Berlin and Dresden, Needlemakers’ Visit

I have been off the radar for a while as we were with the Needlemakers in Berlin and Dresden.  I had thought that I would write a daily diary and regale you with all we did.  In the end there is too much to tell and, like the endless holiday photos (we have those too.....), not all that interesting if you weren’t there.

If you were there you would have had a wonderful time.  I am not sure quite how we packed so much in and still left free time for everyone to indulge their own interests but we did.

Of course I leaned very heavily on Bryan Knight’s knowledge and expertise and the whole trip went like clockwork – thanks to much stress and work for him behind the scenes. 

We had the most superb guides who were not only experts in their field but were able to talk around their subjects with fluency and ease and humour. My abiding memory will be of the Egyptologist who took us around the Neues Museum and explained and read the hieroglyphics to us.

We saw how Meissen porcelain is made and why it is so expensive (as it is all still hand decorated) and heard the Meissen bells chime in Dresden.  John and I visited the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden and came across the wonderful Vermeer, Girl reading a letter by an open window just around the corner from a Raphael Sistine Madonna.  You may not recognize the Madonna but look at the bottom at the cherubs – they will be very familiar!

And then there was food, wine (including much Sekt) and a great deal of chocolate – oh yes, much chocolate! The asparagus were in season and they were sensational.

The most important part of the trip was the company. Everyone was so nice, friendly, entertaining and supportive. If you wanted to be alone you could be and if you wanted company it was always there. 

The last night would not have been complete without a poem by Carolyn which summarized our visit in her usual clever and funny way. John and I have wonderful memories and were given a beautiful piece of Meissen, which we shall treasure. 

Golden Music at the Barbican

The final part of my day on May 2 was a wonderful concert at the Barbican.  This was the Gold Medal competition of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama at the Barbican.  It was a sensational concert

The Gold Medal, the Guildhall School’s most prestigious prize for musicians, was founded and endowed in 1915 by Sir Dixon Kember. Since 1950 it has been open to singers and instrumentalists in alternate years and this year was for instrumentalists. The finalists performed a concerto with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Judd. The judges on the jury panel included ENO's Music Director Edward Gardner, chief culture critic for The Times Richard Morrison, and Martin Campbell-White, Joint Chief Executive of Askonas Holt artist management. 


All the music was of an exceptional standard – as Edward Gardner said in his adjudication, there was no discussion about technique in the judging only about interpretation, which is a great credit to the artists and the school. The winner was pianist Ashley Fripp for his performance of the Liszt Totentanz.  I had a soft spot for the runner up, pianist Ben Schoeman, (not just because he is a fellow South African) but also because he played the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 – the first classical record I ever bought as a child (that should be records as it was recorded on 78s!).

We saw a short video about the progress of Milton Court, the expansion of the School’s facilities. It is based across the road from the current Silk Street building and will open in 2013, providing the School with state-of-the-art performance and teaching spaces including, a 608-seat Concert Hall
, a 227-seat Theatre, a Studio Theatre
, three major rehearsal rooms
 and a TV studio suite.  This will not only benefit the students but also add to London’s reputation as one of the world’s leading centres for music education as well as performance. We are very proud to be one of the school's Livery supporters.

City and Guilds, Corporate Responsibility Report

Part two of Wednesday, May 2, was with my Needlemakers hat (or should that be badge?) on when I attended the launch of the City and Guilds Corporate Responsibility report. You can view the full report here.

The City and Guilds (C&GLI) is an interesting and valuable organization.  Well I would say that wouldn’t I - the Needlemakers Company was one of the 16 Livery Companies that, with the City of London Corporation, founded the City and Guilds Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education in 1878 – so we go back a long way together and continue our support. (I believe that initially we promised (and paid) £250 in five installments.)

It was an interesting presentation and also good to hear from a representative from Business in the Community which was founded in 1982, in similar circumstances to now, in the wake of riots in Toxteth and Brixton and high unemployment.

The range of courses that C&GLI offers is large and diverse, from construction and building through beauty therapy and nail technology (don’t knock it, my local nail bar is always busy!), hospitality, IT, social care etc. There is a huge gap between those who can and wish to pursue an academic route and those who leave school with no qualifications and an education of variable quality.  I believe that C&GLI can go some way to filling that gap. We also need to change the current poor perception of vocational education and training!

I was particularly taken with the “Roots to Work” programme that is using food-growing in a community to prepare people for employment in developing not only the technical skills but also the ‘soft’ communication skills needed to move into employment.

We wish them every success – please read the report – it is cogent, effective and clearly presented.

Trip down memory lane and exciting news.

Wednesday, May 2 was a day in three parts.  Part one was when I had a very enjoyable lunch with a former colleague and then went back to Breast Cancer Campaign to say hello and generally get in the way of everyone trying to work.  The visit was fortuitous as I was there when the whole charity came together to have a quick debrief on some momentous news which hit the headlines on Tuesday.

