Master’s message July 2024

Good heavens, has another month really flown by? I have been so busy it seems that only yesterday I was writing my June message, but I am now already writing my final Master’s Message to you.

Life as the Master Coachmaker has not quietened down at all yet. I seem to be eating more dinners and lunches recently than I did at the beginning, but it is all nonetheless enjoyable. A dinner at the Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers was a magnificent meal followed the next day by a lunch with the Glovers’ Company which was sparky, most amusing and very enjoyable.

But I think the most emotive and exciting event this month was a visit by the Leathery Group of Liveries in which we are included as Harness Makers, to Capel Manor College near Enfield for its annual Leather Faculty Awards Day.

Those among you who were at my Installation Court Meeting and Dinner way back last September would have heard me say that the young people I really wanted to support were those who were born without a silver spoon in their mouth, in fact were not academic young people, but those who had other, extra but not academic skills and qualities.

Until our visit to Capel Manor I sadly felt that I had not achieved that ambition through no fault of anyone but myself. The Charity Committee has done sterling work at Kingston University and Imperial College, and that is a great achievement for the Livery, but they are both large and well established seats of learning. However, Capel Manor College is a relative newcomer but in recent years it has grown exponentially, and the number of young people it is helping is ever-growing. These are young non-academic people who are learning so many subjects: Agriculture, Animal Management, Arboriculture and Forestry, Art and Design, Business and Digital Skills, Dog Grooming, Floristry and Event Styling, Foundation Learning, Garden and Landscape Design, Saddlery and Shoemaking, academic subjects such as English and Maths and many, many more. We Masters of the supporting Leather Liveries handed out prizes and certificates to proud winners about to set off on worthwhile careers, whilst their many colleagues cheered, all of them gaining skills to prepare them for life and work, carrying out the necessary jobs that our country needs to support its population.

There was also an exhibition of the students’ work; beautiful saddles and harness, stunning leather handbags, shoes and briefcases, artwork, paintings, wonderful flower arrangements. We also walked around the farm and the gardens; Capel has won its class at the Chelsea Flower Show three times, and plans to continue to do so. Our Canadian harness maker, Liveryman David Friedman was with us, as was Junior Warden Mark Broadbent, who is a true Master Coachmaker and will be our Master Coachmaker in three years’ time. David is one of, if not the leading manufacturer of leather horse harness (amongst other things) and is a keen supporter of the Company; he has also been a supporter of Capel Manor for many years. He had travelled from Toronto to be with us on the day, during which a meeting of the Leather Companies was held to discuss ways to help support Capel Manor more broadly. This is work in progress but more details will emerge in due course.

At the Summer Court on 11th July, I had the great pleasure of introducing our new Clerk, Lieutenant Colonel Craig Hallatt to the Court and those present at the dinner, and swearing him as our new Clerk, “disrobing” our beloved and much respected Clerk, Mark Leaning, who, I must add, remains, with the Assistant Clerk, Rachel, in post and in charge until 31st July when they will both hand in their quills for a well-earned, albeit short, rest.

I sincerely doubt that there is another person in the Livery with the same appreciation and accumulation of knowledge about our own Livery, the Livery movement, the City‘s regulations, oddities and peculiarities as Cdr Mark Leaning. I do not believe there are many, if any, Liverymen on the Court or beyond who know just how much devilish detail lies behind everything we do.

Mark and Rachel have worked like Trojans, booking venues, arranging meetings and dinners, engaging caterers and reserving halls, managing temporary staff and cadets, preparing meeting agenda, taking minutes, keeping records, ensuring that our dinners were run as smooth as silk and more successful than a Taylor Swift concert. They managed front of house, menus, place cards, seating plans. The list is endless, daunting and considerably more than most of us could imagine. Oh yes, and I forgot, there is also the tiny matter of organising the Master’s Programme! And guiding the Master around the City to this venue or that, suitably dressed and briefed.

Those who have already served as Master know how invaluable Mark and Rachel have been when it comes to delivering the role of Master confidently and well. We are but short lived conductors of this orchestra; brave indeed are those who disregard the Clerk, always standing in close support, one pace behind lest we stumble or slip!

My thanks and very best wishes to you both.

I hope you all have enjoyable summer holidays and look forward to saying a proper farewell to those who join us at the Election Court on 2nd September.

Thank you all for your kind support.