values while being at the leading edge of the Livery movement. How else could an organisation which began making canvas bodices and tents in 1300 still be relevant in the age of microcomputers and nuclear power?

Take just one out of many possible examples. The Company founded some of the first ever almshouses in London; now we are launching a joint venture with One Housing Group to create state-of-the-art sheltered housing in Lewisham. This is a development which we hope will define new standards and will be applauded by future generations.

The Company is in good order. Our finances and investments are sound (but that is not to say there

MESSAGE FROM THE MASTER

(Continued overleaf)

The Master – John Price

02 03

FROM THE CLERK’S DESK

MESSAGE FROM THE MASTER COMMENT

congratulations for everything they have done.

However the Company needs to be in good shape, because our society today faces huge challenges.

The demand for charitable assistance has never been greater. The country’s education system is in a mess; standards of literacy and achievement in many areas fall well below the standards shown in the schools that we support. Employers too state that there is a gulf between what they need and what education provides.

There is enormous opportunity for the Company, with our long history in education and charitable giving, to do more. There is also a challenge. If we don’t do it, then other charities, including some of the newer, fast moving Livery Companies will - at the cost of our long term influence and relevance.

So, in addition to continuing the on-going modernisation programme, my Mastership will focus on two projects which should allow us to make a bigger difference to society.

Firstly to more closely align our Membership with our objectives. For example, what do Members want from the Company and how can they do

more to help? Which causes inspire them? We will be upgrading our website and IT to connect more effectively with you, to canvas your opinions, and to inspire greater participation.

In particular we want to reach out to our younger Members, who demonstrate a passion for helping others. We need their help in many ways, from fundraising to mentoring people from difficult backgrounds. As a start, the Lord Mayor will be presenting a prize at the Livery Dinner on 5th February to the young person who raises the most for the Livery and Freemen Fund.

My second project is to promote the work of our new Education Committee, which is looking at ways to leverage our expertise in education and will have a number of ideas, to be shared with you down the line.

My Masters Charity, in fact two charities, focuses on education. Speakers Trust,(www.speakerstrust.org), the public speaking training charity, and My Bnk (www.mybnk.org), which teaches financial and enterprise education to 11-25 year olds. Both provide essential skills to improve education and employment prospects.

We shall also be encouraging mentoring: matching young people planning their careers with those in work who can help them. I hope you will volunteer.

And I hope we will have lots of fun. In addition to the Company’s usual events, we held our Prom concert in October, and are planning a young persons’ event for January. We are also planning sports and musical events around our schools and an opera later in the year.

Sadly my wife Debs, who would have made a magnificent mistress of the Company, died in January. If she had been here her cry would have been, “Let’s make a bigger difference and have lots of fun doing it.”

Debs also used to say, “Stand up and be counted.” Quite so.

This is your Company and I am always open to ideas as to how we do just that. Email me at: john.price@sourcecards.org. Or ring me on: 020 3282 7145.

(Continued from page 1)

Livery and Freemen Fund, are really making a big and marked difference. It will not be long before the LFF has achieved its first £1million in its capital holdings (which can be spent charitably), and through annual donations its income delivers more than £1million for good causes.

At the Hall, more change is afoot in support of all this. Our reliance on IT systems is being given an all-over health check to lead us towards a more efficient and effective working culture to include a new and more capable website and membership database. There is quite a lot to master in this field, but we are all involved as ‘stakeholders’ (we didn’t have those in submarines!) and are determined to find the answer that suits us best.

Submariners did not have personal assistants either, but many of you have told me how delighted you are that I have finally seen the light, and have re-engaged Miss Hayley Mann to help me out.

We expect to have a development agreement for our new almshouses signed shortly after this journal goes to print, which will allow the first enabling works at Lewisham to start before Christmas. The complex nature of

this entire project, and its development from a spark of an idea six or seven years ago, is extraordinary. The result is an enthusiastic development partner (ONE Housing Group); a breakthrough in charity asset management, thanks to the hard-fought pragmatism of the Charity Commission; and the fact that the almshouse charity looks to be able to shoulder the whole burden. The sum will be something of which to be rightly proud as the Company continues to support housing for the elderly, but in a 21st century manner.

In another corner, a completely new look at education from the Company’s standpoint is stirring. A new committee stood up on 15th July, and looks forward to setting out a new stall for the Company in this most traditional, and very important area of Company activity. You can read more on page 14.

Many young Members ask how they can help, and the answer to this is easy. Come and enjoy the Hall’s events, and take the time to understand how you can help in raising funds in the continuous need for charitable giving that lies behind our many achievements.

Rear Admiral Nick Harris CB MBE

Welcome to our 12th edition.

This time I would like to share a sense of real progress within

the Merchant Taylors’ Company, and I forecast that we are embarking on a very bright period.

The Company’s Membership is strong, and becoming stronger year on year. Its governance is robust, and its finances increasingly healthy - we have conquered the financial haemorrhaging brought about by the legacy staff pension scheme, and the increasingly tired, and sometimes empty almshouse buildings. The Hall itself has benefitted from several years of fundamental improvements to its infrastructure, with plans to accommodate the next stages of care and maintenance. Both the Company, and the Membership through its ever-increasingly generous contributions to the

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OUR HISTORY

The hand-painted Chinese wallpaper in the Drawing

Room is an absolute delight, as fresh as the day it was made. It creates a room that is probably unique in the City. The paper is not pasted directly onto the wall, but stretched on a concealed wooden frame. If you press the surface (gently, please, and some-where out of the way!), it gives.

The Company purchased the wallpaper at auction at Sotheby’s on 31st May 1957 (lot 90), during the reconstruction of the Hall after the War. We do not know where it had come from, presumably a stately home, but it was new in the sense of never used. The Sotheby’s catalogue description was:

A superb set of Chinese painted wall hangings, comprising forty-six panels of brilliant colouring on a white ground; the design with brightly-plumaged birds perched on leafy stems bearing a great variety of large and small flowers, the leaves and some of the flowers with gilt veining. Each panel approximately 12 ft high by 3ft 10 inches wide. Chia Ch’ing [ie 1796-1820].

Such wallpaper was made in China for export to Europe. Early designs showed birds and foliage. Later designs were much more complex, with detailed everyday scenes of people going about their business.

WML (‘Mac’) Escombe had been Master in 1941, when the

THE CHINESE WALLPAPER IN THE DRAWING ROOM

pulp, with none of the harmful chemicals and microscopic metal fragments that quickly degrade modern machine-made paper.

You can see similar Chinese hand-painted export wallpapers on the walls of at least two buildings open to the public: Nostell Priory in Yorkshire (National Trust), where it was installed by Thomas Chippendale in the mid 18th century for Sir Roland Winn, and Brighton Pavilion, for the Prince Regent, completed in 1822.

Not all of the original 46 panels were needed for the Drawing Room. Paulo Guerra discovered a roll of left-over panels in a store room in 2008. This is now preserved in the Muniment

Room. Sadly, there seems to be no trace of the two wooden boxes in which the wallpaper had originally been shipped from China. These were still with the wallpaper in 1957, and sold as part of the same lot. They bore Chinese inscriptions translated by Sotheby’s as ‘White ground with foreign flower design’. One panel of wallpaper also carried the label Wing Ts’un, which Sotheby’s took to be the name of the original supplier in Canton.

Stephen FreethCompany Archivist

Hall was in ruins. In May 1957 he was a member of the Reconstruction Committee, and soon to be Master for the second time. He heard about the wallpaper, and persuaded the Company to bid. The hammer price was £2,500, a substantial sum but much less than expected. As one of Mac’s apprentices in the 1960s, I heard about the wallpaper purchase more than once. It was one of his favourite stories. He was very proud to have been involved, and rightly so.

The paper has lasted wonderfully well. Not only has it kept its colour and freshness, but also its strength. It will have been hand-made, probably from flax

…and the person who physically bid for the lot was my four times predecessor, John Woolley, who lives in Hove with his wife to this day. He tells the tale too, and embellishes it a little saying that he had been given authority to bid up to the sale price, but that (without his knowing) there was a Court Member in the room with authority to go higher if necessary....was it perhaps Mac Escombe?

