Master Water Conservator

One of the most colourful and spectacular events of the Livery year is the United Guilds service at St Paul’s Cathedral, with the Bishop of London, where all the city companies parade with the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs and the Court of Aldermen of the City of London.   Limited by the seating capacity of the Cathedral, a small group of us represented the Water Conservators. The Dean of St Paul’s acknowledged the fellowship and service of the Livery Companies and gave thanks for the skills and talents which they represent and promote in each generation, and the generosity of their charitable work which provides opportunities for others to share.   The Dean of Westminster, Dr David Hoyle, previously Dean of Bristol Cathedral, spoke of the demonstrable work of the Livery Companies in education, and helping the young and old.   He described the preparations for the Coronation and the need to celebrate achievements.   He also observed that, very unusually, this service was on...

   The annual Golden Lecture was endowed 400 years ago by a benefactor of the Haberdashers’ Company.   This year it was delivered by the Right Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, and her charity for the lecture supports refugees across Kent.   She is an honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Water Conservators and the Company was represented by the Thames Warden Consort Eileen Bigg.   The lecture was delivered in the Haberdashers’ Company church of St Bartholomew the Less which dates from the 15 th century and lies within the ancient hospital precincts which would shortly mark the 900 th anniversary of its foundation. The Bishop addressed the subject “Living Faith in the 21 st Century: What does it truly mean to have a living faith in today’s world?”   She unfavourably compared our willingness to share and enthuse about where we shop with our unwillingness to talk about our faith, and emphasised our faith should ensure we show our love...

  THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF WATER CONSERVATORS NOTES OF THE ANNUAL CITY WATER DEBATE ‘RUNNING WATER’ BAKERS’ HALL, 21 MARCH 2023   The annual City Water Debate was hosted by the Worshipful Company of Water Conservators at the Bakers’ Hall on 21 March, the eve of World Water Day, and attended by leading members of the livery movement and of the water and environmental sector.   Speakers addressed the question ‘Does the governance of the water sector need to change to meet the requirements of the 2020s and 2030s, and, if so, how?’   The event included short presentations by five sector leaders, who presented contrasting opinions on the current situation, followed by questions from the audience.   Given the current state of public and media disquiet about various aspects of water management, it generated a great deal of interest.   The debate was attended by almost a hundred guests, chaired by Master Water Conservator Colin Drummond OBE DL, and sponsor...

See below for playback of the Water Conservators Water Debate 2023, held on 21st March 2023 at Bakers' Hall.  

On 21 March the Company staged our flagship annual City Water Debate, at Bakers’ Hall. It was a sell out and we were all privileged to hear five leaders of our sector, all at the top of their game, share their perspectives on the governance issues facing the sector. It was like being physically in the room in one of Plato’s dialogues listening in first hand to leaders discussing the great issues of the day. We hold the City Water Debate annually on the eve of World Water Day and it was the fifteenth in a series dating back to my previous term as Master. The packed event attended by Sheriff Andrew Marsden, Alderman Alison Gowman, Lord Mayor elect our own Michael Mainelli (wearing our Company tear drop),  Masters of associated companies, a very strong contingent of our own members and high profile guests from outside the livery. The event was a fine illustration of the ability of Livery Companies to convene and participate in debate on the major issues of their sectors and was huge...

  This event was first held in Summer 2022 when numbers were slightly affected by travel disruptions and the extraordinary (hot) weather.  This time we merely had to cope with a tube strike and the last minute news that our guide had injured her back and could not come!  Fortunately the Mistress holds a Thames foreshore licence and so was able to stand in for the guide, with enthusiasm if not quite the same polished expertise. Mudlarking or searching for items of interest on the Thames foreshore has a history back to Victorian times.  The tidal river washes over the foreshore twice a day, scouring into 2000 years of London history and revealing treasures from Roman times to the present.  You never know what you may find! On this occasion our band of a dozen Company members and guests found a wealth of old clay pipes and strangely shaped metal items, together with pottery and china of various dates.   The star find was the neck of a salt glazed jug probabl...

On the evening of 14th March, after the Dick Whittington event, the Master and his Consort attended ‘Jury Trial and Error’ in the Old Bailey. This was a wonderful, humorous and enlightening review staged in one of the main court rooms by members of the legal profession. We were delighted to meet Past Master Mike Williamson and Sandra at the event and know that other members of the Company are attending other showings. The review is an annual event for charity, staged over a number of nights, and is open to all members of the livery movement and their guests. We certainly plan to attend again next year and we commend it to all in the Company!

On 14 March, the Master and his consort, along with the Thames Warden and Past Master Peter Matthews and their consorts plus the Walbrook Warden, all attended the commemoration of the 600th anniversary of Dick Whittington‘s death. The event at St Michael’s Paternoster Royal was organised by Alderman Alison Gowman and the Water Conservators made very significant contributions (see below). Proceedings started with a Service of Commemoration, delightfully led by The Rt Rev and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London. At the close a wreath was laid at Dick Whittington’s memorial in the church. Afterwards there were presentations on the life and legacy of Dick Whittington by Professor Caroline Barron OBE and by our own Walbrook Warden, Professor Carolyn Roberts. The latter presentation was on Dick Whittington’s ‘Longhouse’, a long vanished 128 seater public convenience located on the Thames, and was exceedingly well received. With Carolyn’s permission the text is reproduced in full...

