Coachlines - July 2022

28.07.22 The Clerk

Clerk’s notes August 2022

---

Picture above: The Player’s Cigarette Card commemorating Gregalach’s 1929 Grand National victory

The Clerk and the Assistant Clerk will be taking leave from 1st-22nd August 2022 and will therefore not be available to answer routine questions. However, should a matter of great importance to the Company arise during that period please telephone the Clerk and leave an answerphone message. The response may not be immediate but your message will be answered. For now we wish you all a very pleasant summer but please read on.

Coachmaker events

The Election Court to elect and install the new Master, Court and Committees for the ensuing year will take place at Tallow Chandlers’ Hall on Thursday 1st September 2022. Currently all the available places are taken and a reserve list is in operation. If you missed the available places and wish to join the reserve list please e-mail the Clerk at clerk@coachmakers.co.uk

Looking ahead into the new Livery Year, should you wish to know the dates of the main Livery dinners throughout the ensuing year, follow this link to the events page on the Coachmakers’ website: https://www.coachmakers.co.uk/events/

The Hampton Court Concours will take place over the weekend of 3rd- 4th September; should you wish to take part, follow this link: https://www.coachmakers.co.uk/join-the-coachmakers-display-at-the-hampton-court-concours/

Golf: If you enjoy meandering through the countryside following the erratic, and at times infuriating progress of a small white ball, on the 29th September the last inter-Livery golf competition of the year will be held at Tandridge GC where the Coachmakers share a day with the Leathersellers and Ironmongers. Should you wish to participate, contact Liveryman Alex Wrighton on: awrighton@norwood7.co.uk

City events

Jailed and Bailed (for the benefit of the Red Cross)

Although the installation of the next Master Coachmaker has yet to be determined by the democratic election that will be held on 1st September, the list of candidates is small. Notwithstanding, it is rumoured that the favourite to be the next Master Coachmaker may not be as innocent as he has portrayed himself and there is a rumour in the City of a potential incarceration in the Tower of London. Keep an eye on your inbox because if said rumour proves to be true, the individual concerned will be relying upon his brother and sister Liverymen to bail him out. All will be revealed in due course.

The Lord Mayor’s Election

The election to decide the next Lord Mayor will take place on 29th September at Guildhall; it is usual for Coachmakers taking part to join the Master after the event for lunch at Tallow Chandlers’ Hall for which a charge of circa £66 per person is made. Liverymen who were clothed before 31st May 2021 are eligible to vote in the election. Should you wish to attend the vote and join the Master for lunch thereafter please contact the Clerk at: clerk@coachmakers.co.uk

City News

The July edition of the Livery Briefing distributed by the City Livery Committee can be found here. It contains a plethora of City news including details of the forthcoming Feltmakers’ inter-Livery Tennis competition and the Sheriff’s Ball, both of which take place in September.

However, one of the most important announcements to the Coachmakers’ Company for some time is the result of the recent Shrieval Election during which Alderman Alastair King DL and Andrew Marsden were elected by Liverymen as Sheriffs of the City of London for 2022-2023; their speeches are available on the Livery Committee website: https://www.liverycommittee.org

This is particularly important to the Coachmakers because Alderman Alastair is also a Court Assistant of the Coachmakers’ Company and it is the first time for many years that a member of the Company will be a Sheriff of the City of London. This is a great honour and it is a tradition that Liverymen across the Livery Community contribute to the provision of a Shrieval Chain of Office. Should you wish to make a contribution to the provision of Alderman Alastair’s chain then please follow this link.

Similarly, if you know Andrew Marsden and would like to support him also, please follow this link.

The Sheriffs elect will both take office on 28th September at the Admission of Sheriffs at Guildhall in London.

The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) awards scholarship and apprenticeship funding of up to £18,000 to talented and aspiring craftspeople working in a broad range of traditional and contemporary skills, from farriery and thatching to jewellery design, glassblowing and millinery. The next application round is open until 15th August 2022 and the Trust is looking for more talented applicants – if you know someone who might qualify follow this link.

Northern frolics

A selection of photographs from the 2022 Brigantes’ Breakfast held at The Tower, Blackpool, on Thursday 30th June 2022 can be found at this link.

In the words of one of those present: 316 Liverymen and guests attended, including 21 current Masters, with more than 100 staying in Blackpool for either one or two nights. 71 Livery Companies were represented. The day commenced at 10.15 with the annual Brigantes’ Lecture, to an audience of more than 200. This year’s topic was ‘A History of Blackpool Comedy’, presented superbly by Johnny Ball – Freeman Actuary, Broadcaster, Mathematician and Entertainer. After the reception in Blackpool Tower’s Circus Ring, everyone moved to the famous Blackpool Tower Ballroom for lunch, followed by a magnificent show by Strictly Dancing Celebrities Erin Boag and Ian Waite. Finally, from 17.00, with glorious sunshine and cloudless skies, 223 Brigantians and guests took the Trip Up The Tower for spectacular views from the viewing gallery – west to the Isle of Man, south to the Welsh mountains, east to the Pennines and north to the Lake District.

Should this incite an enthusiasm for things “oop north”, the Brigantes AGM and Winter Gathering will be held in Bradford on Saturday 10th December, with an early evening supper at the Bradford Club followed by Bradford Cathedral’s Christmas Concert given by the Cathedral Choir accompanied by the Black Dyke Band. Details will be circulated in September.

In conclusion

I had thought to conclude by telling you about my late mate called Bracket but decided that it was a little too self-indulgent. Therefore I returned to my various volumes of nautical nonsense and unearthed this gem.

On 3rd August 1941 the first operational success by a Fighter Catapult Ship, HMS Maplin, occurred in mid-Atlantic when Lieutenant Robert William Hanmer Everett RNVR, launched in his Hurricane fighter (with the aid of some very large rockets strapped to his bum) and shot down a Focke Wulf 200 Kondor attacking Convoy SL 81 from Freetown, South Africa. The twist in the tail was that this particular method of providing air cover made no provision for the return journey and there was nowhere to land after the engagement. Therefore in order to return to his ship, Lt Everett had to bail out leaving the aircraft to the whims of gravity after which he was rescued from the sea by HMS Wanderer, another escort ship in the convoy.  For this action he was awarded the DSO but like so many others of his generation his pre-war story is equally, if not even more compelling.

Everett was born on 29th May 1901 in New South Wales, Australia, so at the time he entered the war he was not a young man by comparison to his fellow pilots. Also, he was a talented horseman because in 1929 he rode Gregalach in the Grand National at Aintree, winning by six lengths from Easter Hero. This race had the largest Grand National field ever and Everett was praised for his horsemanship over heavy ground. In 1934 he also won the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse, this time on a horse called Poolgowran.

In the early 1930s Everett had also become an amateur pilot and with his father, jointly owned a De Havilland Puss Moth which was a relatively high-performance aircraft of its day. In 1934, with another Australian called Jimmy Melrose, he entered the MacRobertson Air Race which ran from RAF Mildenhall to Melbourne in Australia, a distance of 11,300 miles. They completed the race in 120 flying hours and placed seventh out of 20 starters.

Everett’s previous flying experience clearly made him a shoo-in to the Fleet Air Arm when war broke out, particularly given his experience of flying over water. Unfortunately however, he died in a flying accident less than six months after winning his DSO when the Hurricane he was flying crashed on the beach at Llanddona, Anglesey, Wales. He is buried in St Dona’s Church, Llanddona.