I extend warm Spring greetings to all and hope that everyone continues to be fit and well.

The month of April passed very quickly with continuing good news on the Covid-19 front. The NHS vaccination programme has moved on apace with 36 million people having received the first vaccination and some 18 million the second. This is a great achievement and the results are beginning to show with decreasing numbers of people catching the virus, being hospitalised and, sadly, losing their lives. The country is slowly beginning to return to some sort of normality, which we are all looking forward to.

Turning to other, non-Covid matters in April, the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was held in Windsor Castle. It was a wonderful event held on a beautifully sunny day and reflected the respect felt for the Duke of Edinburgh by the nation.

Two other important events in April that deserve mention, for very different reasons, are, the quashing of convictions of 39 former Postmasters by the Court of Appeal after "one of the UK's most widespread miscarriages of justice", and the short-lived European Football Super League disaster!

In the City, the Zoom meetings continue to take place on a regular basis, making our diaries fairly busy. However, I have heard several people saying that they are beginning to feel a bit "zoomed out" and are now ready to start meeting in person again. Hopefully this will happen in the very near future - plans are afoot in the Tylers and Bricklayers and many other Livery Companies.

I met with the Lord Mayor for a coffee morning, which was very convivial, and also attended several online events and tours, including a tour of Charles Dickens' City of London, a Jack the Ripper Tour and a tour of Goldsmiths' Hall and its wonderful treasures. There was also a fascinating and entertaining talk given by Alexandra Hayward, Sheriff's Consort, whose City of London career started as a Nurse at Barts’ Hospital in 1983, through to family life and living in the Old Bailey.

I continue to meet with the Wardens and Clerk on a regular basis to discuss Company business and make plans for the future. I attended meetings of the Communications Committee and the Almoner's Support Group and also interviewed  two new candidates for admission to the Company.

It is very pleasing to be able to report that we are now fully booked for the Masters' and Clerks' luncheon being held at Trinity House on Tuesday 22nd June. I am really looking forward to this opportunity for us to get together face to face after such a long time - the last T&B event we held "in reality" was the Craft Awards on 5th March 2020. So this is going to be a fantastic occasion for all of us and our guests.

It certainly feels like Spring is in the air now. We experienced some of the coldest days for many years earlier in February, with temperatures as low as -20C in some parts, but things have improved considerably over the past few days and Spring is definitely beginning to show its face, brilliant! And with the recent announcement by the Prime Minister about the ending of lockdown, we have plenty to look forward to.

The big news for this month was the fantastic progress that has been made with the vaccination programme. To date, over 20 million people have had their first vaccine, which is an incredible achievement. The Government has announced their intention to offer a first vaccine to every adult  by the end of July and it is this wonderful progress with the vaccination programme that has enabled the Prime Minister to outline the roadmap to end lockdown.

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister, there was a frantic scramble by everyone in the City to rearrange dates and venues for "live events" from July onwards. I am very pleased that our Learned Clerk, Heather Smith, was quick off the blocks and managed to get some key reservations for lunches, dinners and other events for the rest of my year. I am quite optimistic that we will be able to go ahead with these events, which should hopefully ensure that we are able to enjoy each other's company and good fellowship in the not too distant future.

To turn to the events in February, once again I have attended several excellent online events and T&B meetings, including the Craft Committee, the Communications Committee and the Finance Committee. We also held Common Hall virtually, another first for the Company, which was well attended and much appreciated by all those who were present. We extended the invitation to include Freemen this year, in accordance with the recommendations of the Strategic Review, another positive change. There was good feedback from all and a general feeling that more people contributed than usual and we saw a much wider cross section of Company members in attendance than in the past. As a result of this success we have agreed to hold Common Hall virtually again next year to enable more people to participate. The dinner which normally follows Common Hall will be held on a separate day, giving all Liverymen and Freemen the opportunity to attend either one or both.

Other City events I attended included the Lord Mayor's Gresham Lecture, Building Back better - The City's Role in a Green-Led Economic Recovery, in which Mark Carney and other experts gave their views, and a talk hosted by the  Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners on Reopening Business Premises Safely and Sustainably, both fascinating and thought provoking sessions. I also attended a wonderful tour of Leadenhall Market given by Peter Cave, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers

and a fascinating tour of the Clockmakers' Museum given by Curator Anna Rolls. Both tours gave us a fascinating insight into these wonderful gems in the City.

I extend warm Spring greetings to all. It is hard to believe that we are already in April - the months seem to pass so quickly despite us all being in lockdown with continued limited activities at our disposal. However the good news is that the Prime Minister's path out of lockdown continues apace, with no adverse changes being announced so far. This, of course, reflects the fantastic progress being made with the vaccination programme. At the latest count, 31 million people in the UK have received their first vaccination and 5.5 million people have received their second vaccination, and most importantly, the numbers of people catching Covid 19 and being hospitalised continues to decrease. This is a fantastic achievement by the NHS, for which we are all immensely grateful.

The first phase of the easing of lockdown commenced in early March with all schools and colleges reopening, weddings being allowed with up to 6 people attending, and a slight easing of restrictions on visits to care homes. And at the end of March, the stay-at-home rule ended and people were allowed to meet outside in groups of up to 6. Everybody is now looking forward to Stage 2 which will hopefully commence on 12th April, with all shops being allowed to open, including hairdressers at long last. Things are certainly looking brighter for the Spring and Summer, let's keep our fingers crossed that we keep making progress with the vaccinations and the consequent reductions in the numbers of people being infected by the virus.

