59. Election Court Lunch

What a wonderful Election Court Lunch we had on 5 April at Pewterers’ Hall! Our guest speaker was Baroness Young gallantly sporting the Company teardrop given to her 15 years ago, when she previously spoke at one of our events. She gave us a lot to think about concerning the total reliance we have for land for a myriad of different uses, and the need for a land commission or similar. This is a very important topic and indeed ties in with our own developing thoughts on river basin management. It was great that she was able to spend so much time both before and after the lunch talking to members individually.

It was a huge pleasure at Court to welcome six new Freeman and a new liveryman (Master’s bailiff Dharmesh Joshi) as well as to re-admit Past Master Professor Gerald Noone; sadly Gerald is recovering from a recent operation and was not able to attend in person but we all look forward to seeing him face to face in the not too distant future. We were also delighted to welcome three new corporate members, Thames Water, Atkins and British Water.

In my last formal speech as Master, I said that at the beginning of my year I had hoped for a ‘great awakening’ in our Company after all the dislocations and lockdowns of covid. The great awakening has certainly happened! We are united round our mission of ‘promoting a diverse and sustainable environment’. We are enthusiastically convening (and participating in) debate on water and environmental matters - witness the the recent discussion Dinner with the Minister, our hugely successful City Water Debate, our thirty odd webinars to date, and our myriad of consultation responses. At the same time we are pursuing our charitable purpose - having supported no less than 180 postgraduate students in water and environmental sciences, as well as all the work we do with schools. Finally we have a good time with our various social events, our cutter having won both the Admiral of the Port and the Port of London Challenges and our gallant team being overall winner of this year’s City Pancake race; on display at lunch was the trophy for the latter which we hold for the coming year - an engraved frying pan! All this achievement is down to the energy and commitment of all of you, our members! What a spirit you have.

At the end of the lunch, I was delighted to present a ‘Master’s Prize’ to three members who have done outstanding service during the year. The choice was down purely to me and had I the money I would have presented a prize to every single one of us. The prize was a bottle of Black Bush Irish whiskey, from the world’s oldest (legal) distillery. The recipients were chosen to reflect progress against some of our key Company priorities and were as follows: (i)  Roger North for all his achievement as chair of our charity, the WCT; (ii) Peter Matthews for the huge energy and commitment he has shown in convening discussion around Water and the Environment; and (iii) Martin Bigg, for all the work he is doing in association with Ramon Bravo for our associates and younger members of our company - they are our future; the prize will also fortify Martin for the rigour of his coming year as Master!

The First Prize should have gone to our beloved clerk Christine Duthie, but she was sadly unable to be with us on the day. I will duly embarrass her with an appropriate gift and citation at a subsequent event!

Finally, I am delighted to announce the Election Court’s decision re Master and Wardens for 2023/24:

-Master: Martin Bigg

-Thames Warden:  Dylan Barker

-Fleet Warden: Carolyn Roberts

-Walbrook Warden:  Tom Flood.

We wish them all every success and look forward to their Installation in July.

 

The above event was a terrific prelude to our Easter holiday. My best wishes to you all.

 

Colin.