The Modern Livery Companies (those granted livery status since 1932) dine together twice a year and host the dinner in turn according to precedence.   This time the Arts Scholars, (those involved in antiques, decoration and applied art) the 110 th livery company, were our hosts in the impressive setting of the Brewers’ Hall.   The Thames Warden Martin Bigg and the Walbrook Warden Carolyn Roberts represented the Water Conservators.   It was a great opportunity to link up with and learn from other companies. The guest speaker was HH Judge Wendy Joseph KC, Master Pewterer and Freeman of the Arts Scholars.   She was only the third woman to sit as a permanent judge in the Old Bailey.   She gave a powerful presentation on the history of the Old Bailey and its predecessors, including the work and impact of Elizabeth Fry and Charles Dickens.     She observed that the typical defendant was 16-24, male, at a very low stage in their life, and described the tra...

On 9 March the Master and Clerk attended to the Hackney Carriage Drivers’ Spring Court Dinner at Barber Surgeons’ Hall. They are like us a modern livery company (number 104 in order of precedence) and are dear friends of the Water Conservators. They are rightly particularly well known for the annual Magical Taxi Tour which takes children with disabilities to Disneyland Paris in black cabs with an escort of British and French motorcycle police. This is a most valuable and moving spectacle which we regularly support (most recently with a collection after Myddelton Lunch). It was a really wonderful dinner. The guest speaker was Lt General Sir Andrew Gregory who talked about the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen Family Association. In a nice coincidence he mentioned the work of Calvert Trust Exmoor which provides outdoor holidays for servicemen and others with disabilities; older members of our Company will remember our visit to Calvert in 2008 and the financial support provided to them via t...

On 28 February just before our dinner with the Minister, the Master along with a number of Past Masters and Court Assistants attended a City briefing on Thames Water's resource management plan given by Philip Stride on behalf of Thames. The event was organised by Past Master Rob Casey so that Livery Companies and the City in general can learn more about Father Thames; it reflects our leading role in environmental matters in the City and ties in with our Company objective of convening and participating in debate on such topics. Philip highlighted the increasing water demand projected in the Thames catchment area over the next 50 years due to climate change and population growth. Thames' strategy to address this included: a 50% reduction in leakage from the water company's own pipes; reducing customer demand including leakage in the customers' own pipes (which included in the total leakage figures publicly quoted in the press); and three proposed resource developments (...

Court Assistant Allan Barton and Thames Warden Martin Bigg represented the Worshipful Company of Water Conservators at the 25th Horners’ Ralph Anderson Memorial Lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine.   Professor Edward Kosior gave a talk on "Advances in technology to fast-forward the circular economy” which focused on the reuse, recycling and recovery of plastics. In his talk Professor Edward Kosior explored how waste management sits at the heart of climate change, with global waste generating more than 1.3 billion tons of CO2e annually and described the cutting-edge technologies that are coming on stream to help the world turn plastic waste into a valuable resource. He mentioned how the challenge of post-consumer food-contact single use plastics and flexible films is met by highly efficient sorting systems and unique decontamination processes. His talk generated may questions on the move from the use of simple plastics in packaging, which can be easily recycled to managi...

  Deputy Master Peter Hall and Thames Warden Martin Bigg represented the Water Conservators’ Company at the Glaziers’ Hall for a pan livery meeting hosted by the Worshipful Company of Launderers.   Speakers shared ideas to help business leaders make the right decisions over the next decade on the supply of energy and the alternatives available.   They described what the UK Government, and the supply industry, has to put in place for economic green energy. Professor Philip Thomas, Bristol University, described the current and future contribution nuclear power could make and the issues associated with it. Presentations on solar energy and energy storage were followed by a detailed exploration of the potential role of hydrogen to replace natural gas in heating and its use in transport. The breadth and depth of knowledge across the livery companies was demonstrated in the challenging questioning and debate which followed, helped by good fellowship over lunch.

On 28 February some twenty members of the Company met with Rebecca Pow, Minster for Environmental Quality and Resilience, and two officials from DEFRA for a most lively, productive and enjoyable dinner at the Oxford and Cambridge Club. It was a wonderful event, all part of our role of convening and participating in serious debate on water sector issues. The event was open to all members and the turnout was excellent.  Our contingent demonstrated the unique variety of experience and skills represented by our Company from water industry players though to government, academe and finance. It ranged from new associates through to Past Masters and some of the earliest members of our Company. We provided biographies to the Minister in advance and I for one was awestruck by what we had to offer! The dinner tied in with the series of think pieces on water sector issues we are producing under the leadership of Past Master Peter Matthews and showed that this is an aspect of our Company’s mi...