Rear Admiral Nick Harris CB MBE

06 07

FAMOUS MERCHANT TAYLOR SIR GEORGE POLLOCK

Sir George Pollock was born on 4th June 1786 in

Piccadilly to Sarah Homera and David Pollock. From 1801 to 1803 he was educated at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. Here he chose to serve in the Bengal Artillery and set sail for India in September on board the Tigris.

In India, he served as an artillery officer under General Gerard Lake during the battle of Dig and the capture of Dig Fortress in 1804. Pollock was then promoted to captain lieutenant in 1805. From 1805 to 1839 he served in various locations, including Marabad, Dum-Dum and Nepal, and in 1827 he was made a CB for his services during the march on Ava and consequently the signing of the peace treaty with the Burmese. In 1839 he was made a major general.

In 1838, Lord Auckland, the governor general of India, decided upon invading Afghanistan. The initial campaign was a success but at the end of 1841 the military and political leaders decided to withdraw the 5,000 British and Indian troops from Kabul and to return to India. Pollock was

appointed commander of the force sent to relieve Jalalabad after the retreat. He advanced through the Khyber Pass to Jalalabad. At this moment General Nott was authorised to retreat to India through Kabul and Pollock was authorised to do what was necessary to protect the British troops. Both generals took advantage of the badly written orders to advance on Kabul. Pollock reached Kabul on 15th September after fighting the battles of Jugdulluck Pass and Tezeen, and Nott arrived on 17th September, after fighting the battle of Ghuzmee.

Pollock and Nott withdrew to India in October after destroying the great bazaar. Once again they had to fight their way through the Khyber Pass. Pollock’s division passed through with the loss of only a few men, but the other divisions did not take the same precautions and suffered more - but in any case the ‘retreat’ had been another great victory.

On returning to England, Pollock was awarded a pension of £1,000 a year from the East India Company and the Corporation of London presented him with the Freedom of the City.

Following this, the Merchant Taylors’ Company made him an Honorary Freeman. On 26th March 1872 Pollock was made ‘Baronet of the Khyber Pass’ and a year earlier was appointed Constable of the Tower of London (the current constable, General the Lord Dannatt, is also an Honorary Freeman of the Company).

Pollock was married twice in his lifetime, first to Frances Webbe in 1810, who died in 1849, and second to Henrietta, daughter of George Hyde Wollaston, in 1852. During his first marriage, Pollock had five children: Anabella, Frederick, George, Robert and Archibald.

On a visit to Glen Hill, Kent on 6th October 1872, Sir George Pollock died suddenly. He is buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey.

Written by Ella Murphy.Taken from the Rev Roger T. Stearn’s entry in the OnLine Dictionary of National Biography

OUR HISTORY

08 09

MEMBERSHIP MEMBERSHIP

Mr J A J Price, Master Merchant TaylorAfter school in Scotland, John Price did a short service commission in the Welsh Guards, followed by six years in industry, before moving into finance. He variously worked at Fielding Newson-Smith, Chase Manhattan, and as a director at Kleinwort Benson Securities, before founding his own financial information company, which he sold to Markit - where he was then managing director, before retiring in 2012.

John has since founded Sourcecards, a social enterprise which uses smart payment cards to channel donations directly to the hungry, needy and homeless.

The cards can be used in a similar way to Oyster cards in designated outlets - the organisation using it will top it up, thus cash is avoided. He has also set up The Debs Price Foundation, whose aims are to relieve poverty and improve education and literacy.

Very recently widowed, John lives and farms in Gloucestershire and has an 18 year old daughter Victoria, who will be acting as consort during the Mastership. Two married friends Susie Wilson and Sue Warner will also be acting as consorts on different occasions.

His interests are music and opera, hunting, shooting, skiing, mentoring young people and angel investing.

Mr Duncan Eggar, 2nd Upper WardenDuncan is a chartered civil engineer and married to Annie. He was elected to Court in 2008 and was Under Renter Warden for 2008/2009.

Duncan’s early career was spent in heavy engineering, which included construction of the National Theatre and the Thames Barrier and of offshore oil and gas rigs. He worked for BP for 28 years, including postings to New Zealand and South Africa, before retiring in 2009. He now works with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and in related policy development. Duncan is chairman of the Company’s

almshouse trust and is a governor of Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood.

Judge Hugh Stubbs,Upper WardenHugh was Apprenticed in 1962 and became a Freeman in 1969. He joined the Livery in 1973, was elected to Court in 1999 and served as Master in 2007/2008. He chaired the Charities Committee before he was Master and the Housing & Care Committee after his Mastership. He is currently the chair of the Admissions Committee.

A solicitor since 1972, he became a partner of Freshfields in 1977. Following retirement he became a part time

chairman of the tribunal which hears appeals over compensation for injured or ill servicemen, and since last year he has been full time in the role. He has three children and his partner Vanessa has two.

Dr Julian Oram, Upper Renter WardenDr Oram joined the Court in 1994 and was Master in 2010/2011. Julian was consultant physician in general and elderly medicine at St George’s Hospital, London and was their clinical and college tutor. He left the health service in 2005 and now runs a private practice at the Lister, Cromwell and Parkside Hospitals. He has

produced several peer reviewed publications, and his book, Caring for the Fourth Age was published in 1997. As the Company’s captain of golf he has played in Company matches ever since becoming a Liveryman in 1981, and is a full member of Royal Wimbledon Golf Club. He values highly the Company’s commitment to education and charitable causes, and despite his medical background, has a love of the City and its heritage.

Julian has a French wife and enjoys holidaying in her home country when time permits.

MASTER & WARDENS 2013 - 2014

The Court from left to right starting with back row:

The Clerk, Lady Harding, Christopher Keville, Peter Watkins, Christopher Hare, Michael Skinner, John Hall, Hugh Oliver-Bellasis, Johny Armstrong, John Sichel, Nick Hunter Jones, Jane Hall, Simon Bass and the Beadle

Front row:

Martin Clarke, Peter Ryan, Sir John Perring, Duncan Eggar, John Price, Hugh Stubbs, Julian Oram, Sir Edward Studd and Sir Brian Jenkins

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NEW LIVERYMEN 2013

Mr Jonathon Franklin-AdamsJonathon joined the Company by Patrimony in 1998 (his father is court assistant Patrick Franklin-Adams). Jonny is a corporate financier based in the City of London and is married with three children. He is a very keen sportsman and plays golf, tennis, cricket, football and croquet (five times City croquet champion in the last seven years!) He also skis, shoots and sails.

Mr Mark WhitfieldMark is a tailor who runs his family business, P A Crowe Ltd in Ludgate Square, and is very keen to foster the links between the tailoring trade and the Company. He has been involved in running the MTBA Dinner here at the Hall and now has more time to commit to the affairs of the Company. Mark joined the Company by Redemption in 2003. He is married with three children and lives in Saffron Walden.

Mr Frederick PowlesFreddie joined the Company by Servitude to Dr John Sichel in 2010. Mr Powles is a solicitor currently working for Oaktree Capital Management (UK) LLP. He is married with one son and is an accomplished sportsman. He has worked pro bono on many projects and is keen to become more involved with the Company’s charitable activities.

Mr Alexander KevilleAlex is a solicitor and has two young sons with his wife Louisa. He joined the Company by Redemption in 2007 and his father is court assistant Christopher Keville. Alex has recently been involved in the formation of a new charity helping injured servicemen and their families. He is a keen sportsmen and enjoys travelling and spending time with his family.

Mr John HarrisonJohn is the European sales manager for Molex, a USD electronics company manufacturing interconnect solutions across all markets. Mr Harrison was Apprenticed to his uncle, court assistant Peter Watkins, and joined the Company in 2001. He is married with a daughter.

Mr John BattingJohn is an actuary and is CEO of Punter Southall Ltd, an actuarial and defined benefit consultancy. As a governor at Harrow School, he is looking forward to getting involved with the Company’s educational activities. John joined the Company by Redemption in 2010 and is married with four children. He is the son-in-law of court assistant Peter Theobald.

