A book launch at Mansion House

On Monday I attended a book launch at Mansion House. The current Lord Mayor has a very strong interest in the built environment (not exactly surprising with a career spanning engineering, property development and regeneration) and this was the first of two very interesting evenings on this subject.

The book is The City of London, Architectural Tradition and Innovation in the Square Mile. This is a fabulous if somewhat weighty (physically that is) publication. Nicholas Kenyon (MD of the Barbican Centre) is the editor and the photographs are excellent. Despite the physical weight of the book it is a very easy read with lots of interesting snippets of information. It also covers all the major new buildings – although the new Rothschild’s building was still under construction when the book went to print.

I learned something about the Needlemakers’ home church, St James Garlickhithe, a Wren church, that is the tallest of the City churches and has the largest proportion of window area, a response to the buildings then blocking the south side.

This segues very neatly into my second visit to Mansion House on Tuesday for the third in a series of lectures initiated by the Lord Mayor on a range of urban issues, with a particular focus on London and the City. The first was on the development of London from a historical perspective; the second covered the current challenges and opportunities confronting cities, with particular reference to their growth. This final lecture focused on cities of the future what they might look like, how they will operate and what municipal and national leaders can do to ensure they evolve in a sustainable manner.

If the City is to remain a leading financial centre it needs to be vibrant and serve the needs of the businesses working there. Peter Rees, the City Planning Officer, spoke about the City of the 1980s where the only lunch to be found was usually liquid and the City was only alive during the day. I remember too that lunches were either in expensive restaurants (not open at night) a hideous snack in a pub or a sandwich and there was nowhere to buy a pair of tights! Those days are over and the City is alive at night and on weekends and you can shop for anything and eat food from almost anywhere in the world.

This is not only a response to the global market but also some enlightened attitudes to planning which have not constrained developers to keep reproducing versions of old buildings but attracted architects from all over the world with some stunning results. Buy the book to see the results!

Clearly the business community needs to be well served and transport is also a key issue. It was then rather depressing to descend into Bank station to go home. It is a maze that is badly sign-posted and exhausting to use. There is much being done to improve transport in and out of the City with increased buses (so slow with all the road works) Boris bikes (but not for me) and Crossrail – in my lifetime? At the moment the City is heaven above ground but the other place beneath.

The Master’s first engagement!

My year certainly started off in style. My first engagement was a wonderful dinner hosted by the Worshipful Company of Tinplate Workers alias Wire Workers at the magnificent Fishmongers Hall on the banks of the Thames with the entrance on London Bridge. You don’t get much more historic than that.

I love this Hall (it is where we had our installation dinner last year) especially because it is an opportunity to see the wonderfully romantic portrait of the Queen painted by Pietro Annigoni. I was a child when the portrait was painted and was struck by the fairytale quality of it. It captured a moment in time in the early years of her reign and although it portrayed Her Majesty in a romantic style, the expression on her face is serious and thoughtful and certainly an indication of her commitment to her role. It isn’t lent out to exhibitions so this was a rare opportunity to look at it.

I much enjoyed meeting the Master, Ian Chamberlain, and the Wardens and other guests. A very warm and friendly welcome. It was an excellent dinner with entertainment provided by the Tinplate Workers’ Piano Scholar at the Guildhall School of Music – who just happened to come from my old home town, Johannesburg.

The Company was founded within a few years of the Needlemakers and is 67 in the order of precedence. As we are 65 we usually bump into each other when all the Masters process (we line up in order of precedence). Of course, without wire we wouldn’t be able to make needles.

All the livery companies have websites as do the halls so it is worth looking at them for further information and you can certainly find reproductions of the portrait on line.

PS I won’t continue to refer to myself in the third person as in the headline but I quite enjoyed writing that!

A new chapter....

I feel rather pretentious putting up such a grand photo of myself on my profile but if the gown fits - well actually it is too long - but I am very proud to wear it.

I was admitted to the Needlemakers in 1987 - one of a very small number of women at that time. I remember my introduction to the Court (the managing committee) where it seemed that each member wanted to impress me with the strength of his handshake. This would have been fine if I had not been wearing a rather bulky ring so I was in some pain by the end. It was a mixture of a fairly intimidating and yet friendly meeting and as I now invest our new liverymen I have an understanding of how they must be feeling.

Thursday October 6, 2011 was a pretty historic day for me and something I shall remember and treasure and also for the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers as I was installed as the first woman to be Master since the company received its Charter from Oliver Cromwell in 1656. I believe that I may also be the first immigrant and the first person to have come from the Third Sector. Charity is at the heart of the livery companies today and all our past Masters have had a heavy involvement in a wide range of charities but we don't think anyone has been employed in the sector before.

