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The Master’s Year

The Master reflects on an eventful(l) year

I chose ‘Fellowship’ as the theme for my year as Master as one of the
Company’s objectives is to provide our members with opportunities, both
formal and informal, for fellowship and entertaining guests and I am keen to
promote our various activities to as many people as possible.

I am delighted that all the events in my year have been extremely well
supported and, in a number of cases, over-subscribed. We have had
wonderful formal dinners at Saddlers’ and Drapers’ Halls and over 320 people
came to a memorable Sir Christopher Wren Banquet at the Mansion House,
with the entire civic party in attendance and the Lord Mayor and our principal
guest speaker, Lord Justice Jackson, both in sparkling form.
Our informal events have all been tremendous fun and highly enjoyable; I am particularly pleased
that we have succeeded in holding some events which were free of charge, including our Crossrail
and Sky Garden site visits.
By the time my year concludes, I will have had over 180 engagements – that’s an awful lot of eating
and drinking! In addition to coming to some of these with me, my husband, Steve Lawrence, has
also attended nearly 20 separate ‘Wives and Consorts’ events.
My personal highlights are too numerous to mention. I will always carry with me fantastic memories
of delicious meals in beautiful surroundings with incredibly friendly and interesting people, a number
of whom will be friends for life. I have learned a lot, laughed a lot, eaten and drunk too much, slept
too little and been lucky enough to have been given the most extraordinary opportunity to meet an
amazing variety of engaging people and go to a wide range of fascinating places which I would never
otherwise have had the chance to do.
I am deeply grateful for the honour and privilege of having been your Master. I greatly appreciate all
your support, particularly the enthusiastic encouragement consistently given to me by Steve, Kim,
Ted and the Wardens. Thank you all!

Alan Longhurst signs off on his year as Master
Looking back almost a year from the end of my time as Master of the
Constructors Company gives a welcome opportunity for reflection.
The theme for my year was to celebrate the achievements of our charitable
trust, a cause very close to all our hearts. The speakers at our main functions
were from organisations our trust supports and I hope this helped make real
the benefits and achievements made possible by our charitable giving.
Certainly the significant growth in the fund throughout the year will create the opportunity to further
our aims, so my thanks must go to the trustees and all others who have made this possible.
My further thanks must go to our sponsors; the clerk, the beadle, the court and all others within the
company whose support made the year so enjoyable and of course Lee, the Mistress, who supported
me and embraced the role of consort.

Autumn 2015 | The Journal of the Worshipful Company of Constructors | 5