The Reverend Canon Ralph GodsallRalph Godsall is a priest vicar of Westminster Abbey and Canon Emeritus of Rochester. He joined the Company by Redemption in 2012 having served as chaplain in Dr Julian Oram’s Mastership. He is married to Ellen with two children and they live in London.

Mrs Judith WilsonJudy is a retired wine merchant, although she started her career at the Bank of England. She has a great deal of City experience and is a past chairman and committee member of the Bread Street Ward Club. She joined the Company by Redemption in 2009. Judy is married and lives in London and Suffolk.

Captain Adrian Orchard OBEAdrian is a captain in the Royal Navy currently serving at the Pentagon in Washington DC. Adrian joined the Company by Redemption in 2009. He is married to Carol and they have a son, Nathaniel. Adrian is the author of Joint Force Harrier, the first book written by a serving British fast jet pilot since the 1991 Gulf War.

Mr Anthony WoolleyAfter beginning his career in insurance, Anthony is the deputy course manager at Piltdown Golf Club and until recently was a seasonal restaurant manager at Glyndebourne Opera House. His father was Clerk to the Company for many years and his brother Christopher is a Liveryman. Mr Woolley joined the Company by Servitude in 1976 but has been coming to the Hall since the 50s.

Mr Rupert Bull, Under Renter WardenRupert was educated at Rugby and Oxford, after which he was commissioned into the Blues and Royals and served two tours with the UN in the Gulf and Cambodia. On leaving the Army he started his career in the City at Reuters, before moving on to the electronic stockbroker Instinet. In 2001 he started his own business (Expand Research), which provides benchmarking and research services to the top 30 corporate and investment banks in the world. In 2011 he sold a majority stake to the Boston Consulting Group but continues to play an active leadership role in the company. Rupert is married to Annette, who is a Freeman of the Company by Redemption. They live in south London and have two sons, Harry and Archie, aged 11 and 8, who attend Dulwich Prep London.

MEMBERSHIPMEMBERSHIP

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APPRENTICES & FREEMEN

Freedom by PatrimonyEdward BaileyJessica GibbsMaxwell HackingJoseph LinesEva WoolleyFrancesca WoolleySuzannah AdamsJohn BestFrederick GroomJames RoeRichard SheldonRichard FreethThomas BattingMichael Hunter JonesPaisley RossRamsey RossFrederick SweetingHenry SweetingJustin Armitage Nicholas CrosthwaiteArthur FfordeFrederic FfordeJack Harvard TaylorKate Harvard Taylor

Freedom by RedemptionDr Heather ClarksonSir Michael ScholarDr James ThomsonMrs Annette BullMr Alexander Priest

The Master and Wardens meet to bind Apprentices and

admit Freemen to the Company three times during each Mastership year. The remaining dates for this Mastership are:Wednesday 11th December 2013, (before the Vernon’s Anniversary Service),Wednesday 9th April 2014.

The day begins at 10am with a presentation about the Company by the Clerk to all new entrants and their supporters. At 11am Bindings and Admissions will begin, followed by lunch in the Hall from 12.30pm for 1pm. The Beadle will accompany those being admitted to the Freedom of the City of London to the Guildhall at 2.15pm.

For further details please apply to the Beadle at KMcGetrick@merchant-taylors.co.uk or on 020 7450 4441.

In the 2012-2013 Mastership year 43 people joined the Freedom of the Company, 21 Apprentices were bound and 10 Freemen were elected to the Livery (with another two having been approved but who will be elected at the October Court).

Freedom by Servitude Hugh Brunt – Master Sir David Brewer CMGPhilippa Dussuyer – Master Dr Julian OramTom Buchanan – Master Dr Julian OramVictoria Hopkins – Master Mrs Louise PlunkettRebecca Griffiths – Master Mr Michael SkinnerToby Matthews – Master Mr Edward BaileyToby Miller – Master Gavin F BrownRichard Wadham – Master Colonel John SewellRobert Buxton – Master Harry Boggis-RolfeTobias Riley-Smith – Master Robert HarbordCharles Lindsay-Fynn – Master Rupert BullFrederick Boulevart – Master Hugh ElderRowena Varma – Master Peter GriffithsPeter Macdonald – Master Nicolas Ollivant

Apprentices BoundThomas Handley to Mrs Annette BullHugo Henson to Mr Paul HensonHolly Hickman to Mr Rupert BullHugo Holford to Reverend Andrew HolfordMartin Kasujja to Mr Gavin F BrownJoshua Kirk to Mr Paul NicholsonChristopher Mulliner to Mr Leo ColiganRory Rae to Mr Martin ClarkeJessica Sinclair to Mr Paul SinclairOliver Stanford to Mr Edward StanfordGeorgina Brown to Mr Andrew BrownNicholas Chapman to Mr Timothy CunisWilliam Corrigan to Mr Oliver PritchardSarah Wright to Mr Roland GillottAnthony Lavers to Mr Harry Boggis-RolfeNicholas Warren to Mrs Caroline WarrenNicholas Finney to Mr Eddie CharltonBenjamin Gaston to Mr Eddie CharltonRobert Hare to Mr Eddie CharltonEmily Kershaw to Mr Jason OramAlistair Macaulay to Dr Bernard Trafford

ABBIE SHUTE Membership & Communications Assistant

Abbie has been working for the Company since July

2013, after completing her diploma in business administration and ILEX diploma in legal studies from Seevic College in Essex.

During her time at college Abbie came to Merchant Taylors’ on a week’s work experience placement. She so enjoyed her week that she asked to come in to help out with membership & communications on her day off from college each week. When Abbie finished college she was offered a full time position as membership & communications assistant.

Abbie’s main roles include updating and maintaining Members’ records on the company database and distributing the quarterly mailings to the whole Membership. Abbie is also the golf secretary for the Company, which means communicating

with the golf captain and golf courses to arrange each fixture for the year ahead. She also maintains records of attendance at each Company event, whether it is a lunch, fundraising event, musical evening or dinner.

Abbie says, “I really enjoy working for Merchant Taylors’, and I’m looking forward to the new Mastership year and seeing all the events I’m working on come to life!”

JAMES SCANLONChef de Partie

James has been working at Merchant Taylors’ for seven

months; he was initially on a temporary contract but Richard Trant, Head Chef, who knows a talented chef, offered him a permanent role in August this year.

James lived in France for nine years with his parents where he went to college to study his NVQ Level 2 in culinary skills. He started work as a kitchen porter

but was quickly taken on as an apprentice chef. From then on, he knew being a chef was exactly what he wanted to do as a career.

James’s English career has involved a six month stint at the Havelock Tavern Restaurant in Shepherds Bush before moving on to the Lawn Tennis Association.

His role in our kitchen varies from day to day as everyone works as a team, taking it in turns to do different duties which might be staff lunches, starters and dessert for events, making sauces or helping the head chef prepare the main courses.

We asked James what he liked about working at Merchant Taylors’ and he said, “I think it’s a privilege to work here. Richard Trant is just an amazing chef to learn from and work with and this job is a brilliant opportunity for me. The history behind the Company is fantastic and the equipment I get to use here is first class!”

STAFF PROFILES

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COMMITTEE NEWS CHARITIESCHARITIES

THE NEWLY FORMEDEDUCATION COMMITTEE

NOMINATED CHARITIES

Over the course of the last year during Dr John

Sichel’s Mastership, it was felt that more consideration was needed in the Company’s approach to broader aspects of education. In response, the Education Committee was formed on 15th July 2013.

Its inaugural four members are the Master, Martin Clarke, Peregrine Massey (chairman of the Merchant Taylors’ Educational Trust which owns MTS Northwood and St John’s in Pinner), and Guy du Parc Braham (from the Livery Committee).

Membership will grow as the concept develops and expert needs are identified.

The Educational Trust will continue as the Company’s vehicle for owning its two schools and the trusts that support them, while this new Committee has the freedom to consider education matters in the wider sense, providing a new focus for related activities.

It will begin by creating a new education policy, which is likely to provide clarity for existing organi-sations with apprenticeship schemes and for the Company’s many existing schools affiliations, and will be a focal point for con-sidering the Company’s future educational activity.