March has been another relatively busy month - it was Census day on the 21st March, when everyone had to complete the online census for the first time. Also, we had the second hottest March day on record, with temperatures reaching 24.5°C on 30th March.
I continue to meet with the Wardens and Clerk on a regular basis to discuss Company business and make plans for the future. There was a meeting of the Court of Assistants in early March, via Zoom, at which many items of business were covered, including the election of Officers for the next year 2021/2022.

I am happy to report the Officers elected were:
Master: Simon Martin
Upper Warden: Prof. John Schofield
Renter Warden: Christopher Causer
Renter Warden in Nomination: Mrs Jenny Rolls

Hearty congratulations and best wishes were extended to them all by the Court.
We also admitted a new Freemen to the Company, Mrs Charlotte Pienaar, who is the daughter of Liveryman Ian Wilson. Charlotte swore the Oath and was warmly welcomed to the Company by everyone.

The court meeting was followed by an interesting talk given by Sean Wilkins, Technical Manager at the Brick Development Association, entitled Build Back Better (in Brick), in which Sean took us through the contribution that good quality bricks have made to the City of London and the world as a whole, displaying some wonderful examples of master craftsman brickwork as shown below. Sean's talk was fascinating and much appreciated by the many Liverymen who took part.

Odder Cemetery Chapel at dusk

I also attended a meeting of the recently established Events Support Group at which we discussed plans for the events for the rest of my year as well as making plans for Simon Martin's events for his year as Master.

In the City I attended several talks, including the "True and Fair" lecture given by the Chartered Accountants' Company and a Fire Service lecture given by the Worshipful Company of Firefighters. There was also a fascinating talk about the life of Samuel Pepys and a seminar on the Future of Transport by the Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners.

These were followed by a lecture about the Royal Exchange, and a hilarious talk entitled Dying Laughing, given by a Former Commander of the Metropolitan Police and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals. All very interesting and illuminating as usual.

I am delighted to announce the wonderful news that one of our own Liveryman, Roger Booth, has had a book published. It is his first book, entitled Promised Land, and, although based on historical fact, is a novel.

The novel opens in Burdigala (Bordeaux) in the early fifth century AD, soon after the Emperor Honorius withdraws the legions from Britain. When under Alaric the Visigoths captured Rome they took as hostage the Princess Galla Placidia, half-sister to the Emperor, who has travelled with them ever since. There begins a relationship between Galla Placidia and the new Goth king Athaulf which is an ambiguous mix of personal attraction, political calculation and genuine idealism culminating in marriage and the birth of a son. They hope that their union and in time their son will lead the Western Roman Empire out of the developing chaos. They might have changed the course of history. Except that history is not so easily changed.

Promised Land is available in paperback from Amazon and as an e-book from Kindle. Congratulations to Roger on his first published novel.

I begin by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. I hope and pray that 2021 will see a turnaround that enables us to start getting together to enjoy once more the great things that our wonderful City of London has to offer.

The year commenced in great style with our new Clerk, Heather Smith, taking up her position. A huge welcome to Heather who has already got her feet well under the table, having organised and planned a few events and having already met up virtually with several Liverymen. We all look forward to working with Heather to continue the great work of our previous Clerk, John Brooks.

January brought the roll out of the major vaccination programme, including the approval of a third vaccine, the Moderna Vaccine. To date some  8 million people have been vaccinated, which is fantastic news for the country. Unfortunately, despite the vaccine programme, the PM had to implement a third lock down from early January, which meant closing down all non-essential shops including restaurants and bars and hairdressers. There was a feeling of déjà vu that swept the nation, but I am glad to say that the vast majority of people simply got on with their lives in lockdown once again.

January is generally a quiet month in terms of T&B business, but this year it was a bit different with a number of virtual events to attend.   The year started brilliantly with our virtual cheese tasting event hosted by Cheesemonger of the Year, Andy Swinscoe. Andy took us expertly through the six wonderful farm crafted cheeses that had been delivered to our doors and gave us a great insight into each cheese and its provenance. We have some fantastic small farms making the best cheeses in the UK and we certainly appreciated them all. It was equally wonderful to enjoy the wines that had been recommended to us by our Wine Chairman, Past Master Philip Parris. A great event.

I also attended several virtual meetings with the Clerk, Upper Warden and Renter Warden and the annual meeting of the  Nominations Committee where we considered future appointments to the Court and Committees.

In terms of City functions, there were several very interesting events which I attended.  There was an incredibly interesting virtual tour of Spitalfields given by  Blue Badge Guide Katie Wignall who took us through the history of this amazing place, from splendid opulence to squalor and then on to street art and today's million pound residences. The area has a fascinating history which was superbly illustrated by Katie.

Another really interesting event was a virtual tour of the Wren Churches in the City given by Lance Whitehouse, Clerk to the Worshipful Company of Bakers. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Christopher Wren was instructed to design and rebuild 51 churches in the city. He was later knighted and became the architect who, more than any other, left his mark on the city in a way that has survived more than three centuries.

I also attended a virtual meeting hosted by the Lord Mayor at which we heard several interesting talks on the current position of Livery Halls given by Col. Richard Winstanley OBE,  Clerk to the Worshipful Company of Drapers; how catering companies are currently managing in the City, given by Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Cooks,  Mark Grove; and how Information Technology is enabling us to  communicate during lockdown, by Alan Simpson of the Information Technologists Company.  Other events I attended included a virtual City Walk, an informative talk on the Treasures and Coat of Arms of the Chartered Accountants' Company and a Climate Action Strategy Livery Seminar arranged by the City Corporation, all very interesting indeed and helping to keep us all connected during these difficult times.