43. Past Masters’ meeting 25 November

Water Conservators’ Past Masters meet regularly at the Guildhall to (try to) ensure the Company is not going to the dogs. The Master is invited to update them on recent events and future plans. The meeting concludes with a lunch which includes an invitation to the Master’s Lady.
Over lunch, informally, we discussed role of the consort and growing City awareness of the value of a second pair of hands. We also discussed how to extend fellowship in the Company. Thanks go to the Past Masters for their kind invitation.

42. The Lord Mayor’s Annual Address to the Livery Companies

Each year, the Lord Mayor sets out his views about cooperation with the Livery and, in particular, the beneficiaries of The Lord Mayor’s Appeal during his Mayoral Year.
In his Annual Address, Lord (Jeffrey) Mountevans set out his programme of visits and involvement in his Mayoral Year under the banner: Innovate here. Succeed anywhere.

He said that he had chosen two main beneficiaries for the 2016 Appeal: JDRF (curing type 1 diabetes) and the Sea Cadet movement.
JDRF is committed to eradicating type 1 diabetes and its effects, for everyone in the UK with type 1, and those at risk of developing it. The number of children and adults diagnosed with type 1 diabetes is on the increase, with the steepest rise in the under fives. There are currently 400,000 people in the UK with type 1 diabetes, over 29,000 of them are children.

The Sea Cadet Movement offers amazing, life-enhancing opportunities to young people from a variety of backgrounds. With the funds raised, the Appeal aims to replace two ageing 35ft yachts in the Sea Cadet fleet.

41. Baby Boomers and their Pensions

On the 17 November, the Worshipful Company of Actuaries Livery Lecture was presented by Baron Willetts of Havant, better known as David Willetts, MP for Havant during the last government. In his book The Pinch, he argued that “the baby boom of 1945-65 produced the biggest, richest generation that Britain has ever known.
 
“Today, at the peak of their power and wealth, baby boomers now run our country; by virtue of their sheer demographic power, they have fashioned the world around them in a way that meets all of their housing, healthcare and financial needs. The young people of today will be taxed more, work longer hours for less money, have lower social mobility and live in a degraded environment in order to pay for their parents' quality of life’”.

A census on arrival showed that over 90% of attendees were baby boomers and it looked like an interesting evening. However, there was a large measure of agreement and concern about what could and should be done to allow more fairness and justice for individuals in generations to come. Thanks go to the Master Actuary for looking after us in the Actuaries’ spiritual home, Staple Inn Hall.

40. The Lord Mayor’s Show – 800 years and still going strong

It rained a lot!

The Water Conservators’ Team, Wardens Keith and Mike, and I, together with the banner-bearer, Liveryman Simon, formed up in St Martin le Grand on 14 November. We waited longer than usual to start because the Show observed two minutes silence for those affected by the Paris atrocities. The fireworks at the end of the Show were replaced by tricolour illuminations.

Walking with about 20 Modern Livery Companies and about two-thirds down the pecking order has some merit – all the children are already equipped with whistles, hats, flags, sweets…. - but Mike had a kilo or two in his pocket for the extra hungry. The reception, from equally wet spectators, was warm and interested, and not to be missed. After passing the Lord Mayor and his party, we stop for lunch – kindly arranged by the Master Mariner on HQS Wellington. Then we’re off again, uphill, back to St Martin le Grand.

I like fire engines. Actually this one performed a key task of stopping us getting ahead of our station in City life. Our rear was protected by an enormous John Deere tractor – and true to form, those watching TV missed us as the commentator rushed to interview the tractor!
Thanks go to Firefighters’ Master and Company for organising our participation, doing a better job then the Water Conservators did in organising the weather. But Keith, Mike, Simon and I did our best.

39. Lady Barbara Lowry QC – A Service of Thanksgiving

Lady Lowry, better remembered as Barbara Calvert QC, joined our newly formed Company in July 1994 and passed away in July 2015. A Service of Thanksgiving was held on 13 November at the Temple Church to which the family invited friends and colleagues. In fact, Barbara had planned the event in advance with the same determination with which she had been an inspiration to women entering the legal profession. She set up her own chambers in 1974 to help those starting out, becoming the first female head of chambers.
Our connections with the family are mainly through consulting engineers John Taylor & Sons. John Calvert, Barbara’s first husband, became Partner in 1944, and Water Conservators Gwilym Roberts (Partner in 1956) and Past Master Nick Paul (in 1974) maintained close ties. Other Partners included the late Past Master Peter Banks.

She also left a note for her Memorial Service: “Finally have a really good celebration in Middle Temple Hall. Sorry for my unavoidable absence. Enjoy yourselves and thank you for all your love, care and kindness.”

38. The Silent Ceremony, and a new Lord Mayor

Anybody can attend the Silent Ceremony at the Guildhall. Dating back for hundreds of years, Aldermen, City Officers, Liverymen and visitors watched the changeover (in silence, apart from the Oath of Office). The outgoing Lord Mayor, Alan Yarrow, then moved to his left and beckoned the incoming Lord Mayor, Lord Mountevans, to his seat. He donned his tricorn hat at the moment Alan Yarrow removed his, symbolising the official transfer of the Mayoralty.

This is not me taking a ‘selfie’ at the Guildhall but my adopted compatriot, Kim Chang-mo, Minister, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea. South Korea's President Park Geun-Hye is an Honorary Freeman of the City and close links have been established. Murray Craig, Clerk of the Chamberlain's Court, asked me to explain the proceedings to Chang-mo and invited both of us to his soirée later.

Quite an eclectic group heard Murray explain the history of the Ceremony and Freedom and show items in his office relevant to each guest. In our case, of course, he looks after our Royal Charter.

37. Professor Carolyn Roberts – the Next Big UK Flood: Britain Underwater

This was the second lecture in the series given by Water Conservator Carolyn Roberts for Gresham
College, held on 12 November. The evidence for major flooding: sea, surface and ground water was sobering, and made her previous lecture A Body in the River look light-hearted. Modern techniques provide the basis for a rational assessment of flood risk, but the results are highly dependent on uncertain future temperature rises. The more rapid the change, the higher the impact.

In recent reviews by the World Economic Forum, flooding remains one of the world’s largest problems, and appears near the top of global economic risks. Some strategies were outlined – from do nothing because in the medium term actions will be overtaken by weather events, or try to construct your way out of the problem. This is difficult because flood defences are only as strong as the weakest point. More details at:
 http://www.gresham.ac.uk/frank-jackson-professor-of-the-environment