The decisions taken by the Livery Committee reflect as

faithfully as possible the views of the Membership whose ever increasing generosity they are charged with administering. It may be seen as a strong statement of intent, therefore, that they have chosen to nominate four charities which are all closely concerned with delivering some sort of education, at a time when various other limbs of the Company are beginning to incline more strongly in that direction.

After a successful first year delivering non-formal education to young people struggling with traditional educational delivery in east London, the Committee have renominated Skillforce for a further year. Using ex-military instructors and largely practical training exercises, they help over 93% of their students gain recognised qualifications – from a group whose odds on progressing to tertiary education may be as low as 9%.

Continuing the theme of helping those who are struggling to get the most out of their education, the Fund is supporting Westside School for the first time this year. Serving deprived parts of the City of

Westminster and beyond into north west London, the school is an ‘Alternative Provision Free School’ and was founded by Sarah Evans, the grand-daughter of two-time Master Merchant Taylor, Anthony Clifton-Brown. Predominantly attracting young people who have been excluded from a mainstream school or who are at risk of exclusion, 100% of their students attained a GCSE in English and Maths in 2011. In 2012, 65% of what Sarah describes as a “particularly troubled year group” attained five or more GCSEs – compared to an average of only 13% among other alternative providers and pupil referral units (PRUs) nationally.

Academically high-flying but economically disadvantaged students are being catered for as well, with support for the bursary programme at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Pembroke is one of two higher-education institutions with which the Company is associated, along with the wealthier St John’s College, Oxford. Although there is government support for the living costs of students coming from families with a household income of less than £12,000 per

annum, this support, bizarrely, covers only one year’s study at Cambridge – leaving an undergraduate’s continued studies in potential jeopardy unless alternative funding can be found. Pembroke have committed to providing adequate support for the entirety of an undergraduate’s time at the College, and the Livery and Freemen Fund will be providing for one student. Moreover, Pembroke has a particular focus on recruiting from the London Borough of Southwark, which is one of the target areas for the Company’s charitable support (notable recipients include Pembroke House - Pembroke’s own social action ‘settlement’ - and St Saviour’s and St Olave’s School). So, if they should recruit an eligible person from the borough, our support may be hypothecated to them.

Last of the four nominations, but by no means the least, is XLP, a Church of England based youth project that turns traditional, uninformed stereotypes of the Church well and truly on their head. Prompted by a school stabbing, it was founded in 1996 by the dynamic Patrick Regan, who was awarded the OBE for his

work in 2012. Supported by an equally dynamic team, the organisation works right in the heart of some of the most divided communities in inner London, addressing diverse yet interrelated issues such as drug misuse, violence, poverty, prejudice, relationships and identity, through means such as the arts, sports, mentoring and socialisation. As from this year the LFF is specifically supporting the work in Tower Hamlets, having previously made ad hoc awards to the organisation.

As in previous years, the Livery Committee is also supporting some longer-standing Company commitments which are:

● An Opera Scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

● The Bespoke Tailors’ Benevolent Association

● St Saviour’s and St Olave’s School

● St Paul’s Cathedral ● The Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s

Fund for ex-offenders.

Matthew Dear, Charities Officer

To support all this activity, Miss Diana Watson who was appointed in the spring, will be our new education officer.

This new committee is likely to throw up opportunities which should be of great interest to those wanting to get involved. The Company is already required to fill its own school governor positions, and the creation of this committee is likely to increase this need in time, when it would be good to be able to call on an experienced support group. The best training for this is to become a school governor yourself, to develop the skill, experience and knowledge of this most worthwhile task. At the Hall we will provide profes-sional training for existing and future school governors of any school, regardless of whether they are Company owned. Details will follow.

In order to finance future projects the committee will consider either opening a new fund, or making slightly broader use of one in existence. This will provide alternative means by which Company Members might donate funds specifically in support of educa-tion. As the committee develops, and its concepts grow, we will spread the news.

The Clerk, Rear Admiral Nick Harris, CB MBE

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MY BNK THE SPEAKERS’ TRUST

The Master has this year nominated two charities for his particular support – MyBnk, and the Speakers’ Trust.

MyBnk is a charity whose relevance could not be

more contemporary, nor more profound. As the world shows signs of more acute financial crisis, it is the next generation of consumers, borrowers, and business leaders who will deter-mine whether or not we will learn the lessons of history, or repeat the mistakes of the past.

Founded, presciently, in 2007, the charity has so far reached over 60,000 young people in over 400 schools, colleges and youth groups across London to deliver a blend of financial education which spans personal budget-ing and enterprise training.

The objective of its financial education programme, ‘Money Twist’, is to get young people thinking positively about their

The Speakers’ Trust addresses what appears to

many to be a growing need to instill in both young people and adults the confidence and ability to communicate effectively to groups of people.

At a time when we are assailed constantly by an overload of information and an all-pervasive media, the development of a meaningful identity and positive self-awareness can be a struggle. In this information age, a difficulty in communicating effectively will almost inevitably result in a range of serious disadvantages, both socially, and economically of the young people involved.

The charity has so far trained over 180,000 people through over a thousand schools, colleges and community

finances from an early age, and to give them the confidence to engage with financial services responsibly and in a fully-informed way.

The charity’s ‘Enterprise in a Box’ programme gives up to 30 young people per session the opportunity to experience setting up and running a real life social enterprise, focussing on ethical products carefully chosen by MyBnk. This improves presentation skills and decision-making, while giving participants a keen and healthy eye for how a profitable business is developed.

Recently recognised by The Observer as ‘Britain’s No1 new radical project’, and rated highly in an independent assessment by Oxford University for its transforma-

groups. A survey of over 16,000 beneficiaries from London and Essex revealed that 97% of students and 100% of teachers would recommend the charity’s work to others, and that 60% of participants felt the training had had a positive impact on their general self-confidence in addition to their communication skills.

Given its focus on a particular skill, the charity has an unusual opportunity to advance ancillary causes through careful choices of subject matter. In the past year, participants have developed their understanding of environmental issues, and their ability to speak on them. The charity has also developed work to counter bullying, both by addressing and exposing the subject and by building the

tive social impact, the charity is run by a small team who have a track record of ‘punching above their weight’ by working imagi-natively with partner organisations and a growing network of supporters, includ-ing Lord Mayor Roger Gifford.

Just like every charity, it depends on charitable support for its vital core costs, but it is clearly able to deliver a multipli-cation of impact in return for contributions from trusts, foundations, corporate partners, and individuals – and, of course, Livery Companies, whose his-toric mission to ensure stability in the City’s industries lends a particular synergy. http://mybnk.org/

Matthew Dear Charities Officer

confidence of the young people involved. The programme also intersects neatly with financial education, with which it is also peripherally involved, so as to provide a range of essential ‘life skills’.

The charity has a small staff team and an extensive network of skilled and dedicated volunteers, and delivers its programmes with impressively low overheads. www.speakerstrust.org

Matthew Dear Charities Officer

CHARITIESCHARITIES

THE MASTER’S CHARITIES

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Stephen, already the product of the Merchant Taylor process

at King’s School, Macclesfield, proceeded to Queens’ College, Cambridge to read history. A gentle spirit with a mischievous sense of humour, his approach to teaching is at once challenging and encouraging. A man of warmth with a huge love for family ties, he brings to his charges and colleagues a sense of commitment, loyalty and trust that brings with it a brand of leadership that is not hectoring or rough. It is a silky and refined influence that extracts from the recipient the best that that person can produce. It is a sense of joint endeavour with the pupil that brings out the best in him. Combined with a deep humility and a complete lack of vanity, he finds that the outwardly simple life shared with his beloved Penny grants him the satisfactions he craves.

My first encounter with Stephen was at his appointment interview. He had been a late applicant, and my contact with him was at the second and last interview when he was pitched against one other in a sort of final run-off. There was a distinguished cv for both

he enters the pantheon of Merchant Taylor headmasters, we wish him and his fantastic family every good wish. And Penny receives our thanks, not only for looking after the man, but for her own unstinting service to the school also.

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of leading the Court on a visit to St John’s School. There we were all enchanted by what we saw and heard. Chris Kelly surrounded by his team of devoted teachers and helpers who have helped create a happy environment for his young boys to thrive in.

