Court Meeting – 26 January 2022
Our first Court meeting of 2022 was held at the historic Armourers’ Hall. We admitted four new liverymen and presented the Worshipful Company of Plumbers top apprentice awards to the Royal Navy winners for 2020 and 2021.
A scheduled ancient monument, Armourers’ Hall was the ideal setting for our Court meeting and lunch. We we particularly pleased to be able to recommence the presentation of our military awards, which had to be put on hold during the lockdown. They are awarded annually to the top apprentice in each of the three Services and the 2020 and 2021 Royal Navy awards to Leading Engineering Technician (LET) Steven Cook and LET Christopher Sheardown respectively were presented; sadly at the last minute LET Sheardown was unable to attend because of service commitments, so his award was received by Commander Douglas Ritchie on his behalf.
LET Steven Cook receiving his Freedom of the Company and his Award
Cdr Douglas Ritchie receiving the award on behalf of LET Christopher Sheardown
The recipients are made honourary freemen of the company at the Court meeting ahead of the presentation at the lunch afterwards.
Four new liverymen were also admitted, Alison Flint had joined on-line via Zoom during the lockdown, so we were able to complete the ceremony with her clothing in person. The other three new liverymen, who were able to complete the ceremony in full were Professor Paola Lettieri, Piers Mizen and Daniel Tranter. Daniel Tranter was awarded our Army top apprentice award in 2010 and becomes the first of our honorary military freemen to become a full liveryman.
L to R: New Lvy Alison Flint, New Lvy Piers Mizen, The Master, New Lvy Prof Paola Lettieri and New Lvy Daniel Tranter
Following the Court meeting we enjoyed a splendid lunch in the Armourers’ main livery hall. Our guest speaker was Liveryman Sarah Oliver who gave an excellent and amusing talk on being a female plumber.
L to R: The Beadle, Peter Thompson, Upper Warden Paul Nash, Guest speaker Lvy Sarah Oliver, The Master Nick Jones, Master’s Consort Kala Jones, Renter Warden David Adams and Clerk Adrian Mumford
Guest Speaker Liveryman Sarah Oliver
Court Lunch in the Armourers’ Main Livery Hall
Our next Court meeting will be on 27th April 2022 at Carpenters’ Hall, where will will be following the ‘new’ tradition of inviting our fellow Masters and Clerks to the “Masters’ and Clerks’ Lunch”. There is plenty of room at Carpenters’ Hall, the home of our office, so we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.