Welcome ...
....to the latest edition of the Company Newsletter. There Is plenty in here covering the past few months up to and including the New Master’s Reception – or should that be workshop.
Lots of photos in this edition, but otherwise brief…! There is no "Get to Know" feature this time... next time!
Before we dive in, a brief reminder, aimed mainly at new Members, to follow us on LinkedIN, here.
New Admissions
There was an Admission Ceremony before the New Master’s Reception on 12th November. Two Junior Freemen were admitted: Charlotte Alder and Cedric Bridger.
Then three new Freemen: Amarjeet Hans, Jason Kwan, Jonathan Loretto.
Congratulations to them all and a warm welcome to the Company.
Master's Musings on Getting Stuff Done
New Master Malcolm McCaig has committed to keeping Members actively engaged in his campaign to “Get Stuff Done”, via a series of regular and brief “Bulletins”. Starting as he clearly means to go on, he has already communicated about his excellent Installation Dinner on 14th October at Painters' Hall. I will not therefore repeat too much other than to add that the Master managed to surprise just about everybody present by piping himself into the dinner wearing a kilt – see the photos. If that is not a first I don't know what is.
Everybody was welcomed to the dinner by a “carpet guard” of Sea Cadets from the Feltham unit, the local squadron that we support. The guest speaker was Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli who was, as ever, thought provoking and entertaining. A wonderful evening was had by all.
Our aim remains to share photos of this celebration with as many people as possible, but this is now likely to have to wait until the commissioning of our new website (Ed: see more on this below).
For now, here is a selection of photographs from the evening, all courtesy of Mark Fox.
Lady Mayor's Show
On Saturday 9th November a contingent of about 20 representatives of the Company marched in the Lady Mayor’s show. This included the Master, the First and Second Wardens and at least three Past Masters as well as several guests. The weather was kind, and the parade went off without a hitch. PM John Pulford’s son Tom once again carried our Gonfalon, and a returning (and very smiley) Simon Engwell carried, twirled and engaged the crowds with the Mace. The parade was preceded by breakfast at Plaisterers’ Hall organised, as ever, by our Clerk Julie, and there was lunch rest stop at The George, as is now traditional. (Ed: Julie tells me that she has already booked next year’s lunch). It was a privilege to march once again with the Sea Cadets and they all seemed to enjoy the occasion.
New Master's Reception / Workshop
12th November saw the first formal Company event since the Master’s Installation in October and it was the first Admissions Ceremony for several months owing to the summer break (as reported at the start of this issue). Malcolm hosted (and paid for) a reception after the Admissions Ceremony, helping our new members feel the warmth and fellowship that is one of the key pillars of WCoMC.
This was followed by a workshop for existing Members using 'round table sessions' over supper. About forty Members took part and the Master and Wardens deserve congratulations for pulling off the workshop successfully. The Master will update us on the outcomes of the workshop in one of his regular bulletins.
(Your Editor took the following away from the summation at the end: First, to implement a coherent “Buddy” system to support new joiners and second, agreement that we need more people getting more involved to “get stuff done”.)
Updating our website
The need to upgrade and update our website has been known for several years and at the Summer Court in June the Court agreed with PM Patrick Chapman’s business case and recommendations for the development of the Company’s systems. Funds have been set aside to cover the necessary development and external support needed.
In summary, there is an urgent need to progress the migration of the Company’s core CRM and Website systems to the latest versions, as the underlying operating system technology on which the systems are run is no longer supported. This poses significant risks, which needed to be addressed. Another important driver is to make the website more “mobile phone friendly” (and therefore more accessible) than it is now so we have taken the opportunity to 're-skin' a few pages. Moreover, we have accumulated some 12 years of content (about 1000 pages) and this needs some rationalisation and renovation once the migration has completed.
The project has been running for several weeks now with Dr Simon Davey acting as Project Manager for the core team of PM Patrick Chapman and new Member Jonathan Shepherd. The main technology changes are being carried out by our contractor, Circle Interactive. Others, (including your editor) will be involved in the content renovation project. Simon reports further: “Development is making good progress, and testing has identified several issues (as expected at this stage and they are being swiftly resolved). The biggest area of challenge is going to be addressing out of date content. This looks like being a major undertaking and will take place over a longer period during 2026. In the short term there will be a 'soft launch' of the new website in mid-December. The current website and database will continue to operate normally until Thursday 11th December and then be 'paused' (inactive for general use) until the relaunch on Tuesday 16th December and there will be regular focused updates by email ahead of any major changes. There is nothing you need to do — your existing logins and event bookings will remain unchanged.
Here is a sneak preview of the new home page to give flavour of the new look and feel."
Also, in the left margin, an example of how the same page will render on a mobile phone, with the blocks stacked.
Lady Mayor
Just room here to congratulate the Lady Mayor, Dame Susan Langley. It is worth remembering that Dame Susan was a Management Consultant early in her illustrious career - Price Waterhouse in the1990s. She was also guest speaker at PM John Corneille's Installation in 2018.
 © David Parry / PA
Readers may be interested in an interview with the Dame Susan from the Sunday Times.
And Finally ....
News reaches me of the newly installed Master of the Worshipful Company of Carmen. He looks familiar!
---000---
Thanks for reading this far.... and many thanks to all those who contributed articles and photos for this issue.
Steve Cant
Editor
|
