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As Master I was a guest of the Worshipful Livery Company of Wales on Saturday, attending the Installation Service in St John’s in the centre of Cardiff and then the Installation banquet at the City Hall.  I am a liveryman of the Livery Company of Wales.  It was a fine event in an ancient church and a magnificent City Hall.  Marj and I used to go dancing there on Saturdays so it was a trip down memory lane as well.  I was very well received.  The Welsh Livery has developed a style of its own, which is to be expected and for which they should be congratulated.  A number of London Masters were present.

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On Monday I was down in the Central Criminal Courts as a guest of Sheriff Sir Paul Judge for lunch with the judges.  Having never been inside the Old Bailey for any reason, innocently or otherwise, I was intrigued by the invitation and had a most interesting day, including a couple of hours in Court No. 4 listening to the prosecuting counsel making his opening address in a murder trial.  I was most impressed with the care and clarity, to my mind, with the way in which the counsel presented his opening description of the case against the defendant.  The counsel made it clear that the the case would be gone through in great detail in the subsequent stages of the trial.  I was equally impressed with the amount of information that we all scatter world-wide when we use our mobile phones.  I was sitting on a bench in the well of the court, which is very small, with the judge sitting on high and the defendant directly opposite him, I never saw the defendant since I was so low down on my bench and could not see into the dock.  Not a day to be missed.

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Along with my bailiff I visited Ysgol y Gogarth today, Friday, to meet the head master and the Willmott-Dixon contract manager to discuss progress on the construction of Hafan Marj which is the outdoor activities room that will be dedicated to Marjorie.  The base slab has been laid as part of the school’s total redevelopment and the details of the building have been finalised so progress is being made.  The head and staff at Gogarth are very excited about Hafan Marj even though the whole school is being re-built under a £multi-million project.  The building is located in a well landscaped area, a short distance from the main building but will be fully equipped with data and power.  More later.

An appeal has gone out under my name for contributions to the publication fund for ‘Reflections on water’, please respond positively.

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Monday found me and the Fleet Warden involved in the election of the Lord Mayor for the ‘ensuing year’.  This year we have elected Fiona Woolf, only the second woman to be elected as Lord Mayor.  Our day began in Carpenters’ Hall for breakfast courtesy of Mark Grove and the Cook and Butler.  This was a great start to the day; as well as having an excellent breakfast it was good to be able to meet Masters, Wardens and Clerks of many Companies.  After gowning up in the Guildhall crypt, which was an event in itself, all hustle and bustle, the Masters processed in order of seniority, juniors first, to attend a service in St Lawrence Jury (in which the singing of the choir was magnificent) and then back to the Guildhall for the election.  The whole ceremony is managed in the greatest detail and was all over by 1.00pm.

Tuesday I was back in London with my bailiff to attend the Autumn Dinner of the Plaisterers’ company as the guests of the Master, De Bradshaw; this was another magnificent Livery evening.  Gosh it’s hard.

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September 25^th found us at the Armourers’ Hall for the Michaelmas Court and lunch.  The business of the Court was completed in good time and included discussions about my proposal that the Company looks for initiatives that will create opportunities for change.  I have re-established the Masters Committee which I trust will be a productive think tank in the years ahead.  We have got off to a flying start, see my full address at the lunch, which will be on the web site soon.  Our principal guest was Dr Rosalind Smith who just fascinated us with her review of John Snow’s life; it would be very good to have the chance to listen to her on another occasion.  I was very pleased that we raised £750 towards our Chaplain’s work on improving sanitation in Africa under www.toiletttwinning.org 

I will be writing to you all soon about our decision to publish ‘Reflections on water’ in hard copy as a recognition of the contribution that Nick Reeves made to the Company so I am taking this opportunity as well to tell to you that this book will ‘say’ a great deal about our Company too.  We will need several £000s so I do hope that I will get a willing and generous response.

In the evening I was pleased to attend the Plumbers’ Autumn Festival in Clothworkers’ Hall.  The event was a dinner to celebrate the contributions made by the lady partners of company members; it was a delightful evening which followed the general pattern of Livery celebrations, good food, good wine along with excellent company and entertainment.  We must be well prepared to render Laudi Spirituali at our banquet when we will be encouraged to sing in 4-part harmony so please have a look at the music.

