UNITED GUILDS' SERVICE ST PAULS: 1 APRIL

The nave of St Pauls looking towards the altar.

Following on from the Mansion House Dinner of the previous night the livery companies came together for the 69th Service of the United Guilds of the City of London.

As always there was a great turnout and the cathedral was packed.  The Masters and Wardens in their multicoloured robes and regalia of office, the scarlet robes of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, the ecclesiastical vestments of the clergy and a large number of other uniformed officials complemented the rich decoration of the nave.  The wives of masters sat in rows between the pews and the altar in a splendid variety of hats.

There was a good turn out of Drapers.  So many in fact that the pew allocated to the Company could not hold all those who wanted to come and some members of the Company ended up in seats at the back of the cathedral.

The Very Reverend John Hall, Dean of Westminster, gave the sermon.  Part of it included a consideration of John Donne.  This was the second time in as many weeks, see an earlier post on my visit to Hertford College, Oxford, where this most interesting man had been remembered.  The final stage of his extraordinary life was spent as Dean of St Pauls.  He died in post on 1 April 1631 so the service was on the anniversary of his death 280 years ago.

We then went back to the Hall for lunch where we entertained Gavin Ralston, one of the lay canons, and Andrew Carwood, the cathedral's director of music. 

It was also good to see Dr Bill Frankland present.  He is our oldest liveryman having passed his ninety-ninth birthday last month.  He is still working as a doctor and has led the most eventful life including being a Japanese prisoner of war and treating Saddam Hussein, but he is professionally reticent on the latter subject.  He is a role model for anyone a few decades younger who may be suffering from a temporary lack of vitality. 

HERTFORD COLLEGE JONNN DONNE DINNER: 18 MARCH

One of Oxford's archetypal views, the Bridge of Sighs that links the college buildings together. 

On Friday Willian Charnley, the Junior Warden, and I were guests of Hertford College for their John Donne Dinner.  Past Master Sir Nicholas Jackson Bt who is also an Honorary Fellow of the college was also present.  The dinner commemorates John Donne, the poet and much else, who was a student at Hart Hall, a predecessor of Hertford College between the ages of 11 and 14.

John Donne seemingly depicted in one of his less metaphysical and rather more sensuous moods. 

The dinner was preceded by a talk in the chapel on John Donne's The Good-Morrow.  We were taken through an explanation that was entirely in keeping with the metaphysical nature of the poem and the poet.  Also in the spirit of early seventeenth century enquiry and curiosity we were exposed to a huge number of references and influences contained in the poem.

Our minds having been given a thorough refreshment we went on to an excellent dinner.  It was amongst other things part of the farewell for Dr John Landers who is standing down as Principal.  He was one of our guests at the Education Dinner the previous evening.  In my talk I noted his departure with regret as he has helped sustain our links with the college most effectively.

Our links with Hertford go back over a century and date from the time when Past Master The Reverend Henry Boyd was Principal.  This was a post he held for forty five years from 1877 to 1922.  Today we support a Drapers' Company Research Fellow at the college, although currently because of an early departure of the last incumbent to study elsewhere, the post is vacant.

John Donne led a quite extraordinary life.  He managed to spend a significant amount of money on good living, travelled widely, went to prison and generally pursued a most precarious life.  He was a member of parliament and despite being a Catholic held various positions in the Church of England, eventually rising to be Dean of St Pauls. In addition, of course, he produced some of the most interesting and memorable poetry and prose in the English language.