Scientific Instrument Makers Banquet Drapers Hall
18th June 2015On Waterloo Day I was the guest of the Scientific Instrument Makers at their annual banquet in Drapers' Hall. I was fortunate to be on duty at St Paul's that morning for the 200th Anniversary Service commemorating the Battle of Waterloo and a banquet seemed a fitting way to end the day. Drapers, the home of the number three company in the order of precedence, is a sumptuous hall and with the three huge windows wide open on a balmy evening the dining room looked magnificent as 170 of us sat down to dinner. As always these are very entertaining occasions and the guest speaker, author and economist Will Hutton, was no exception. Once Editor in Chief of the Observer he is author of the 1990's classic The State We're In and currently Principal of Hertford College, Oxford. He gave a very challenging speech supporting the work of the Scientific Instrument Makers in fostering young enterprise. Like so many good speeches one wishes one could remember more of it. That must be a matter of age, or maybe wine.