MONITOR
Clerk’s Letter
The Clerk at the recent WCIT Installation Dinner
I
frequently hear people talking about
the broader Livery and our
relationship with other Companies.
These comments often give a feel that we
are a united group with aligned aims and
goals who work together on projects.
Whilst this is true in some cases it
conceals the individual and independent
nature of Livery Companies; so I thought
that it may be worth exploring when we
come together and why we tend to be
independent.
Individual Livery Companies can link with
other companies on specific projects; a
great example of this is our work with the
Mercers’ on the Hammersmith Academy,
and currently how we are working with the
Haberdashers’ on their Monmouthshire
Enterprise Initiative.
There are several groupings of Livery
Companies within the City; the food
group, the leather group and the warrior
group are fairly self-explanatory whereas
the Wet10 (Companies who work with
Water) and the Cask Group (purveyors’
and producers’ of alcohol) are harder to
understand. We belong to the Financial
Services Group or FSG, you can find out
more about our group at
www.liveryfsg.org.uk. These groups
allow a number of Companies to come
together and identify areas of shared
interest. We also work with the
Marketors’ and Stationers’ Companies in
the Digital Media Group where the
Stationers’ host fantastic talks at their
Hall.
The Corporation of London has a Livery
Committee that is tasked with organising
the election of the Lord Mayor and
Sheriffs. It also organises several
briefings on Livery Companies. I would
encourage all Liverymen to attend one of
their Livery briefings and for those who
wish to progress to Master - the Wardens
Course is excellent.
(www.liverycommitteecourses.org/).
However, this is only half of the story.
Livery Companies are fiercely
independent and are designed to protect
the rights of their trade or profession; the
historic role would have been to ensure
that other Companies do not impinge
upon the rights of our Liverymen. In a
landmark ruling in 1371 the Bowyers were
Contact Us:
Email
Clerk: [email protected]
Assistant Clerk: [email protected]
Finance & Billing: [email protected]
Beadle / Hall Manager: [email protected]
Events and Catering: Mellissa Maher - [email protected]
Charity: [email protected]
Website: www.wcit.org.uk
(this has an extensive membership-only part which we
encourage all members to use for internal communications)
Phone: 020 7600 1992
Twitter: @IT_Livery
Linked-In: Information Technologists Company
Postal Address: 39a Bartholomew Close, London
EC1A 7JN
The charitable activities of the WCIT are run by our subsidiary WCIT
Charity (Reg. Charity No 1113488)
banned from making arrows on the
condition that no Fletcher made a bow
(www.bowyers.com/
charters_articles1371.php ). To this day
there is a friendly rivalry between these
ancient Companies which is played out in
an annual shoot in the moat of the Tower
of London. The order of precedence was
settled in 1515 after the fighting between
Companies become so bad the
apprentices were killed in 1484.
(www.theskinnerscompany.org.uk/rootsand-branches/the-12-great-liverycompanies/)
The best analogy that I have come across
is that the Livery is like the British
Commonwealth. We have one head of
state (the Right Honourable, the Lord
Mayor of the City of London), we share
values (Charity, Education, Trade and
Fellowship) and historical links but we are
all independent and different. We come
together for games (pancake races,
bridge and golf) and to celebrate key
events (Lord Mayors Show, United Guilds
Service) however, we are distinct and
separate organisations. The Livery
Companies are as diverse in nature as
the countries of the Commonwealth and
we must be careful not to assume that
they are all the same.
We Information Technologists are a
vibrant modern Company and I would be
interested to hear which country of the
Commonwealth you think we are most
like?
NOTICES
Our Thanks to Our Sponsors:
We are grateful to our sponsors who play an important and welcome role in
helping our Livery Company thrive.
We wish to thank MVine for their pro bono development work on our website and
Whiteoaks PR Consultancy for their pro bono public relations work and Kulu Valley
for communications.
…………………………
Photographs of WCIT Events:
We would like to thank Gerald Sharp Photography for providing the photographs of the 2016
Installation Dinner. Anyone wishing to obtain these, plus many
others, please visit: www.sharpphoto.co.uk
We would also like to thank the Master Chris Histed; Past Masters Dame Stephanie Shirley
DBE, Peter Monson and Nicholas Birtles; Court Liverymen Jon Hall & Paul
Jagger, Liverymen Peta Walmisley and Dave Miles and the Events Panel for providing
articles and photographs.
We would also like to thanks The Nehemiah Project, The Charity IT Association,
Coram Life Education, Pallant House Gallery and Blenheim CPD for their articles
and photographs.
To Contribute to the next issue of Monitor, please send your articles (200 words plus photos) to [email protected]
Thank you to all those who have contributed to the November issue of Monitor.
Printing was by the Ian Karten Centre at Treloar’s School and College.