Page 18 - A4 Journal 2019

The Master’s Year

August is usually a fairly quiet month in the City and we do not usually organise events during August, but this year, whilst we
had planned to visit another construction site at the end of April, construction was not complete, so the visit was deferred to
27 August 2019. Unfortunately, a number of people had to cry off at the last minute, so the attendance was less than we had
hoped. The developer of the site, Izaki Group International, has however offered to repeat the visit and we are looking at the
practicalities of doing this in the next few months.
Our last informal event of the year was another lunch at Ironmongers’ Hall on 2 September. 34 people were present,
including 15 guests, meaning that this was probably our highest attendance at a normal lunch ever. Feedback suggests that
the event was enjoyable, but that we were probably the victim of our own success in that there may not have been enough
waiting staff for our numbers. Nonetheless, the lunch was a fitting conclusion to our programme of informal events, and we
are planning an even more varied and hopefully attractive programme for 2019/2020.

Event Feedback

As those of you who attend our various events will already know, we always seek your opinion on how well the function
meets your requirements and wishes. Yet again, nearly all our surveys this year have resulted in “Very Good” and/or
“Excellent” average markings. Looking back over the last year (previous year’s figures in brackets) 83% (85%) of responses
marked events overall as “Very Good” or “Excellent” and value for money was marked as “Very Good” or “Excellent” in 72%
(68%) of the responses. When the figures for “Good” are included these become 95% (96%) and 94% (91%), so there is
clearly a view that value for money is improving, and has got back to previous levels. However, these figures would suggest
that, whilst our events over the past year have continued to meet the requirements of our members, and, whilst the value for
money score has recovered, cost may still remain an issue and this may be why attendance has at some times been
somewhat lower than we might have wished. The survey process itself has not been without its challenges this year, so,
going forward we are likely to use a different process and survey software.

The Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund

Lady Brewer is the Chair of the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund which this year received a donation of £10k
from the Company, writes:
“It was in 1808 that the Sheriffs’ fund was started to alleviate the poverty and horrendous conditions of
Newgate prison. It was later merged with the Recorder’s fund and since then has been committed mostly
to individual grants for prisoners on release.

As is well known a prisoner receives just £46 on release. No surprise then that the door revolves, and they
are back inside in no time at all. Without accommodation and jobs their future is bleak on release. Small
grants for clothing, training, tools etc can be of enormous help at this critical time.
In 2016 the fund received a legacy of £200,000 from an unknown lady who had worked in the probation service all her life.
She left £ 7.2 million in her will, can you believe it, but had very specific ideas as to where the money should go. We were
amazed… So we decided that we would start a new initiative, now called out for good, to see prisoners into jobs prior to re-
lease and supported by mentoring through the gate. To date we have succeeded in helping 87 people back into a life outside.
The pan-livery philanthropic initiative has improved upon the fund’s out for good by providing jobs from within the livery and,
importantly, putting accommodation alongside this programme.
It should be transformative.
Reoffending costs the taxpayer £18 billion a year. More importantly it deprives people of a second chance if there isn’t the
appropriate support to enable a change. I often say to myself ‘there for the grace of God go I’.
I hope that the Constructors’ Company is proud of their association with the fund and feel that their generous contributions to
our work are worthwhile. We could not survive without you and the other livery companies who have been so faithful. On
behalf of the fund we thank you.”

Page 18 | The Journal of the Worshipful Company of Constructors | Autumn 2019