The lunch was deliciously catered by Mark Grove and his team at Cook & Butler and we cracked along at a goodly pace. Our guests were admirably introduced by Liveryman Fran Morrison and our Principal Guest, Tim Wonnacott gave a generous and very humorous reply to which I responded initially by drenching poor Tim in a glass of water- he was very kind about it( sorry Tim!). I was very pleased to show off the newly found Livery Grant of Arms and Letters Patent which have been missing for many years- our Clerk tenaciously sought them out, and the new Immediate Past Master, Chris Allen, and his IPM, Mark Gower-Smith have funded a beautiful representation and they are now resplendent in frames carved with tobacco leaves( or close to); Sandra also located a huge banner not seen since 1985 and Angus Menzies, Clerk to the Master Mariners and never shy of a challenge saw to it that it was displayed on the Quarterdeck.
The Membership Committee
The Membership Committee has been working on a number of initiatives to keep the flow of new members who wish to join the Livery at a steady pace. Central to this is encouraging current members to bring potential recruits to our quarterly drinks evenings.
We try to find new and interesting venues for the Smoking Club, the past 3 have been in the Hippodrome in the West End, JJ Fox in St James with the Nicaraguan Ambassador in attendance and The Boot and Flogger in Southwark. Attendances have been between 20 and 30 people and we really want to see if we can increase the numbers of recruits over the coming 12 months.
Whilst all this was going on, apparently biblicalstyle downpours were being had all over London- oblivious to all that drama we ended our lunch and trooped back to the quarterdeck where Coffee, Cigars, and Cognac awaited us( I did mention that our Livery enjoyed dining on the High C’ s..) and which seemed to hit the mark – Liveryman Jemma Freeman had kindly provided the torpedo cigars and had had them placed in souvenir tubes with our Crest emblazoned on it. Several of us also sported On a limited September edition 17th Livery, we will Smoking be visiting hat- originally the Tower of conceived London as for a drinks sort of shooting the Warder hat,’ it s Bar serves, a tour its of the purpose Tower so and well to as witness a“ team the” hat changing, that of of the the twenty keys ceremony ordered, but. We one hope remained to attract by the a big close crowd of the to this day one! 40 Thank +, so you would to the appreciate Master Mariners all your help for allowing attending us the and use of bringing the venue guests, to. Tim Details for being will be a perfect published Principal
early Guest July, and. for everyone attending and giving my year such a special start.
Assistant Tony Scanlan Chairman of the Membership Committee
The Master
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