Page 6 - A4 Journal 2019

The Master’s Year

One of the first tasks that I initiated was to arrange for two away-days to take place at the Oxford and Cambridge Club. These
were professionally facilitated by Renter Warden David Sheehan, assisted by Court Assistant Jane Wright and were attended
by a cross-section of members from Yeoman through to Past Master and members of the Charitable Trust, the main theme
being to build a strong Company and a strong Charity. The sessions addressed almost every aspect of the workings of the
Company, and what emerged from them was a comprehensive set of top goals and ambitions enshrined in 7 key achievable
targets.
One of our stalwarts over many years has been Honorary Court Assistant Bob Heathfield, who has chaired the Scholarship
and Awards Committee for some 15 years and has personally mentored over 50 scholars. This has taken a tremendous
amount of dedicated and sustained effort and it was therefore with great personal pleasure that I was able to present Bob
with the Master’s Certificate at the recent Common Hall. His work and dedication has been unparalleled and exemplifies what
a noble and honourable Liveryman should be – a doer! Bob was most deserving of this award. His place as Chair of the
Scholarship and Awards Committee has now been taken by Court Assistant Dr Deborah Pullen MBE, who is the Chair of the
BRE Trust. I wish Deborah well in steering the important work of the Committee and I have no doubt that we have in her a
worthy and excellent replacement for Bob.
It has been an enormous privilege to have been your 42nd Master. We have managed to contribute £20,000 already to
charity – at the Sir Christopher Wren Banquet I was extremely pleased to be able to give £10,000 cheques to each of the Clic
Sargent childhood cancer charity and to the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund. In line with our Charitable mandate the money will
be used in both cases to fund construction centric initiatives – Clic Sargent will use it for its “Home away from Home”
programme and the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund will use the money to rehabilitate offenders into construction skills and
apprenticeship training. I shall endeavour to continue in a supporting role from the “Purple” side of the Court for as long as
the Good Lord spares me, which at the beginning of my year looked as though it was going to be surprisingly short.
I was delighted that my friend and guest speaker Keith Exford CBE accepted honorary membership of the Company. Keith will
be a great asset and ambassador for this Company with his reputation and influence within the Built Environment. Michèle
Burrell has also been granted Honorary Membership to reflect the work she does as our Almoner.
My son Jonathon moved from Yeoman to take Freedom of the Company and my eldest son Gavin was also admitted as a
Freeman in my first Court as Master, when I also took on two Master’s Apprentices – Alexander Watson (the son of our late
Freeman, Martin Watson) and Bradley Yeung. Alexander is studying civil engineering at University and Bradley is about to
commence his A Level studies. Both are hopeful of pursuing fruitful careers in the construction world.
We are also very proud of our relationship with our military affiliates and I have moved to appoint special liaison officers within
the Company to maintain and strengthen the close and special links that we have with the military. The Clerk will continue to
liaise with HMS Lancaster, whose refit is now almost complete, and we will hopefully be invited aboard when she visits her
hometown of Liverpool early in 2020. Court Assistant Henry Lamb, once a Royal Anglian Regiment soldier, will continue the
close relationship we have with the re-formed 101 Regiment (City of London) and former RAF officer, PM David Hattersley has
agreed to maintain the link with 5001 squadron, along with Liveryman (and former RAF officer) Mike Alden.
No Master’s year can be complete without the support of the Mistress. My wife, Jessica, has fully supported this year and has
been actively involved with the City Consort Group. Indeed, if I am not mistaken, she has attended more lunches than I have.
She also arranged a marvellous Chinese cookery class and lunch at the Dutch Church, which was extremely popular amongst
all those members, mistresses and consorts that attended including, amongst many others, the Aldermanic Sheriff’s wife,
Amanda Keaveny, along with the Mistress Grocer amongst many other Mistresses and Consorts. The event raised money
towards my overall fund-raising target of £50,000.
During my year as Master I have been very pleased to have received almost £30,00 in sponsorship from those that I have
worked with in the industry and during the Charity Banquet at Lord’s I was delighted to announce that we had reached the
total target of £50,000.
It goes without saying that I am grateful for the tremendous support of the Wardens and Executive Committee members. I
am pleased to say that Company membership is growing. We are managing to attract applications and recruit new younger
and well qualified members from a range of people and professions and especially from people who represent those most
under-represented in the Company.

As a result of our initiatives over the year we are more diverse in our make-up, we are a strong Company in terms of our
financial standing and our influence has grown both amongst the City and also across the wider construction industry. We
have also reached out and recruited members from way beyond our shores. We need to let our achievements speak up for
the people we truly are and be rightly proud of the Worshipful Company of Constructors.

Michael Parrett - Immediate Past Master

Page 6 | The Journal of the Worshipful Company of Constructors | Autumn 2019