MONITOR
Clerk’s Letter
Photo: Chris Histed
For ladies, strictly long or cocktail dresses
should be worn and of course colour and
variety being de rigueur.
The Rose Water Ceremony at the New Freemen’s
Dinner
B
eing a modern Livery Company is
something very special and the New
Freemen’s Dinner always brings this
into sharp focus. The heady mix of vibrancy
and growth with the heritage and traditions
of the City create an atmosphere that is
memorable. One of the purposes of the
dinner is to teach the correct etiquette and I
thought that it may be worth covering some
of these points in this letter…
Firstly, the dress code ‘Black Tie’ means, for
men, strictly black and white only so that we
all look the same, unless you’re in the Armed
Forces. Wild waistcoats are discouraged.
The expectation is that all electronic
devices will be turned off – if this rule is
broken I encourage a donation to our WCIT
Charity to make up for the faux pas!
You should not network or leave the room
during the meal, sometimes there will be a
comfort break after the loyal toast. If you
wish to swap business cards or catch up with
a colleague there is usually an opportunity
for this at the end of the event.
There are four major elements of the
ceremonial at major City events:
Rose Water Ceremony
Sung Grace
The Loving Cup
Formal Toasts
You will always see some, or all, of these at
Livery lunches and dinners.
The Rose Water Ceremony is a medieval
nicety that is meant to promote cleanliness
and health. The singing of Grace harks back
to the most ancient roots of Livery
Companies being fellowship organisations
Contact Us:
Email:
Clerk: [email protected]
Assistant Clerk: [email protected]
Financial Controller: [email protected]
Events & Catering: [email protected]
WCIT Charity: [email protected]
Beadle & Hallkeeper: [email protected]
that worshipped together as communities.
Finally, the Loving Cup is the first incidence
of Health and Safety regulations in function
rooms! The number of toasts varies but is
rarely below three, it is not unusual to have
six or seven toasts at a major banquet.
Some are confused regarding the traditions
around the loyal toast; it is the custom that at
City events glasses should be left on the table
until the toast is actually spoken. If musical
accompaniment is available the National
Anthem may be sung - this can be confusing
as it is sung for the loyal toast but not for the
toast to the Royal Family.
For example, when the Master says “The
Queen” you all stand, the National Anthem is
played and everyone sings the first verse.
The Master then repeats “The Queen” and
then glasses raised for the response, which is
“The Queen”. The second toast is to the
Royal Family, we do not sing while the first
six bars of the national anthem are played.
Finally the best advice is - if in doubt ask the
Clerk or Beadle!
Contributed by Mike Jenkins, Clerk
NOTICES
Our Thanks to Our Sponsors:
We are grateful to our sponsors who play an important and welcome role
in helping our Livery Company thrive. We wish to thank Investec for
sponsoring our 2014 Business Lunches and Enterprise Awards.
Website: www.wcit.org.uk
(this has an extensive membership-only part which we encourage all
members to use for internal communications)
We wish to thank BT for donating the communications infrastructure.
MVine for their pro bono development work on our website, Positive
Image Ltd. and Kulu Valley for communications, as well as the pro bono
public relations work for us by Whiteoaks PR Company.
…………………………
Phone: 020 7600 1992
Photographs within articles:
Twitter:@theitclivery
We would like to thank Gerald Sharp Photography for providing the
photographs of the 2014 New Freemen’s Dinner.
Anyone wishing to obtain these, plus many others, please visit:
www.sharpphoto.co.uk
Linked-In: Information Technologists Company
Postal Address: 39a Bartholomew Close, London EC1A 7JN
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