Chris first came to St John’s School in 1993 with a golden cv covering Raynes Park Grammar School, Durham University where he read economics and his teaching posts at Epsom and Mill Hill. He was also developing a huge sporting interest at the time, playing rugby for Harlequins and developing an international flavour to the sport.

I first met Chris in my year as Junior Under Renter Warden in 2001; a statutory year under the chairmanship of Mark Barty-King. Chris was battling through various issues and I was struck by his extraordinary strength,

parties; they both had given excellent presentations, and they were both energetic and committed to their tasks. However, Stephen presented a delightful, relaxed and kind aspect which seemed to underline his interest in rural matters, particularly vegetable gardening. To my mind everybody had already asked the right questions, and there seemed little useful that I could add to what was, in my mind, a foregone conclusion.

But, as he was about to leave the Court Room I asked, “Tell me, Mr Wright, you are a keen gardener; which is your favourite vegetable?” He seemed amused to receive that unexpected googly, but after a moment’s thought he answered, “The parsnip”. That clinched it for me. For having lived in Suffolk for a long time in the early years of my marriage, I too had gardened, and had discovered the enthusiasm that Suffolk men have for the humble root crop. The sandy soil promotes growth, and allows the young plant to strive deep for water. Reminding me of our days on the Suffolk coast near Orford when I would bend with a will to cultivate the

both physical and mental. His enthusiasm was infectious, and this bestowed a charm which carried his staff and parents alike in his wake. I expect this irrepressibility was very tiring to all around him, and he may have won his battles by sheer attrition. But what is clear is that his battles appear to have been the right ones, and having appeared to choose the same battles as Mulcaster, he has ended up with a huge success story.

His great imposing figure while perhaps daunting some, would give confidence to so many countless others. It helped that he brought with him a whole legend of rugby derring-do; physical courage augmented by strength, stamina and fearlessness. His association with Mark Barty-King was legendary. Their shared values were of success through hard work and perseverance. Seeing him now 12 years later, despite recent difficult battles faced, he is bequeathing a school that has grown in size and reputation; generating an educated schoolboy that is fought over by so many schools. The entries, the scholarships and now the sporting prizes and the musical

beds of carrots and parsnips, I remembered the familiar voice of our neighbour, Percy: “Don’t you be overwatering them parsnips, John, ‘cause they be like children and got to make their own way in the world. You make them seek the water and that way they grow big and strong, straight and true.” Stephen, I have always had the feeling that parental pressure might expect you to overwater the plants under your care, but your crops have continued to thrive and grow long after they have left your sway.

Stephen has remained faithful to the delights of east coast living. From Cambridge he went to Woolverstone, then Framlingham, Tonbridge and finally Borden. Is it the exposure to the east wind that gives you the patience and resilience to a difficult term, or a tedious complaining conversation with a parent? Late autumns and very late springs leave their mark. But his enthusiasm to teach, whether it be history to the junior classes, or coaching the sports that he loves, marks the man that we have learned to love and respect. It puts him on a par with Mulcaster. So in saying goodbye to Stephen as

prizes speak for themselves. Ambitious parents should beware for it is the happy, confident rounded boy that Chris is wishing to achieve. Seeing him in action, I am always struck by the gentle giant, ever patient, and stooping to the level of the child. A sensitivity and pride for the child. All this is leadership in action.

Now it is his turn to rest, and with his adored Morag. How wonderful for them to look back on two such productive lives, and share a well-earned retirement together; enjoying jazz and travelling the Continent.

But in reflecting on his catalogue of successes through years of expended energy into his school, his rugby and his friends, I am struck that he has played well Mulcaster’s hand, and that his years in charge have given to this school an elevated ethos which is justly deserved. It falls to Sean Robinson to consolidate this great progress. So, Chris will also enter the annals of distinguished Merchant Taylors’ Company headmasters, and we thank him.

This summer saw a number of changes in our family of schools. Merchant Taylors’ School Northwood said goodbye to Mr Stephen Wright and St John’s Preparatory School said goodbye to Mr Chris Kelly. Both will be very much missed by everyone, but have left both schools in excellent health for their successors.

The following is taken from a speech by Dr John Sichel (IPM) at a dinner to honour our two retiring headmasters, Mr Stephen Wright and Mr Chris Kelly

Mr Chris Kelly, Mr John Sichel and Mr Stephen Wright

Goodbye also to:Vince Darby - Wolverhampton Grammar SchoolJack Magill - Foyle & Londonderry College

A very warm welcome to (see next page): Simon Everson - MTS NorthwoodSean Robinson - St John’s Preparatory SchoolKathy Crewe Read – Wolverhampton Grammar SchoolPatrick Allen – Foyle & Londonderry College

A VERY WARM WELCOME TO:

Mrs Kathy Crewe Read Headmistress, Wolverhamp-ton Grammar School

K athy was most recently senior deputy head at The

King’s School, Chester, and her career has taken her round the country: King William’s College, Isle of Man, St Swithun’s School, Winchester and Yarm School in Yorkshire.

Coincidentally, Kathy’s hus-band, Mark, is a direct descendant of Sir Thomas Offley, founder member of the school. Kathy has moved to Wolver-hampton with her family; her two children are as excited about joining WGS as she is.

Kathy studied pure maths at Aberystwyth and took her PGCE at Durham.

Mr Patrick Allen,Headmaster, Foyle College, Derry

Patrick joins Foyle College from Coleraine Academic

Institution, where he was a pupil, and ultimately, vice principal. He returned to his former school in 1991 as an economics and history teacher and stayed for 22 years, during which time he became a senior teacher, head of economics, head of careers and SEN coordinator.

In becoming principal at Foyle’s, Patrick says he feels honoured to join the Merchant Taylors’ Company’s family of schools, and endeavours to enhance and develop the school’s links with the Company in the future.

Patrick is married to Michelle and in his spare time loves hill walking with their two dogs.

Mr Sean Robinson Headmaster, St John’s Preparatory School, Potters Bar

Sean Robinson has taught at two prep schools in north

west London - Belmont in Mill Hill, and at St John’s where he was deputy head. He is excited about leading St. John’s towards its centenary in 2020.

As well as the varied and very interesting role of being a deputy head he has thoroughly enjoyed the combination of teaching maths and coaching sport. This has always created great opportunities to get to know the boys really well.

Sean was brought up in Somerset. He went to Loughborough University graduating in 1985 with a degree in maths and a PGCE in maths and PE.

Sean is passionate about sport particularly rugby, football and cricket. His father, Ray, played both sports for Somerset and his brother Andy represented England and the British Lions before becoming an international rugby coach. During the late 1980s Sean played rugby for Saracens during their successful spell in the top flight and went on to captain Middlesex in 1990.

Mr Simon Everson Headmaster, MTS Northwood

M r Simon Everson, previously headmaster of

the Skinners’ School since 2006, has begun his first term as Mr Stephen Wright’s successor as headmaster of Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood.

Mr Everson was educated at Solihull School, Fitzwilliam College Cambridge and Nottingham University. He has Master’s degrees in both English literature and philosophy and in addition holds the National Professional Qualification for Headship. His career has seen him in the maintained sector in Coventry, Peterborough, and Westcliff-on-Sea and in the independent sector at Nottingham High School, and

the Arnold School. He also taught in Japan for a year and served as the first chairman of the Grammar School Heads Association in 2008 and 2010.

Like Merchant Taylors’, the Skinners’ School encourages both service and the values of community. The MTS community will appreciate that under Mr Everson, the Skinners’ School has not only maintained its academic pedigree (a recent report from the Schools’ Inspectorate deemed it to be an ‘outstanding’ school) but also sustained its reputation as one of the better rugby schools in the country. Much as at MTS there is a strong emphasis on sustainability and creative approaches to the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Simon is married to Ginny, a psychotherapist. He enjoys watching most sports, especially rugby, hockey and cricket. He has also recently taken up running and completed the Great South Run last year.

Talking of his ambitions for MTS, Mr Everson says: “Firstly, I would like to understand it. A school is a piece of complex machinery. I would like to spend time with staff and pupils to discover what they like best about their school and what they would change if they could. Then we will work together to help the school become as good as it can possibly be. Merchant Taylors’ is already a great school and I hope to work with the whole school community to help it improve yet further.”

