CARPENTERS' COURT LADIES' DINNER: 8 JUNE

On Wednesday Alastair and I, despite the title of the dinner without our wives, were invited to the Carpenters.

The Carpenters are our closest neighbours.  They have occupied the northern end of Throgmorton Avenue, we are at the southern end. for about the same length of time but I think they may have bought the site just ahead of our forced purchase of part of Thomas Cromwell's estate in 1543.  Our local property holdings still abut each other.

When our Hall was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 we were taken in by the Carpenters whose Hall, no more than 200 meters to the north of ours, had been just outside the area of extensive fire damage.  We reciporocated in 1941 when the Carpenters' Hall was lost in the Blitz and ours miraculously escaped unscathed.

The Carpenters Company continues to play a leading part in its trade and is particularly active in East London.  Most notably they sponsor the Building Crafts College in Stratford and Carpenters' and Docklands Centre, also in Stratford.  In the inevitable way that property and philanthropy seem to be linked in the London livery companies this focus derives from a 63 acre farm in West Ham bought by the Company in 1767.  For more details go to  http://www.thecarpenterscompany.co.uk/

The current Master is Giles Downes CVO, a noted architect who played a major part in the imaginative restoration of Windsor Castle after the fire in the annus horribilis of 1992. He and his wardens made us most welcome.

It was an opportunity to meet with our close neighbours and the short walk back to the Masters' flat in the Hall presented just the right time for a modest constitutional before turning in.

UPHOLDERS' ANNUAL INSTALLATION BANQUET: 13 APRIL

Coat of Arms of the Upholders' Company

On Wednesday the Upholders held their Installation Court and Banquet at the Hall.  The Hall, I believe, is a frequent choice by the Upholders for this key event in their Company year. This year they were kind enough to invite both myself and Alastair Ross, the Clerk, to be guests at the banquet..

Upholder is an archaic term for upholsterer and the Company has for centuries been closely involved with the furnishing trade.  Initially of course maintaining the guild monopoly in London and later more generally supporting the trade both inside and outside the City.  For more details go to http://www.upholder.co.uk/  

Additionally the Upholders are part of the informal Liveries Wood Group that carries out joint projects with the Carpenters, Furniture Makers, Joiners and Ceilers and Turners.  For more details go to http://www.branching-out.co.uk/

It was most stimulating talking to members of the Company in the Hall.  Many of them are eminent and leading personalities in the furnishing industry.  Their reaction to the furnishings and decoration of the Hall was very interesting and most informative.  It was also flattering to be told on a number of occasions how well the Hall was maintained.

The newly elected Master, James Kelly, and the Wardens made us most welcome and we had a most enjoyable dinner.  As I entered the Livery Hall I found a copy of Featherbedds and Flock Bedds, the Early History of the Worshipful Company of Upholders of the City of London by JF Houston at my place.  I have only had time to glance at it but it is clearly a well written and informative history, featherbedding takes on a sterner meaning.. 

One of those evenings where I was well looked after and learnt a little more about the furnishings of the Hall.  But equally importantly I was yet again as Master to hear the considerable admiration for the excellent service our Beadle, John Freestone, Head Chef, Gerald Quadros and the rest of the Hall catering team provide.  On this particular night Jon Perkins, the Butler, led the event.

BROAD STREET WARD CLUB ANNUAL LUNCHEON: 29 NOVEMBER

Badge of the Broad Street Ward Club

The Company's Hall is located in Broad Street Ward.  This is one of the twenty-five administrative sub-divisions of the City of London that have existed since medieval times. In common with all City wards squeezed into the 'square mile' it is a small area.  The Hall and the Company's Throgmorton Street, Austin Friars, Drapers' Gardens site is situated in the south-west corner of the ward.  Although I may be wrong, as one never knows the full complexity of City landownership, I am fairly certain that the Company's freehold is the biggest in the ward.

Each ward has a Ward Club that brings together people who work in the ward.  Broad Street almost certainly has no permanent residents.  The only people who regularly spend a night in the ward are the various security staff in the offices and myself in the Master's flat perched under the eaves of the Hall.  Details of the Ward Club are at www.broadstreetwardclub.org/ but at the time I posted this it states it is under construction.

I was invited to the Annual Luncheon of the Ward Club on Monday 29 November. It was held in the Guildhall Crypt.  In a City where there are so many interesting and historic spaces to meet the Crypt has a special atmosphere. 


One of the two principal rooms of the Guildhall Crypt

The Club entertained us very well and Elizabeth McMahon, the Chairman of the Ward Club kindly mentioned the Drapers, Carpenters and Furniture Makers, the three Companies who have Halls in the Ward playing an essential part in the life of the area.