Arriving soon: The Coachmaker – Our Livery Year 2023-24

For those who have kept your personal information up to date on our Company’s website, you may have already received the new publication, The Coachmaker – Our Livery Year 2023-2024 in the post, by the time you open this October Coachlines. If you couldn’t find it on your door mat, worry not, Royal Mail will get it to you eventually, as long as you have provided your current postal address in your member’s profile page (it’s always worth a double check if you ask me).

The reason I call it ‘new’ is because this is the first annual publication after the Court approved our proposal for change. So, what’s new? The biggest change you will notice as soon as you hold it in your hands is that it’s much lighter. That’s because we have done away with the entire Directory part of the publication. We have also omitted part of the Company ‘history’ related pages. This The Coachmaker – Our Livery Year is, as the name suggests, now focused on who we are, what we stand for today and what major events have taken place during the past Livery year.

Next spring, the Comms Committee will produce a separate booklet about our Coachmakers’ Company, in which you will have the overview of our 350-year history. This booklet will also be aimed at the wider readership among Livery communities and potential candidate members who wish to join our Company.

Another major change you will notice is that we have added the photos of all Court members on the Court structure pages. It’s the same ethos we have in mind when making this change as we launch the ‘Meet the Team’ feature in Coachlines. We want to bring the face behind each name to you, especially if you are new to the Company; we want you to know who the senior members are, and we encourage you to approach them to have a chat whenever you attend Livery functions. We are so blessed with a Court which contains such an incredibly vast amount of knowledge and experience.

Finally, you will notice the colour change on the front and back covers. We have decided to incorporate the colour scheme of the Coachmakers’ emblem and introduce both the blue and gold colour to reflect the Company ‘brand’. I hope you agree that the new colours look fresh and contemporary, and I hope that you enjoy reading about our Livery Year.