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LIFE AT RAF HALTON: FROM 100 YEARS AGO TO THE PRESENT DAY…

This year, RAF Halton celebrates a centenary of

flying from the Halton Estate.In 1913, the plan was to

exercise the logistics support services, as the horse-drawn wagons of the Army Service Corps were in the process of being replaced with motor vehicles. The Army wanted to know whether a single main road could carry the motorised traffic necessary to support two divisions. A fluid scenario was essential and the enemy, ‘Whiteland’ forces, consisted of a small cavalry screen. To assemble the necessary forces in the vicinity of Aylesbury, divisional manoeuvres were held between 11th and 19th September 1913.

On the Halton estate, Mr Alfred de Rothschild welcomed the troops with open arms.

Experimental Military FlyingThe airships of 1 Squadron and

the aircraft of 4 and 5 Squadrons were to support the ‘Whiteland’ army while 3 Squadron was allocated to the ‘Brownland’ army, commanded by Major Robert “Brookham” Brooke-Popham of 3 Squadron RFC. A shortage of manpower had to be overcome to allocate a pilot and observer to each aircraft and appoint an adjutant and transport officer. Aircraft were to be prepared and the undersides of the wings marked to facilitate recognition from the ground. Tents were to be

assembled, for men and aircraft servicing, and special weather-proof canvas covers for cockpits, engines and propellers were to be made by the tailor because tents for overnight storage of aircraft were not deemed necessary by the authorities.

The availability of aircraft was also an issue. The Royal Aircraft Factory (known confusingly as the RAF) at Farnborough was experimenting with its early designs and other British makers were also only at the development stage, or were building French models under licence in small numbers. Eventually, 3 Squadron managed to field 11 of the 12

machines expected. They were a typical mix for the time: four Henry Farman F 20s, four Bleriots and three different Bleriot Experimental types from the Royal Aircraft Factory: a BE 2a; a BE 3; and a BE 4.

The Henry Farman was a two-seat pusher biplane built in France by a pair of English brothers, Henry and Maurice. Although extremely popular for air races, and widely used by European air forces for reconnaissance and bombing, it was to be relegated rapidly to the training role and then to obscurity once serious hostilities started.

Rather more advanced in design were the three Royal

Aircraft Factory ‘Bleriot Experimentals” or B.E.s. The “Bleriot” referred to Bleriot’s tractor design with the propeller at the front and not who designed it. The B.E.2 flew throughout World War One, mostly as a reconnaissance platform, and some 3,500 B.E.2s were built by over 20 different manufacturers to the Royal Aircraft Factory’s designs.

For the RFC’s aircraft, Mr Rothschild had provided a field from which the sheep had been cleared on the other side of the Tring Road from the main encampment. Pilots coming in to land were faced with the options of landing uphill, with the prevailing wind, or of

approaching from the south along the side of the hills and turning into wind to land down hill with only a tail-skid as a brake. Fortunately, their aircraft was capable of landing in very short spaces, but the fact that the permanent airfield of what was to become RAF Halton was established a mile away to the north is hardly surprising. On this sloping pasture the ground crew, under the direction of the adjutant and the transport officer, erected the tents, identified the centre of the landing ground with a large white cross of American Cloth and marked its perimeter with yellow flags. They then settled down to await

MILITARY AFFILIATESMILITARY AFFILIATES

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MILITARY AFFILIATES

the arrival of the aircraft while enjoying three meals a day provided by their host.

It appeared and made a detailed reconnaissance of the landing ground before disappearing over Coombe Hill. It was followed on the afternoon of Thursday 18th September 1913 by the four aircraft of ‘B’ Flight, under the command of Captain Herbert, all landing in the designated area. The rest flew in during the following two days, the first to land being recorded as the Bleriot of Lt Joubert de la Ferte, at 1330 on the Friday. This

event was seen as having great military significance and provoked considerable discussion after the manoeuvres, which were judged a success.

Today, RAF Halton is the home of recruit and non-technical ground training. It celebrates the 100th anniversary of its first encounter with the Royal Flying Corps, which went on to form half of the modern RAF in 1918. How appropriate it is that this first landing at RAF Halton should be a training exercise, during British Army manoeuvres in 1913.

History of Aviation at RAF Halton

The origins of recreational light aviation and gliding are rooted at RAF Halton. There have been many notable aviation events over the years: visits by Nazi test pilots prior to World War 2; landings on the grass airfield by Vulcan bombers and Comet airliners; the first ever operational rotary wing squadron during World War 2; the crash landing of a highly-classified US special operations aircraft in 1944; and human-powered flight during the

station’s long history. Training remains at the heart of RAF Halton’s outputs as we continue to deliver the Basic Recruit Training Course; Phase 2 training for elements of the logistics trade; leadership courses for newly-promoted non-commissioned officers; and courses from many other Defence units located at RAF Halton.

In October 2012, the station was visited by OFSTED and awarded an assessment of ‘Good’ for its provision of military training to ab initio recruits joining the Royal Air Force.

The station was exceptionally busy during 2012 when routine activities, including the graduation of over 1200 new Airmen and Airwomen into the RAF, were supplemented by the training of RAF and other military personnel for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Parade and the training of London Olympics Security Forces.

Since then, RAF Halton personnel have been active within the local community, organising the RAF Halton Families’ Day in June, Engagement Day in September, and parades to mark the

Freedoms of Aylesbury Vale, Thame and Dacorum boroughs.

The station enjoys a close and enduring relationship with our wider community and as such, we are delighted to have been invited to join the ranks of military affiliated units of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, and we look forward to progressing and cherishing this new, coalescing relationship over many years to come.

Squadron Leader Joe Duhan

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MILITARY AFFILIATES

ROYAL YEOMANRY

The past three years have been anxious ones for the

Reserve Forces as we have awaited the outcome of govern-ment reports, consultations, reviews and re-organisations. Finally, on 3rd July this year, the Royal Yeomanry, along with the rest of the TA, learnt its future role and laydown. In the new Army Reserve, which is to make up 30% of a new integrated Army, we are to be a light cavalry reconnaissance regiment in the ‘Adaptive Force’.

As the name implies, we will be flexible and adaptable to meet challenges at home and abroad. We will be paired with the Queen’s Dragoon Guards, the ‘Welsh Cavalry’, who are to be based in north Norfolk. The intention is that where they go we go, and that they help train and sustain us. Our territorial reach will spread further north and west with squadrons of the Royal Mercian & Lancastrian Yeomanry in Telford and Dudley joining forces with us.

Some of our own squadrons will have to reduce in size or be transferred to other regiments as a consequence, which is sad, especially for those old comrades who served with

them when they were regiments in their own right. The important thing is that we have survived and are being equipped with the very latest vehicles and personal kit.

Despite the changes going on around us our troops have continued to keep focussed in supporting their regular counterparts both on ‘Op Olympic’ last summer but also in Afghanistan, and we are ever thankful that the twenty we sent out in the spring now return home safe.

We were devastated to lose one of our brightest and best this summer not in some foreign field but here at home on a training exercise. Cpl James Dunsby was taken seriously ill during the demanding selection process for 21 SAS in July and died in hospital three weeks later after a valiant fight. He was everything a Royal Yeoman should be, fit, intelligent, characterful and loyal. A great patriot, he had served in Afghanistan and had been back there many times in his civilian job. The loss which we feel can only perhaps give us some small insight into what

his family and his widow Bryher must be suffering. We will remember him!

We look to the future with resolve and good heart. The strength and experience of our wonderful band, which we have always known, has been recognised more formally this summer in the announcement that it is to become a ‘State Band’, meaning that it will be required to play at state occasions including the Changing of the Guard.

Our commanding officer, Lt Col Kingsley Donaldson and RCM, WO1 Mick Flynn (the most decorated soldier in the British Army) are now mid-tour and are busy managing this process of change and betterment.

We very much value the support of our friends at the Merchant Taylors’ Company and hope that as things settle down we will have more opportunities to meet with you and show you what we do.