I am of course deeply honoured and also chuffed to bits. The Needlemakers is known for being a very friendly and hospitable company and I have received nothing but friendship and warmth in the years I have been a liveryman.

For those not familiar with the Livery Companies of the City of London - they date back to the twelfth century and were trade/craft guilds which regulated activities within the City - traditionally the Square Mile - which subsequently developed into the financial district. There are over 100 companies today including some very new ones such as the World Traders and the Marketors with around 40,000 people belonging to them. Even though some of the old trades have ceased to exist the companies carry on and provide tens of millions of pounds worth of support to a wide range of charitable causes.

They have a language of their own - I no longer swear to be a good and true "brother" but the head honcho is still called the Master, not the Mistress. The Mistress is the woman married to the Master. So I put my feminist sentiments aside and embrace tradition. Number One Husband is known as my Consort (and had a super time at a lunch for Mistresses and Consorts at the Tallow Chandlers Hall where he was one of only a handful of men surrounded by delightful women - how tough is that?)

It is quite awe-inspiring and humbling to realise that you are part of something which goes back centuries. I was installed after a wonderful dinner at the beautiful Vintners Hall on October 6. The Clerk reads the Charge when I agree to do a good and honest job and then the robe goes on with the chain and I move and sit in the central chair. I was fairly relaxed until then - after all I have given many speeches and been seated at the top table of various events - but when I sat down and looked at all those faces looking at me and realised the historical chain of Masters leading up to this - I felt somewhat daunted.

Through this blog I will attempt to chronicle my year for members of the Livery but also for friends and those who are unfamiliar with the traditions and the work of the Company. Please come along for the ride.

Keep Aaron Cutting

Amidst all the vileness of the events of the last few days are some positive stories and the launch of “Keep Aaron Cutting” is one of these. You can find the details on http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/53039/appeal-keep-tottenham-barber-aaron-biber-cutting-after-riot-damage.
In brief an 89 year old barber who has run his barber shop in Tottenham over several decades turned up on Sunday to find it had been looted – even the kettle had been stolen. Some interns at a London advertising agency, BBH, wanted to show that both social media and young people can be a force for good and set up a campaign to raise money to refurbish the shop. The excess money will go to the community.
This story touched me and reminded me of how a barber played a very important role in my father’s life. My paternal grandfather died while my father was at university in South Africa studying medicine. The family had no money but all the six children were very musical and well taught. He took his classical talents and set up a jazz band and played in night clubs at night and studied during the day and put himself through medical school in this way – this by the way was during the 1930s.
Every two weeks (until he died) he would go to the barber for a haircut. The barber’s name was Nissel Burlin. He had a barber shop in the centre of Johannesburg and had come to South Africa as an immigrant. His wife had a shop next door called Bridal Fabrics and the material for my wedding dress came from there. The family went on to success in the fabric business running a large wholesale company but Nissel still cut hair in his barber shop.
When my father had to go to Edinburgh to qualify as a surgeon – this wasn’t possible in South Africa then. The journey both ways was by ship and he was going to be away several months. This was before the days of international phone calls or even airmail! He gave Nissel power of attorney to look after his affairs and in case anything should happen, because he trusted him, he was familiar with business which my grandmother wasn’t. He had saved a bit of money and was persuaded to play the stock market. Without really understanding the consequences he acted on a tip that a certain share was certain to fall in price and sold them short. (Short selling is the selling of a stock or share that the seller doesn't own. The broker lends it to you from their own inventory – within a time period you have to cover the shares, ie buy them in reality, and if the price drops you can buy them back at a lower price and make a profit on the difference.)
In this case the price did not drop but rose and the shares had to be bought at a higher price and the difference paid to the broker. My father did not have the money in his account – any spare cash he had went with him to Edinburgh to pay for his living expenses.
Nissel covered the shortfall and only told my father when he returned some months later. My father was horrified and Nissel told him not to worry- “Doctor I think you are a good investment”. Of course the money was repaid in full and they remained firm friends until my father’s death in 1968. I am forever grateful to Nissel’s son Percy who has looked after my father’s grave in Johannesburg in our absence.
So Aaron – it is payback time and my donation to the campaign to keep you cutting is in memory of Nissel and my father.

Flying free or freefall?

It is almost a month since I separated from the "mother ship". I haven't really experienced what it is like not to work full time as I departed for a couple of glorious weeks in Los Angeles staying with my sister and family two days after leaving Breast Cancer Campaign. Los Angeles is quite a surreal environment coming from rainy London (the sun always shines in Southern California....) and the only hint that life had changed forever was that there were so few emails and I risked leaving my phone behind a couple of times.

