The Installation Dinner was held on Friday 5^th October at Haberdashers Hall immediately following the Court Meeting at which Geoffrey Vero was installed as our Master.

Master and Wardens receive Liverymen and guests

Assistant Simon Wilkinson welcomed all the guests including the Master’s principal guest, Jonty Driver, four visiting Masters from the Haberdashers, Tallow Chandlers, Woolmen and Watermen and Lightermen and the Upper Bailiff of the Weavers.

In proposing the toast of the Master and the Company, Jonty Driver, a former Headmaster of Berkhamstead School and Wellington College, and now an acclaimed novelist and poet,

Jonty Driver

The Master, in a thoughtful and entertaining speech, explained the significance for him and his family of his election as Master, being the first Vero in eight generations to reach that position.

The Master

Before the main part of his address, the Master had paid a moving tribute to his immediate predecessor, Derek Bonham whom our Chaplain, Colin Semper, had also remembered in Grace. Quiet and unassuming, yet a man of great eminence in his chosen field of finance and commerce, he had been determined to serve the Company in his year as Master to the fullest extent possible despite his illness. In a seemingly unplanned intervention at the end of the Master’s address, the Master Haberdasher rose to his feet to say how immensely gentlemanly Derek had been during a meeting he had had with him with regard to their charitable donations. He hoped that their lunch would become an annual event between the Masters of our two Companies.

A truly worthwhile legacy of Derek’s Mastership.

The courtyard of Haberdashers' Hall

Edward Hutton