Simon McMenemyMajor, Second in Command

Yeomanry in Afghanistan

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EVENTS EVENTS

Miss Victoria Price with the Master

The Master and Lord Marks of the Jubilee Sailing Trust

Freemen and Apprentices at the BBQ

The musical entertainment was supplied by Flanders & Swann!

It is one of the idiosyncrasies of the Company that the prospective Master’s wife is invited to make the Lady’s speech at Dowe’s Convivium in May before the Master is elected. Miss Victoria Price made a wonderful speech in her mother’s honour.

Retiring Headmasters 23rd May 2013The Company gave a special dinner to thank the retiring headmasters of Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood and St John’s School.

Master & Wardens of MTs and Skinners’ Company

The Billesden Dinner 2013 24th June 2013Since 1484 the Merchant Taylors’ Company and the Skinners’ Company have been at sixes and sevens! Each year since then the Companies have entertained one another to dinner at their respective Halls to foster love and peace between the two Companies.

Dowe’s Convivum 15th May 2013

Mr Johny Armstrong, Chairman of Governors at St John’s, Mr Chris Kelly, the Master, Mr Stephen Wright and Mr Christopher Hare, Chairman of Governors at Merchant Taylors’

Election Service18th June 2013Over 250 people attended the annual Election Service and barbecue supper. This photo (left) shows the Master handing over a Company donation of £50,000 to Lord Marks of the Jubilee Sailing Trust.

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Livery Dinner 2nd July 2013

Every midsummer the Company hold a dinner when Liverymen are reminded of their oath to attend the Hall. Here are our new Liverymen for 2013 before their first July Livery Dinner!

New Liverymen 2013

Olivia Harley Sagbutts & Cornetts with Richard Hobson

SPORTS

COMPANY GOLF REPORT (2012/2013 MASTERSHIP)

The results during the Dr John Sichel Mastership were

good, and while we started slowly we ended strongly.

The Company match vs the OMTs in September 2012 was lost at the Berkshire, and the Court match vs the Vintners at Royal St George’s in mid-October was lost by the narrowest of margins of 4 to 4½. This came down to the last hole of the last match with Merchant Taylors needing a half to win, but we lost the hole due to bunker problems.

In April 2013 we came a lowly ninth in the Great Twelve Competition at Tandridge (this will move to the New Zealand Golf Club in 2014). We fared better in the Prince Arthur Competition held in mid-May at Walton Heath, finishing just inside the top ten.

In early May the Company beat the Merchant Taylor Boys team at Moore Park 3-1, and in mid-June beat the Masters 3¼ to 1 at Sandy Lodge. We were successful against the Skinners for the third year in a row winning 15¾ to 6 on the 14th May. An article about this match

dating back to 1906 was published in Golf Quarterly, and we are now 52-44 behind the Skinners overall!

We had a splendid Company golf day at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club on Thursday 11th July with hot sunshine all day. The winner of the Handicap Cup was presented with a green jacket with a handmade lamb in glory on the breast pocket. This was very kindly donated by Simon Cundey, CEO of Poole & Co, Savile Row who make the green jackets for Augusta members. The winner of this prestigious event was Luke Oram (5) with 38 points and the runner up was James Terry (22) with 36 points. The winner of the Scratch Cup was Luke Oram with 33 points and runner up Ollie Slack with 22 points.

The four foursomes lambs were won in the afternoon by Monique Oram (16) and Luke Oram (5) with 26 points over 13 holes. Runners up were Ollie Slack (9) and David Stafford (17) with 25 points.

Dr Julian Oram

GOLFING DATES 2014

Great Twelve Competition (4 players) New Zealand Golf Club Monday 14th April

Match vs Merchant Taylor Boys (6 to 8 players each side)Moore ParkWednesday May 7th (3.15pm)

Match vs Skinners (20 a side)New Zealand Golf Club Tuesday 13th May with dinner at Merchant Taylors’ Hall 12th May

Prince Arthur Cup (4 Players) Walton Heath Golf Club Thursday 15th May

Match vs Merchant Taylors’ staff (8 players a side)Sandy Lodge Golf Club Monday 16th June from 4pm

Merchant Taylors’ Company golf day (max 30 players)Royal Wimbledon Golf Club Thursday 10th July

Match vs OMTs The Berkshire Latter half of September (organiser Peter Watkins)

Court match vs Vintners (8 a side)Royal St George’s Golf Club Tuesday 14th/ Wednesday 15th October

EVENTS Mr Simon Cundey congratulating Mr Luke Oram on winning the Handicap Cup

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Hugh Miller, Alex Temmink, Hugo Bain and Alex Kerr

Simon Bass, Richard Sullivan, Paul Foster and Piers Russell Cobb

GREAT 12 SAILING CHALLENGE 2013

The ninth Great Twelve Sailing Challenge was held

in Seaview on 1st June under excellent sailing conditions with sunshine and good winds. The Dublin Cup this year was awarded to Victoria Price for being a very enthusiastic member of the Challenge!

SPORTSThe event attracted 180 sailors

and their supporters who were entertained over the weekend and a good time was had by all. Next year’s Challenge will be held on 6th/7th June, and anyone interested in competing should contact Rupert Johnson at rupertj@mail.com.

SPORTSCRICKET 2013

We had a frustrating start to the season, with our first

two games called off by the opposition due to a lack of players. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed the remaining couple of games.Our season began with us hosting the Skinners’ Company at Merchant Taylors’ School, making up for last year with a thriller. The Skinners had been busy recruiting in the off-season, fielding a much stronger team than previous years. We batted first and found runs difficult to come by, hampered in part by an outfield slowed by overnight rain, but set a target of 175. The opposition looked on track to secure their first win against us by making full use of a much faster outfield, needing less than 10 off the final couple of overs. However, their nerves seemed to get the better of them and a late flurry of wickets saw MTCCC snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Our final game was the evening Twenty20 game against the Grocers’ Company. We seem to be the team to beat these days as the Grocers too fielded a strong side. We batted first but some tight bowling and a very defensive field saw us post a modest total of 123. The opposition had a couple of big-hitters who saw them chase down our total with two overs to spare.

Despite early disruption, it has been another enjoyable season and it has been great to see more new players come on to the scene. Winter nets will again be running in the off-season and, as ever, new players are very welcome. If you are interested, please do not hesi-tate to contact the Clerk (NHarris@merchant-taylors.co.uk) or Graham Armstrong (GArmstrong@gmail.com)

Graham Armstrong MT sailors after the racing

Duncan Eggar, Rupert Johnson, Phillip (and Louise Miller), Jan Gumieniak

INTER-LIVERY SHOOT

This year the Merchant Taylors fielded two teams at the Inter

Livery Shoot. Team 1 was made up of Paul Foster, Piers Russell Cobb, Richard Sullivan and Simon Bass. Team 2 was Alex Temmink, Hugo Bain, Alex Kerr and Hugh Miller. However, the team number designations did not reflect the performance on the day, as Team 2 outscored Team 1, with Alex Kerr top scoring and coming 18th equal overall.

With an early start, on what was a relatively cold late May morning, a breakfast of bacon

butties and coffee got the two teams on their way. Although the large number of teams meant that progress round the shooting stands was slow, we were all complete in time for the tradi-tional roast lunch, and a good day was had by all.

The Merchant Taylors have supported this event for many years and Hugh Oliver-Bellasis is always keen to provide as many participants as possible. Maybe next year we can field three teams.

Richard Sullivan

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NOTICEBOARD NOTICEBOARD

The briefings are aimed particularly at new

Liverymen and Freemen but partners are also welcome to attend. Liverymen and Freemen of longer standing, who have not previously been to a briefing, are also encouraged to attend.

They give a short introduction to the work of the Corporation, especially the relationship with the Livery Companies. The presentation is given by an assistant town clerk and a member of the Livery Committee and there is opportunity to ask questions of the speakers. The session is followed by a buffet, and the time to mix with other Liverymen and Freemen.

The Briefings are held at:Guildhall71 Basinghall StreetLondon EC2V 5DHFrom 5.30 – 7.30pm in February, May, October and November (exact dates tbc)

There is a non-refundable charge of £10 per person for the course. Further details are at: www.liverycommitteecourses.org and bookings and payment are made via the website.

