20. meetings with Chair of EA and with the Lord Mayor

It has been a busy week for the Master and Consort.


On Monday 24 October the Master met Alan Lovell DL, Chair of EA, to share perspectives on governance of the water sector (one of our Company’s themes for the current year). Alan kindly agreed to join our impressive line up of speakers on this topic at our next annual City Water Debate (5.30 for 6.00pm on Tuesday 21 March 2023, the eve of World Water Day).  Other confirmed speakers are Sir Dieter Helm CBE (Oxford University), John Hirst CBE, (Chair of Anglian Water),  and Lila Thompson (Chief Executive of British Water) in what is one of our Company’s flagship events.

On Wednesday 24 took place a splendid event for Masters’ Consorts - see Georgina’s separate blog (number 21 in this series).

On Thursday 25 October the Master joined some twenty other Masters for a meeting with the outgoing Lord Mayor, Vincent Keaveny. Particular topics discussed were sustainability and philanthropy. I took the opportunity of mentioning our coming City Water Debate which was seen by the meeting as an excellent example of how liveries can use their respective networks to convene (in Sir David Wootton’s words) serious debate in their areas of expertise. (I have already flagged the event to Lord Mayor elect, Nicholas Lyons, and to his presumed successor, our own Michael Mainelli). I also described, in a wide ranging discussion, the educational work of the WCT whereby through focussed partnerships with selected universities, we have supported more than 150 graduate students in water and environmental sciences over the past 15 years.

On Thursday evening we had our Company visit to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London and on Friday the Engineers Banquet. See blog 22.

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