The Lord Mayor's Show

Pictured in one of the rare sunny spells on Saturday 8 November, the new Lord Mayor of the City of London - Alderman Ian Luder - sets out from Guildhall Yard to be greeted by an enthuisiastic if damp crowd. He was supported by a wide selection of bands, floats representing an enormous cross section of activities and interests and several collections of Morris Minors - the brand seemingly celebrating its 60th anniversary. Some participants were better prepared for the rain than others.









































The Master and his Wardens - pictured below before they set off for the march - took part in the procession as part of the Modern Companies' Float - a singularly apt description given the conditions.



There are, by way of explanation, some 30 Modern Companies which are those founded since 1926 - there was a gap of almost 200 years between the founding of the oldest of these Companies (the Honourable Company of Master Mariners) and the next youngest Company. This group of Companies includes organizations representing a wide range of professions and business organizations which would not have existed in medieval times.

After the outward journey the procession takes an hour break for lunch while the Lord Mayor takes his oath of allegience to the Crown (and a light lunch) at the Old Bailey. Those marching make do with a packed lunch arranged by the organizers supplemented by such liquid refreshments which may be available in the rest area. The option for Company members who were viewing proceedings was rosier - lunch was offered at Plaisterers' Hall where the Master Plaisterer had kindly organized entertainment for the children (of all ages).

Stephen Wagstaffe - a recently elected Steward of the Company - found that part of his duties included being volunteered to help performing artists on such occasions to do silly and perhaps dangerous things. With a few fellow volunteers from the other Companies present, he helped to form something of a human pyramid to allow the juggler to mount his ludicrously high monocycle before being asked to pass the artist several villianous knives which were then juggled to the consternation of both Stephen and others in the firing line.

Thanks are offered to Alan Downing for the use of his photographs of the occasion.

The Company's Travel Award 2010

The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects (or the 'WCCA' abbreviated) exists to raise awareness of architecture in the City of London. Its Charitable Trust is a registered charity and administers its own educational scholarships. The Company is a useful social and professional network and organises among other things visits to buildings and architect's practices. New student members are most welcome.

If you are a current student of architecture, are interested in this scholarship, and would like more details, please contact:

Mrs. Jaki Howes

Master of Students

e-mail: jaki.howes@btinternet.com

mobile: 07711 817491

Every year the WCCA offers a travel award of £2000 to enable a student (or students) that are in the first year of their Part 2 course to carry out travel research in preparation for their final year.

The WCCA TRAVEL AWARD is available to students at any of the London architecture schools, and for the second time this year, it is being administered by the RIBA.

Full details and application forms are available on the RIBA website. The closing date for an application is 26 March 2010.

If you would like further clarification after visiting the RIBA's site, please contact me at the addresses above:

...............Jaki Howes

Temple Bar photo archive - November 2008

This photo archive of the relocated Temple Bar offers uncopyrighted images of the 17th century gateway built to designs of Sir Christopher Wren. Formerly a gate to 'the square mile' of the City of London and located on the junction of today's Fleet Street and The Strand, Temple Bar has been re-located to be part of the development of Paternoster Square, to the immediate north of Sir Chris' great cathedral.

A plaque marks the connection of the Worshipful Company with the relocation process.

Pictured right is an image of the plaque sited in the Upper Chamber
of Temple Bar which commemorates the Company's support for
the relocation of the monument and its contribution to the costs
of fitting out the Chamber.


The image files are of about 1200 pixels square-ish, in jpg format, processed for easy web distribution. They are each about 250k in size.

If you click on an image, it will open a new browser page at the larger size, big enough to seem impressive on most computer screens. From there you may down-load any individual image to your own machine.