Tin Plate Workers’ alias Wire Drawers May Court Dinner, Barber Surgeons Hall

16th May 2017

I met this Companies genial Master fairly recently, I think it may have been at the Air Pilots lecture, and (noting he was a keen smoker) we got on very well. To save time, I travelled in by motorbike and parked in Wood St. which gave me a couple of minutes stroll with a pipe before arriving at BS Hall which has been covered in previous entries (it stands within the ruins of its Blitzed forebear). Having dropped off the coat, we queued to meet Master Tony Steinthal and his wardens before going into a pretty busy salon where I chatted with some of the Court members when the Beadle announced that as we were all here, the rest of the Hall would now be opened and we could inspect the entries for some prizes due to be announced at dinner. I went over and took in a table of varied art forms from porcelain to varied metal work, much of it produced from recycled materials, along with the various creators. We were called to dinner shortly after and I hung back to process with Tony, various other Masters including the Principal Guest, Robert Woodthorpe Brown, the Master World Trader who I’ve seen a good deal of this year as another ‘Modern’ Master. The dining arrangement had been reversed since we last used this hall under PM Chris Allen and the Master chair was backed into the window bay.. I soon discovered this was no idle whim as Tony discreetly nipped out for a puff two or three times during the course of the evening! I think I was one of only two or three to notice. We enjoyed a good dinner of asparagus with poached egg, lamb and pavlova with dessert wine and cognac with our coffee/petit fours. The guests were introduced, not by name but livery occupation and then Robert spoke with good humour and intelligence for his allotted 10 mins before Tony responded with equal aplomb and also presented the aforementioned prizes. We then had a little musical interlude – the pianist seems to have been one of their scholars and a favourite as she has apparently done several function for them. I was intrigued to see she read her music from a large iPad which she was able to turn the pages very quickly with, with just a flick of her finger – very impressive, and so logical – no need for a page turner or lamp etc., very clever indeed. Tony soon drew proceedings to a close and we repaired to the anteroom for a stirrup cup – and I for a quick smoke with Tony in the garden. Before long it was time to wend my way as I had a early start the next morning, and so I found the bike and was home within half an hour and getting ready for the inter livery shoot…