Court & Livery Dinner Watermen's Hall
Our Court & Livery Dinner on 30 January 2018 was held in the delightful setting of Watermen's Hall, with 52 present. Our guests were impressed by the Bowyers' unaccompanied renditions of the Sung Grace and National Anthem, and the lively musical spirit of the evening was heightened by the Champagne Swing Jazz Quartet, performing after dinner the much-enjoyed music of Django Reinhardt and Stééphane Grappelli, from Sweet Georgia Brown to Minor Swing.
Our toast to the Guests was eloquently proposed by Nigel Heilpern, and the response came from our principal guest of the evening, Lt Col Mark Jackson OBE, High Master of the Worcester Clothiers' Company, resplendent in his Clothiers' livery of wine-coloured waistcoat and tie. He reminded us that most of the cities of medieval England had their own trade guilds going back to the 13th and 14th centuries, a number of which are still active, including his in Worcester. Col Jackson also noted that we have in common an affiliation with the Mercian Regiment, whose antecedent Worcester Regimental Museum is supported by the Clothiers.
In the final speech of the evening the Master greatly welcomed the insight into the medieval trade guilds of other English cities, and noted from his researches that there had been a few other bowyers' guilds, most notably in Bristol and Chester, but that they had died out or been absorbed, and the Bowyers' Company in London is the only one to have survived in its own right to the present day.
Reporting on the membership ceremonies carried out at the preceding Court meeting, the Master congratulated new Court Assistant Nigel Heilpern, newly clothed Liverymen Richard Bowyer and Aarif Kassam, and newly admitted Freemen of the Company Oliver Bolton and Dr Phillip Barnes.
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