On the whole it went well today . The Court admitted 8 Freeman and clothed 5 Liverymen; we celebrated the time that we knew Marj Richards . I really do feel good about the way in which we are moving forward but building on the past - and that was the subject of an excellent speech by Steve Morris MD of Huber whcih will be posted on our website and included in our book Reflections on Water .This is the text of my speech .
MASTERS MICHAELMAS LUNCH SPEECH PEWTERERS HALL SEPT 26TH 2012
Wardens, My Lord ,Visiting Masters Liverymen, Ladies & Gentlemen
Thank you Steve for a most insightful speech. The resonates very well with the aspirations of our company
I invited Steve to speak to us today because ,as I have said before one of my objectives is to strengthen the link between our company and the water industry. We have listened to speeches in the past from utilities , regulators , consultants , academics , but this is the first time, to my knowledge ,that we heard from a very important sector and that is process technology . I am sure that you will agree with me that Steve has plugged that gap. Thank you
We will publish his speech on our website and other locations. If you want to read it at your leisure you can do so.
In July I said that we had a number of objectives and we are now on the road as a team to deliver those and we have a very diverse programme of activities . If Members are interested you will be able to find the programme on the Members area of the website . One initiative is that the collection from today is being made available to our members who have submitted bids for project support ‘ I am glad to announce that the joint winners are Ruislip High School and CIWEM. The money will go towards a new Aquarium for Ruislip High School and Tomorrow's Water - CIWEM's annual Youth Water Prize. Both will have the responsibility of managing the use of this money and to report back to us . Further details of each project are printed on the back of today's Menu. Thank you to Court Assistants Jo Finely and Sue Paterson for their work on this.
We are planning lots of new activities including the production of a book of essays , short pieces , poems’ or whatever you like, called Reflections on Water . At the very least it will be published or linked into our website and I encourage you to contribute . Court assistants Nick Reeves , and David Johnstone and Bailiff David Lloyd Owen are leading on this.
I have said that an objective of mine is that we should reach out and involve as many members as possible beyond attending lunches . I am pleased to report that we are well on the way . We had almost 50 people on the Cromer weekend and nearly 40 at the Globe visit
Lis and I are having a great time attending events and the blog is proving a very useful vehicle for us to report back to you all .We enjoyed the launch of the Maidstone Sea Cadets Boat , the Conservator ,which the company supported and I would like to express my particular thanks to court assistant Trevor Harrington .
I have had to miss one or two events because I have taken on a new task in Wales in setting up a Natural Resources Body . This is giving me an opportunity to demonstrate what I spoke about in July ,which is the combination of innovation and tradition – indeed I have cited the Water Conservators as an example of this. In fact as you know we are moving on in Wales to the concept of natural resources management in which we are trying to implement affordable sustainability for real rather than by rhetoric and if anyone here today has any bright ideas on how we might do that or on how the Company could contribute its wisdom – please do contact me .
But what I have learned as I grow older is that life is about the co-existence of opposites , and tradition coupled with innovation is apparently just that . But if you think about this idea there are many examples – bitter- sweet is just one . But a most poignant co-existence in life is that of joy and sorrow . And in the midst of the joys at a personal level and as a country over the weeks since the Installation , we are very saddened by the sudden loss of Marj the wife of our Thames Warden Ivor Richards . She was a lovely lady, who genuinely loved her involvement in our company and I am sure that you all join with me in expressing our sadness to Ivor and in celebrating the time that we spent with her. Ivor has written a eulogy to Marj and you can read this on our website under Ivor’s Who’s who contribution
It is now time for me to pass on congratulations .
First as you know our ladies team won the PLA Challenge cup again , well done . We have the cup before us today suitably engraved .
We admitted Martin Baggs, Dylan Barker, Ro Bhimadari, Malcolm Butchers, Karen Gadd, Paul Jenkin, Peter Jones & Guy Titman to the Freedom of the Company. Congratulations . Please can you all stand up
We Clothed Clare Deanesly, Andrew Kirkman, Steve Kippin, Nigel Mattravers & Robert Owen as Liverymen. Again Congratulations please stand up
And finally we admitted Sir Neil Chalmers as an Honorary Freeman of the Company, Sir Neil was Warden of Wadham College Oxford with whom we have had a very productive relationship and to whom we have provided bursaries . He was instrumental in building our early partnerships with academia .Congratulations please can you stand up.
As I have said we are planning some more great events this year . The next one is the regional lunch in Dorking on October 10th please contact Roger North our Fleet Warden . The we have the banquet on 1 Nov and thereafter the Carol Service which is being re-instated in a different venue at St Mary at Hill near Monument tube station on Dec 11. Please do support these and watch out for announcements on other events and activities being planned by various teams right now Once more, please let me know what you would like to do and if you would like to be involved in the planning.
Thank you to the Wardens and clerk for helping me out and will most certainly do the same for them when it is their turn to represent the company . Lis and I continue to be deeply honoured by our roles and we will do continue to do everything we can in our year for the Company. Finally, thank to all of you for coming today and in particular thank you to Steve once again. May we invite you to join us for a stirrup cup afterwards
May God go with you and may we wish you all a safe journey home. See you in October ,November or December
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