It was with great pleasure I attended one of the Lord Mayor’s Virtual Coffee Mornings. Each session involves around 25 participants and is an opportunity for the Lord Mayor to update livery companies on current events and to receive feedback from Masters.
Key items for discussion were the programme for re-opening the City, sustainability, and livery initiatives during the pandemic. With regards to re-opening the City, the Lord Mayor began by advising that plans were being made to hold the United Guilds Service on 22nd June, but the numbers attending could depend on Government Guidelines yet to be issued. Masters of Livery Companies that own halls explained that were making plans to gradually re-open. The River Thames Lunch Club is planning to re-open from the 17th May at the Watermans Hall based on tables of 6. The importance of opening up safely with testing was also stressed.
On sustainability the Lord Mayor began by explaining the City’s proud history on sustainability, including being the first area in the UK to ban coal fires back in 1953. He also spoke about the Livery Climate Action Strategy Group, the possibility of a Green Charter, and a series of “Green Tea” discussions he was having with Mark Carney, ex-Governor of the Bank of England. Ensuring sustainable City and Livery investments can also make a significant contribution to climate change. I explained how the Water Conservation Trust was looking to move some of its investments into ethical funds and that the returns were very similar to non-ethical funds. Some Masters also spoke about the benefits of reduced volumes of transport in the post pandemic world.
Finally, the Lord Mayor advised us on some of the important livery initiatives that provided key support during the pandemic. The Pan Livery report indicated that charitable giving by livery companies had increased by 12% with also 135,000 hours of voluntary service last year.
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