Magicians say you should never reveal the secrets of what goes on behind the scenes, but I can share some cheer with a tale about last month’s recording of three Christmas lighting up ceremonies for the City.
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Company Of Crowbars
Remarks to:
Alderman & Sheriff Professor Michael Mainelli FCCA FCSI(Hon) FBCS, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group, Tuesday, 24 November 2020, via Zoom, on the occasion of the first Installation Dinner as Company rather than Guild
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Polymer Planning – The Responsible Age
Remarks to:
Alderman & Sheriff Professor Michael Mainelli FCCA FCSI(Hon) FBCS,
Thursday, 1 October 2020, via Zoom
“Polymer Planning – The Responsible Age”
Master, Wardens, Fellow Alderman, Masters of visiting companies, liverymen, ladies and gentlemen:
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Lord Mayor’s Election – Part Deux
As previously reported, it is truly an honour, perhaps the first time since 1228, to be Sheriffs again for another year. Common Hall was held today to (re)elect the Lord Mayor. Unlike the normal 90 minutes or so of ceremony, speeches, and election, this one began at 11:45 and had about 80 physically-distanced livery company Masters, Officers, and Aldermen in the cavernous Guildhall. It took just under 15 minutes.
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A Life In The Locked-Down Days Of A City Of London Sheriff
Week 26 since UK government lockdown on 16 March – Covid-19 has meant that my Brother Sheriff Christopher Hayward and I instead of serving one year from September 2019, have been asked to serve two, ending September 2021. We believe this is the first time in almost 800 years (1228 AD?) this has happened. So a summary?
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Piping At The Post – Twas A Dark And Stormy Afternoon
It was a dark and stormy afternoon…
I’ve always enjoyed Edward Bulwer-Lytton‘s works (honest). Interestingly, while he did provoke opprobrium for the phrase “it was a dark and stormy night“, he equally garnered admiration, leading to a lovely Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for “the funniest opening sentences from the worst novels never written”. How can one express the delight (?) of reading, “Dawn Esterbrooke looked lovingly upon the gifts which her lifelong childhood friends brought to her wedding shower, but inside her guts churned like an overripe peach in a blender because only two hours earlier she had left a motel with her best friend’s homosexual father.”
by Steve Garman of Pensacola, Florida.
Huffin ’n’ Puffin
Well, the cat, or snail (see below), rather ‘puffin’, is truly out of the bag (pipe). As I mentioned in my Shrieval Chain Presentation, Puffin On Pipes:
“imagine your entire family have no idea of your favourite animal, the puffin. Just because you’ve never gone soppy and bought a gaudy plastic tourist souvenir on a puffin island tour – as part of the puffarazzi – doesn’t mean you haven’t spent 60 years trying to justify smelting a small puffin statue.”
New Sheriffs, Again
My brother Sheriff, Chris Hayward CC, and I were delighted to agree to extend our Shrieval year by 12 months till September 2021 in order to “ensure continuity of leadership”. Equally, this will give us more time, in turbulent times, to deliver our shrieval theme of “Primacy Of The Rule Of Law”. We very much look forward to working with all of the Old Bailey team over the next 17 months. And now no one is, as Pádraig Belton put it, “Sans Sheriff”.
Who Shot The Sheriff? Official Photos
I lived in Brixton in the mid-1980s and love reggae, so you couldn’t expect a two-year term to go by without reference to a great tune by Bob Marley. A number of people have been asking for some decent shots, so I set out four below, two serious, two fun(ny).
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