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THE SALAMANDER | JULY 2017
The Clerk’s Musings
The Master and the Company have been involved in many events throughout the year celebrating the 350th Anniversary of the Great Fire of London of 1666, There has even been a new musical piece written to commemorate the great fire. The Master was privileged to hear its debut, and I have a copy of this if any member wishes to hear it.
Our own Fire Lecture departed from its normal format to allow a playlet to be presented, as well as the other joint venture with the Bakers of the full play at a wonderful Dinner at the Bakers that was enjoyed by all.
The Lecture’s success this year as well as those of the previous years was down to the hard work and dedication of Past Master Alan Wells, who has seen his brain-child grow into a major contributor not only to the City’s annual Calendar but also to our own Charitable Trust. Hehasdecidedthatitistimeforhimtorelinquish the reins and enjoy a well-deserved rest from this task. The Company owe him a great deal of gratitude and I am sure we all wish him well. The Fire Lecture will be taking place again this year on October 4th (please book early for your tickets via myself), under new management led by a team of members by Graham Maltby, and I am sure that this will continue PM Alan’s good work.
Speaking of changes, the Annual Ball has also been revamped, and will this year be in the form of a Friday / Saturday golf break outside of London at a 4* hotel, and again after many years of successful stewardship, PM’s Vivian Jones and Bryan Spearman have handed on the baton to Court Assistant Jon Hall.
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The onerous task of organising our presence at the Lord Mayor’s Show has also been passed on very successfully to Court Assistant Richard Bratton, after many years by PM Peter Cowland, but only after his final swansong as the organiser for the joint float at last year’s show for the Bakers and the Firefighters.
This year’s major dinners were all successful, with the Installation Banquet being held at the Insurance Hall, with 100+ members and guests dining, and the Massey Shaw at the Honourable Artillery Company in City Road. The Dinner for Liverymen was again oversubscribed and continues to be a great favourite amongst the Liverymen of the Company, and thanks must go to our Constable Tony Skinner for all his hard work in organising this.
Other notable events during the year were the visit to the St. Bride’s Church/London Gin Factory/Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (or as I like to call it the Saints and Sinners event), Common Hall, the Annual Carol Service, the visit to Gatwick Airport and Fire Station, the Thames River Police Museum at Wapping, and my thanks go to all those who organised these on behalf of the Company.
Your Events team have a varied social calendar lined up for this year, so please make every effort to support them, in their endeavours to promote one of our core objective Fellowship. Other Committees such as the Education and Training and Public Relations and Marketing, have also been very hard working behind the scenes to further promote the Company and some exciting developments will be announced in the near future.
I would also like to thank the team that support me, the Beadle, the Sentinels and of course my Assistant Clerk, who have helped me enormously. May I, as always, sign off with the following words: It is a HONOUR to be of SERVICE to you, I thank you for your FELLOWSHIP, and look forward to another year of HARMONY working with you all.
Steve Tamcken Clerk.
Worshipful Company of Firefighters