The Master outlined her busy year of activities to date, and celebrated the fundraising at the Red Cross Stall before Christmas. The Race Day event, scheduled for 2^nd May, is taking shape, and all members of the Livery are enthusiastically invited to attend what should be a great fundraiser for both the Spinal Injuries Association and the Livery.

Honoured guests of the Master included Prime Warden of the Fishmongers, Mr Thomas Boyd, Master Glover, Mr Keith Ebsworth, City Sheriff Wendy Mead, Alderman and Sheriff, Alan Yarrow and the personal guest of the Master, Captain Sir Norman Lloyd-Edwards KVCO. Assistant Bill Gammell proposed the toast to the health of the guests, and informed us that Sheriff Alan Yarrow is a senior and highly respected banker in the City, holding senior appointments at the highest level, is responsible for the smooth running of the Central Criminal Court, and supports several charities including being a governor of City of London’s Freeman School, and he is also, of course, the husband of our Assistant, Gilly Yarrow. Sheriff Wendy Mead is well known for her campaign to Save Bart’s, a Board member of Barbican Centre, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and City Bridge Trust and a past Chairman of Epping Forest and Commons Committee.  She conducts significant charity work, including Chairman of Housing the Homeless Central Fund.

In the response by Sheriff Yarrow, he outlined some pleasant duties enjoyed, including attending the Sheriff’s Bravery Awards, honouring people who go above and beyond the call of duty. Wendy Mead spoke interestingly about the increase in the number of Public Open Spaces in the City, Finsbury Square being reputedly the oldest, some of the highest being in new City office roof gardens, and finally, the deconsecrated Bunhill Fields in Finsbury, resting place of John Bunyan, William Blake and Daniel Defoe.

Sir Norman regaled guests amusingly – “My job is to talk, yours is to listen - hopefully I shall finish mine before you finish yours”. He gave us stories from his days in a minesweeper, and continued so amusingly that he captivated his audience, so we thank you, Sir Norman, for your eloquent entertainment.

We welcomed honorary Liveryman, Captain Steve Moorhouse RN, who gave an enthusiastic rundown of the planned sea trials after refit and likely deployment of HMS Lancaster in late 2012; we take confidence the ship is in the hands of an expert, and look forward to visits to the ship in the near future.

We thank the Worshipful Company of Cutlers for the use of their fine Hall, (apparently the fifth “Cutlers’ Hall”, which survived despite extensive damage during WW2) and their delicious beef and fine wines. We hope to revisit in the future.

Simon Wood

Eda Rose-Lawson, Master Feltmaker presents the tricorn hat to the Lord Mayor

The first time the Lord Mayor wears the Tricorn is during the Silent Ceremony held in the Guildhall on the Friday, the day before the Lord Mayor’s Show. During the ceremony of “appointment” the incoming Lord Mayor puts on his new hat and the outgoing Lord Mayor then removes his hat which had been presented to him the previous year by the Master of the Feltmakers’ Company.

The Lord Mayor wears the Tricorn during the Lord Mayor’s Show and can be seen waving it at the crowds and the floats as they pass by in the parade. The Worshipful Company of Feltmakers then formally present the Hat on the following Tuesday at a short ceremony at the Mansion House. This year the Master, Eda Rose-Lawson in presenting the hat gave a short speech congratulating the Lord Mayor, the Rt Hon Alderman David Wootton on his appointment and wished him well for his tenure of office.

The Lady Mayoress is also included in the presentation and she is given a Feltmakers’ hat pin. This year however many of you will have seen the Lady Mayoress wearing a coordinating hat and suit outfit during the Lord Mayor’s Show. The hat was designed by the Master and she personally gave the hat to the Lady Mayoress.

The Lord Mayor wears his hat, flanked by the Master, the Lady Mayoress and the Wardens

The hat is made by hand for our Company by Patey of London specifically for each Lord Mayor. It is a black Tricorn hat made from wool with black ostrich feathers.

Anthony Phillips

St Mary le Bow in Cheapside

The original church was built circa 1080. The great bell of Bow, referred to in the nursery rhyme ‘Oranges and Lemons’ is the bell that repeatedly summoned Dick Whittington to turn back to London in 1397, and become Lord Mayor. Each of the current bells carries an inscription from the Psalms. The first letter of each spells out the name D. Whittington.

Our service followed its traditional pattern of readings, interspersed with favourite carols and music from the organist, the choir and Suzanne Wilson, whose lovely soprano did great justice to ‘He Shall feed His Flock’ from Handel’s Messiah, and ‘Silent Night’. Our Clerk Jollyon Coombs, Liveryman Elaine Howard, Past Master Peter Keens, Assistant Sarah MacLeod, and the Master each, in turn, gave the readings very eloquently.

Bow bells being rung in 1850

Our Chaplain Colin Semper gave the address. He spoke of the current political and economic turmoil, and the climate of hardship now facing our Nation, and also of the ultimate mystery of Christmas; ‘The Word made Flesh’. Not just a delightful story, but a cataclysmic event that changed the world forever.

At the conclusion of the service, the congregation, which included many friends and family members, enjoyed an excellently prepared buffet supper, and drinks, in the crypt.

We are grateful to The Reverend George Bush, Rector of St. Mary-le-Bow, and his staff, to the soloists and choir, to the bell-ringers and to those who prepared and served the supper, for giving our Christmas such a wonderful start.

Judy George

The busy Feltmakers' stall

The biennial Christmas Fair at Guildhall is one of the major fund-raising events for the British Red Cross and the Feltmakers were there again in force this year. Thanks to the generosity of many milliners, retailers and individual donors, our stall was once again fully stocked with many wonderful hats.

The Master started working on the Fair as early as April, contacting nearly 40 milliners and retailers and asking for donations. Despite poor economic conditions, we had more willing donors than ever responding generously to the Master’s request. We received a superb and varied selection, including designer millinery, contemporary casual, vintage formal, felt, tweed, sinamay, waxed cotton and straw and just about every colour imaginable.

The Master and some of the Feltmaker team on the Monday evening

We had valuable assistance from Past Master Susan Wood, who stored many hats at her home which had been delivered from Luton, and after collecting additional hats from many donors around London , she delivered them to Guildhall together with all the display equipment, on Sunday, in order to prepare the stand ready for the official opening the following evening. As with previous shows, she very generously transported the unsold hats together with the display equipment back to her home for storage after the fair in anticipation of the next event in two years time. John Horn, also gave great assistance by packing and transporting a great number of hats from the Luton area.

The stall was manned throughout by our energetic Master, ably supported by her husband George who was kept very busy counting all the money. The rest of the team included Past Master Geoffrey and Catherine Farr, Elaine Howard, Brian and Jackie Minnighan, their daughter Sarah and her partner Rob, Joyce Nash, Caroline Sinclair-Smith (wife of new Liveryman Colin Smith), Jane Way and Susan Wood.

The Master with her husband, George

Susan’s friend Philippa Blake-Roberts also came to help on Tuesday afternoon. We appreciated greatly the fellow Liverymen who called in to encourage us and in some cases to buy too! We expect to see some very smart hats at the Carol Service.

We were delighted to welcome the Lady Mayoress onto the stand on Preview Night and the Lord Mayor the following day. Lord Fellowes, who formally opened the show together with his wife, both came to speak to the Master and we had a very steady flow of customers over the two days of the Fair.

We are still awaiting confirmation of the final figure, but we certainly raised over £4,000, net of expenses, which exceeded our result of two years ago.

The Master and some of the team on day 2.

All in all, it was a lot of fun and a great result for a very good cause. We will do it again in 2013 and please let the Master or Susan know if you would like to be part of the team.