Cutlers Feast
15th May 2025Cutlers Hall, Sheffield
Along with many other London Livery Masters, we joined the spectacular 388th Cutlers' Feast, given by the Cutlers in Hallamshire at Cutlers' Hall in the centre of Sheffield.
Welcomed by Philip Rodrigo, the Cutlers' Master, we enjoyed a very fine meal in the amazing surroundings of the Hall, before listening to some excellent speeches.
In many respects, the Cutlers in Hallamshire are a different animal from the typical London Livery - they are entirely focused on manufacturing industry in the Sheffield area (you can only join if your company is in manufacturing and you are based in a Sheffield postcode) and therefore focused on improving the lot of the more than 250 companies who are represented by the Cutlers. The Senior Warden therefore makes the opening speech, directly pushing hard the interests of the Sheffield region to the following speaker who is normally a senior politician. On this occasion the Business Secretary was to have come but could not make it, so in the end, the Mayor of South Yorkshire took the brunt of the speech, which I am sure in reality he was fully in agreement with!
The Master Cutler then replied on behalf of local industry, before the Finnish Ambassador to the UK replied on behalf of the guests. (It should be noted that the Master Cutler is a steel man through and through, working for Outokumpu, a Finnish steel company and he is also Finnish Consul for the region, so many Finnish connections).
I also had the good fortune to sit at dinner with one of the Cutlers' company Searchers - orginally responsible for ensuring companies made their products to the correct quality, they are now responsible for recruiting new members, so I have put him in touch with my old firm, who will qualify to join. We should have done it years ago!
Sadly due to the complexities of the arrangements for travelling to Bristol the following day, we were not able to participate in the Industrial visit that always takes place the following morning, in this case to a stainless steel works!
A very enjoyable event and well worth the travelling!