Breast Cancer Campaign scientific fellow, Dr James Flanagan has uncovered the first strong evidence that molecular or ‘epigenetic’ changes in a gene can be associated with breast cancer risk and can be detected many years before breast cancer develops. (These findings could also have important implications for predicting risk in other cancers, as the gene highlighted in his study has been linked with a number of other cancers, including lymphoma and leukaemia.)

The implications of this are far-reaching as we may be able to develop a simple blood test, which could be done years in advance of the disease developing to identify risk and actions taken to address this: early days but very promising.

I was especially delighted to be there as I was on the interview panel when James was awarded his fellowship and he came over then as the great communicator and brilliant scientist he has subsequently proved to be. His research was funded by Asda’s Tickled Pink campaign so keep buying the pink stuff in October – my Tickled Pink wellies are proving rather useful at the moment!

Annual Cobham Lecture, Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators

The Clerk and I attended the Annual Cobham Lecture of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators on April 26 at the Royal Aeronautical Society in Hamilton Place. The lecture was very well attended with 28 Masters of Livery Companies amongst the many guests who were members of the Guild.  I wonder if this had anything to do with the “boys' toys” nature of the lecture?

Of course both the speaker and the subject were fascinating – Ed Strongman, Airbus Chief Test Pilot Military speaking about the A400M  – that’s the military version of the Airbus – you don’t get a bigger boy’s toy than that!

Ed had a wonderful ability to reduce the most technical detail to a level that enabled us to follow the gist if not the detailed specifications.  We all understood that it has an outstanding capability as a military transport plane and can carry a load equivalent to 37,000 cans of beer. It can also be used as a tanker for air to air fuelling (I think this is the other kind of fuel). Have a look at the link – it is a very beautiful and elegant sight.

The details of the testing were breathtaking and one wonders what these pilots do for excitement – we were on the edge of our seats.  The Master Farmer asked one very prescient question: why aren’t we shouting about this from the rooftops?  It is an example of a successful international collaboration between seven countries and we seem to be keeping very quiet about it.

Incidentally the Royal Aeronautical Society has enviable headquarters – a beautiful Edwardian building with a lovely terrace overlooking Park Lane yet with a very modern lecture theatre. A very different evening, fascinating and very enjoyable!

Worshipful Company of World Traders, Election Banquet

One of the newer and very vibrant Livery Companies is the Worshipful Company of World Traders. They were the first new livery company of the currentMillenium and have gone from strength to strength. The current Master, Mei Sim Lai, has been a good friend for over twenty years and John and I were honoured to be her guest at the Fishmongers' Hall for their Election Banquet on April 24..

Mei Sim is the first Chinese woman to be Master of a Livery Company, just one of her many achievements and a number of “firsts” in her very successful career.

The Fishmongers' Hall is a stunning venue and of course the home of the very romantic portrait of the Her Majesty, The Queen, by Pietro Annigoni.

The assembled company on the night was no less stunning!  We heard from Major General Andrew Cumming, now Controller of SSAFA Forces Help about their work. SSAFA provides financial, practical and emotional assistance to anyone that is currently serving or has ever served in the Army, Navy or RAF, and their families.

I was sitting next to Nigel Pullman, non-Aldermanic candidate for Sheriff this year – see my earlier blog – and it was good to catch up with his campaign and general chat about the Civic City.  I was also sitting next to Lord Clement-Jones. Amongst his many achievements Tim was responsible for setting upCancerbackup (now part of Macmillan) at a time when there was little in the way of information and support for cancer patients and our paths used to cross frequently when he was Health Spokesman for the Liberal Democrats in the Lords.

It is good to see one of the newer companies thriving against the backdrop of the Fishmongers Company, one of the “great twelve”, and over seven hundred years old:  an indication of how the City reinvents and refreshes itself to remain the world’s leading financial centre.  You might argue that the City has always been a centre for world trade – why did it take so long?

Service of Thanksgiving for Sir Anthony Wilson

A very moving Thanksgiving Service for Past Master, Sir Anthony Wilson, was held in the beautiful Sherborne Abbey on Monday, April 30. The Abbey was packed, an indication of how much he was loved and how many lives he had touched during his life.  John and I attended with a number of his friends from the Needlemakers.

He was a man of great integrity and charm and gave generously of his time and energy to everyone.  He will be remembered by his friends in the Needlemakers as a valued and loved member of the Court and by future generations of Needlemakers for the bursary, which he was instrumental in starting, for a chorister at St Pauls’ Choir School every year.  The bursary is awarded anonymously to a chorister in need but the beautiful medallion, which Tony so generously presented, is awarded on merit and worn by the winner for the year.