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The days and weeks fly by.  On Thursday last week I was in London for the Modern Companies dinner along with Walbrook Warden Keith Tozzi.  It was a very pleasant and interesting evening in Armourers’ Hall where we will be for the Michaelmas Lunch on the 25th.  The evening was comprised of good company, good food and wine.  Alderman Fiona Woolf called for more support from the Livery companies in seeking business abroad.

Yesterday saw Company members and guests assemble at the Globe to see ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.  The performance was just wonderful, full of words, action and a confusing plot that all ends happily.  It tipped down with rain the entire afternoon but did not deter the actors one bit or spoil our enjoyment whilst sitting in the ‘Gentlemen’s Boxes’.

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The weekend in North Wales is over but there are still a few things that amaze me.  We ordered a hog for roasting that should have been enough for 100 people.  38 Water Conservators and some friends saw the whole thing off.  There was no cold pork left for me to enjoy on Sunday.  So be warned, Conservators can eat a lot.

An advanced party comprised of the Clerk, the Beadle and 2 Court Assistants along with their partners arrived on Thursday afternoon.  We had an excellent supper that evening which was prepared and served by my bailiff; I think that the Court should consider this ability as being a fundamental one for future bailiffs.

On Friday we were under the direction of the beadle and processed from the Town Hall to St Peter’s church by way of the old market square.  Everything went very well except that the church organist did not play the Welsh National Anthem as was programmed, before God Save the Queen.  All was clearly shown on the service.  Owain Glyndwr burnt Ruthin down in Sept. 1400 for a lot less, history was close to being repeated on Friday.

It rained on Friday afternoon but our procession was met by the Bishop of St Asaph, the Chairman of the County Council and the Mayor of Ruthin just before the heavens opened.  The service, which was led by Bishop Gregory, was thought provoking, memorable and enjoyable.  About 140 of us retired to Rossignol for tea where we were joined by the secretary of State for Wales.  In the meantime I had recorded an interview with BBC Wales for television and then a live radio interview for BBC Radio Wales.  The BBC television piece went world-wide, an excited friend telephone from Abu Dhabi.  I understand that a great many of the ladies wore hats and there were a great many, as tribute to Marj who most certainly would have had one on, so that was nice.

Friday evening saw us travel to Llanelidan which is a very small village at the head of the Vale of Clwyd.  There was a settlement here long before the Celts arrived and the site of the present church was the centre of a Celtic settlement which predated the Roman invasion, and was then an early monastic centre of the Celtic Church.  Most of the churches in the area are named after Celtic saints who were very active, many were Irish.  My colleague at RML, Andrew Sumner, is a member of the parochial church council and gave us a fascinating review of the history of the area and the church.  Andrew is a great grand-nephew of Archbishop Sumner of Canterbury so we were in good hands.  The present church has a great many historic features but what impressed both the Water Conservators and our guest lady harpist was the acoustics; she said she had never experienced better in a long career of public performance, one of the reasons that I wanted us to visit the church.  We then adjourned to the tiny pub which stands next door, the Leyland Arms, where we enjoyed a lamb hotpot and fine beers, another reason for the visit to Llanelidan.  Strangely enough the weather seemed to have improved a little when we left Llanelidan at about 10.30.

On Saturday morning we travelled over the Horseshoe pass through magnificent scenery and down into the Dee valley to arrive at Pontcysyllte, the world heritage site which is comprised of Telford’s aqueduct over the Dee valley.  We were met by a reconstituted Thomas Telford, a long standing associate of mine who is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers Historic Structures Group or something similar and an acknowledged expert on the construction of the aqueduct.  Looking up from ground level at the piers which support the cast iron trough was an impressive sight in itself.  The walk across the bridge is not for the faint-hearted.

After an afternoon of relaxation in the area the party re-assembled at Rossignol for a hog-roast supper which went down well, see above.  I think that everyone enjoyed the visit, the landscape the special events the food and our environment.

I will be back at Pontcysyllte for a visit by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers on Tuesday.  I will be wearing my badge of office.