Back home I am now coming to grips with life without IT support! Over the past two days I have managed to link my computer to my printer wirelessly and discover that my printer is the wrong sort to link wirelessly to the ipad. I have worked out how to synchronise my contacts and calendar to the ipad and iphone - losing the appointments for the rest of the month when I tried to dedupe things that were appearing twice before realising that all I had to do was hide one of the calendars. How stupid does one feel phoning people saying, I know I have an appointment for next week and was it Monday at 10?

The week started with lectures at the Mansion House exploring aspects of the modern City and focusing on how urban design and open spaces contribute to the effectiveness of the City as a modern workplace. Transport was not mentioned - London would be the most livable city if it were not for its inadequacy. Buses take too long and the underground is a nightmare - a blot on the landscape.

Tuesday was a very jolly day on the Thames following the "swan upping" with the Needlemakers. As we were in an antique barge words like "jolly" spring to mind. For the uninitiated - this is a tradition where the cygnets on the Thames are marked and claimed for the Queen and for the Worshipful Company of Dyers and the Vintners. There were about fifty of us and we had a lovely afternoon with lunch and wine starting off at Maidenhead. It is a long time since I have been on that part of the river and it is so beautiful. We were subject to a couple of showers but, hey, we're British, this doesn't phase us.

Next week I am attending a tasting of 200 of the top award-winning spirits and liqueurs courtesy of the Worshipful Company of Distillers - I can see this is going to be a tough year in the City!

PS If you want to know how long it takes to go from hero to zero - 24 hours! I emailed a couple of (former) colleagues the day after leaving Campaign to find that my emails went straight into the spam filter. That's putting me in my place!

Research result for Health Bill campaign

If you have been following Breast Cancer Campaign on Facebook or Twitter you will see that we have been campaigning for the Government to include a specific duty on the Secretary of State for Health and the new clinical commissioning groups to promote research. The changes that the Government is proposing to make to the Health Bill were announced yesterday and this is included.

We are obviously delighted that the Government has agreed to this – and thanks to all our staff and supporters for contacting their MPs and spreading the word to family and friends. As you can see it made a real difference.

The specific research mentions in the document published by the Government are a new duty for the Secretary of State to promote research; for clinical commissioning groups to promote research and innovation and the use of research evidence, in line with the current duty on the NHS Commissioning Board. They have pledged to ensure that a culture of research and innovation is embedded in the arrangements for both the Board and Public Health England. Finally, to make sure that clinical commissioning groups and the NHS Commissioning Board ensure that treatment costs for patients who are taking part in research funded by Government and Research Charity partner organisations are funded through normal arrangements for commissioning patient care, as set out in existing guidance.

Of course, colleagues here will continue to follow progress with the Bill closely to see how these pledges translate into amendments and to see what other issues relating to research we can promote, now we have so many MPs committed to being research champions.

I would say watch this space – but rather become a fan on Campaign’s Facebook page or follow us on Twitter, and watch THAT space.

The best brains in breast cancer research

I was going to call this blog “This IS the Big Society in action” but was worried that you might not read beyond the headline. Please continue – it is worth it.

One of the things I will miss very much is observing the meetings of our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). It is an opportunity to learn about what is new and exciting in research and it is that stimulation that I will miss.

The meeting of the SAB is a gathering of some of the best brains in breast cancer research to advise the trustee board on how to allocate the funding so that only the best research is supported.

What isn’t generally recognised is that all of this is done on a voluntary basis – it isn’t part of the day job. I had the opportunity to talk to the Health Minister, Paul Burstow, about it earlier this year and he was surprised to learn the extent of the voluntary work that scientists do. This is not just for Breast Cancer Campaign – any charity that is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities will have an independent peer review process and reviewers are not paid.

In our case each grant application is reviewed by between two and six experts in the field not only from the UK but also abroad. One review can take anything up to two hours. Members of our Scientific Advisory Board are each allocated several grants to review and spend the same amount of time per grant. They then travel to London for one to two days twice a year and present the grants to the full board who then discuss them. At the end of the meeting the final scores are added up and the decision made.

However excellent the services of the Travelodge where they stay are – it isn’t five-star luxury. A pasta or pizza in a local restaurant is hardly going to land us in trouble with the new bribery laws. So why do they give up all this spare time to do this? A passion for science and a determination to improve the lives of women with breast cancer!

I don’t see this reflected in statistics on volunteering – but that is what it is and we couldn’t do our work without it.