United Guilds Service 2018
The Master & Mistress in St Paul’s
The Master and Liveryman Chris Turner in his Guild of Young Freemen robe.
The 76th annual service of the United Guilds of the City of London was held on 16th March 2018 at St Paul’s Cathedral in the presence of the Right Honourable The Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress, the Sheriffs and their Consorts and the Masters and Liverymen of all the City Livery Companies. The address was given by The Right Reverend Martin Seeley, the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and the Blessing was given by The Right Reverend Pete Broadbent, the Bishop of Willesden. The first United Guilds Service was held on 1st February 1943, when it was decided to hold a service in St Paul’s Cathedral for the Livery Companies and Guilds of the City of London, the idea behind the service being that it would lift the spirits of the City following the Blitz.
The service was attended by the Master and the Mistress as well as several Wardens, Past Masters and Liverymen of the Company. This magnificent service saw the Cathedral “full to the rafters” on a bright and sunny March day. After the service several members and their guests adjourned to Painters’ Hall where a splendid and convivial lunch was enjoyed by all. The Worshipful Company of Constructors was one of 13 livery companies who took lunch and the Constructors who were present gave a very spirited response to the announcement of their presence by the Master Painter-Stainer. The vote of thanks, which is given in rotation by attending Companies, was delivered this year in entertaining style by the Master Horner, in the poetic style of Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy Cat”.