Over 200 years since the tailors started to move in,

Savile Row continues to flourish. It is a community that not only creates a unique English luxury product, but one that also forms the training base for young craftsmen and women who will go on to become tailors or cutters themselves.

The Savile Row Bespoke Association (SRB) was founded in 2004 with the aim of protecting and developing the art of bespoke tailoring on Savile Row. In 2007 the Savile Row Diploma was launched; a qualification underwritten by all the main Savile Row bespoke companies and assessed by artisans from within the Savile Row fraternity.

The diploma is based on the traditional apprenticeship of one to one training - going back to the very origins of the trade. The apprentices have a minimum of

three to four years to be a coat maker, three years for a trouser or waist coat maker, and four to five years to become a junior cutter. Only when their training is complete are they entered for the SRB diploma. The assessments are rigorous and intended to maintain the high standards expected on the Row; the criteria being that these candidates are ready to either make or cut for the Savile Row companies they represent.

Since the diploma’s inception the quality of the making, pattern drafting and portfolios has been very high. This year’s entrants were no exception, and the pride in their work shone through.

The garments seen have been made from start to finish by the apprentices alone - no help is allowed at any point. The candidates will have also shown other partly made garments in

order for the assessors to see the construction skill inside the garments. The young under cutters must show competence in measuring, assessing a customer’s figure and finally cutting the pattern to the customer requirements.

40 SRB diplomas have been awarded since 2007 to 32 coat makers, four trouser makers and four young cutters. Most are now working with the companies that trained them, and a few have moved on to develop careers abroad.

The diploma presentations take place at the Bespoke Tailors Benevolent Summer Party held in early July at Merchant Taylors’ Hall - a fitting place to finish their training and begin their career in earnest.

Philip ParkerVice-ChairmanHenry Poole

The Merchant Taylors’ Fundraising Challenge is an

opportunity for young people aged under 30, whether Apprentices or Freemen, to be at once charitable, creative, and entrepreneurial.

The challenge is simple: raise a minimum of £500, and prefer-ably much more, by whatever legally and morally acceptable means, for the Livery and Freemen Fund. The winner will be the person who raises the most cash!

Along with cementing your place in the Company’s long and distinguished history of philan-thropy, the prize is an invitation for you and a guest to join the prestigious dinner for the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs held by the Company each February.

Run a marathon, climb a mountain, bake cakes! The Company is organising a fund-raising walk to Canterbury in May 2014 so you could join that and be in the draw for 2015. Do whatever you like, but please get involved!

For further details and an application form please get in touch with Kym Ash at kash@merchant-taylors.co.uk or on 020 7450 4448.

Earlier this year, thoughts turned towards the national

remembrance of the centenary of the First World War, and some investigations were made to uncover the involvement of Company Members. While the memorials to the fallen at Merchant Taylors’ Schools are evident for all to see, there is no record whatsoever of fallen Company Members, and an examination of the archives in the Guildhall was fruitless.

The Clerk is looking to create an archive of Members’ involvement in not just the Great War, but in World War Two as well. If any descendants of those who served have any information or knowledge of their history which they are happy to share with him, please do get in touch.

Rear Admiral Nick Harris CB MBE

CITY BRIEFINGS

SAVILE ROW BESPOKE ASSOCIATION (SRB)

MERCHANT TAYLORS’ FUNDRAISING CHALLENGE

THE COMPANY DURING THE WAR YEARS

SRB Winner 2013

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Mr Anthony HowittFebruary 1920 - September 2013

Tony Howitt was admitted to the Company as a Freeman

by Servitude in 1947. He was elected to the Livery in 1949 and to Court Assistant in 1970. He was Master in 1980.

Tony was educated at Uppingham School and Trinity College Cambridge. In the war years Tony was commissioned in to the Royal Regiment of Artillery in 1941 and served as a major RFA. He followed his father, Sir Harold Howitt GBE DSO MC DCL LLD DL JP in to chartered accountancy and the Merchant Taylors’ Company.

Mr John Penton MBE February 1938 - August 2013

Past Master John Penton (2003/2004) was an

architect and trained at the Architectural Association between 1957 and 1963. His career developed around his interest in historic buildings and in the needs of disabled people; the latter becoming his specialism. He advised government, cathedrals, universities and the London Underground on accessibility and wrote three books: Widening the Eye of the Needle (3rd edition), Inclusion: a Handbook of Housing for Disabled People and Disabled People in Schools. He taught in the UK, USA and Hong Kong.

Tony was a leading chartered accountant who promoted the role of computers during the early years of data processing and played a prominent role in laying the foundations of the consulting profession. He was a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants’ Council, and its president in 1972. He founded the Anthony Howitt Lecture in 1985 which helps CIMA develop the science of accounting. The next lecture is due to be held in 2015.

He will be particularly remembered for his pioneering work as a chartered management accountant developing the consulting side of Peat/KPMG. He led the way for chartered accountants to play a key consulting role alongside their auditing/accounting functions – and laid the foundations for the new management consulting profession. He was one of the first members of the Council of the IMC and played a leading role in writing its first code of practice for consultants.

John joined the Merchant Taylors’ Company in July 1964 by Servitude to Sir William Bentley CBE. He was elected to the Livery in 1977 and was made a court assistant in 1988. John was Master in 2003. His City life focused on the Merchant Taylors’ Company.

John’s vast professional experience made him an invaluable asset to the Company as he served for over a decade on both the Charities and Housing and Care Committees. After designing the award-winning Mulberry House nursing home for use by the Raynard Charitable Trust (under lease from the Company’s almshouse charity), he served as an integral member of the team redeveloping the almshouses themselves. We hope that the fruition of the project will be a fitting testimony to his pivotal contribution.

John joined the emerging Company of Chartered Architects and latterly was a RIBA client advisor, an expert witness and an expert panel member of HAPPI.

John was a hugely approach-able, wise and giving person.

His awards were legion; among others he won English Heritage, RIBA, DoE and Civic Trust Awards as well as the Melchett Award of the Energy Institute. He was awarded the MBE for his services to accessibility in 1987.

John died in St Christopher’s Nursing Home, Hatfield, where he remained cheerful at heart and greatly appreciative of all the cards he received. The funeral service was private and very personal, and in the spirit John had requested.

There will be a thanksgiving service in February 2014 in the MBE Chapel at St Paul’s Cathedral. The date and details will be publicised later.

At the dawn of the computer age he was one of the first accountants to recognise how data processing and the use of computers in accounting would change the profession. He wrote a series of important articles highlighting the new challenges facing accountants when auditing companies and public bodies which were beginning to use electronically prepared reports.

Respected for his integrity and sharp intellect, he also found himself acting as the financial advisor for a number of Middle Eastern countries, working with their heads of government and key finance ministers, for which he won a Queen’s Award for Export.

He and his wife June were very fond of travelling and enjoyed several wonderful cruises to adventurous parts such as the Galapagos, the Falklands and Antarctica - where they loved the penguins but not the rough terrain!

OBITUARIES

Liveryman Mr Vincent Grant December 1924 - April 2013

Liveryman Mr Alan Hurst-Brown December 1920 - September 2013

Past Master Mr George Peter Theobald passed away on 26th September 2013. A full obituary will appear in the spring edition of this magazine.

Livery & Freemen Fund

This is the Members’ own fund which supports the Master’s chosen charity each year and up to four individual charities recommended by the Membership. Grants are made directly from income donated, but there is also a growing endowment fund.

DONATION FORM

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Please make cheques, corporate matches, or other gifts payable to: Livery & Freemen Fund and send to Merchant Taylors’ Company, 30 Threadneedle Street, London EC2R 8JB

THELORDMAYOR’SSHOWAfter all the floats and pageantry of the Lord Mayor’s Show, why not take the short walk to Threadneedle Street for lunch at the Hall, and continue the spectacle?

We will be laying on sumptuous food and wine and the warmest of welcomes for you, your family and friends.

Come and relax by the open fire, or enjoy a tour of our historic building, while the children tuck in to the biggest chocolate fountain within the square mile!

Tickets £30 for adults and £15 for children.

Contact Abbie Shute: AShute@merchant-taylors.co.uk

9TH NOVEMBER 2013