7 June saw the Livery’s 70th (Platinum) birthday luncheon after Common Hall, the annual occasion which all Liverymen can attend to hear about the business of the Company and all the latest news. Stuart Roberts and John Wilson were clothed as Liverymen at the meeting and welcomed by the Company at the capacity lunch in the Great Hall. Our new caterers, Grayson’s, excelled themselves with the quality of food and service on the special occasion.
The Master with guest speakers and special guests
The principal guest at the lunch was President of the NFU, Minette Batters, who gave an impassioned speech of two halves. She reflected on some of the defining moments of her time at the NFU over the past eight and a half years, the major challenges the industry has faced during this period with Brexit, the pandemic and now the war in Ukraine, and confirmed that her focus has always remained on food production. However, she acknowledged that both policymakers and the public have become deeply disconnected with the people who produce our food, forgetting that without agriculture there is no food, and called for a statutory underpinning of food production.
Minette Batters gives an impassioned speech
Looking to the future, Minette shared the success story that has been the Environmental Farmers Group in exploring the value of natural capital and most importantly, building a financial portfolio – a prime example of what the NFU is looking to achieve for its members on the journey to net zero. Beyond that and with COP27 on the horizon, she argued that that there is a massive opportunity for this government to lead the green economy, the most important requirement of which is a single agreed carbon metric, and – especially – and a reliable tool for measuring it.
The toast to the company was proposed by the force of nature that is our oldest Liveryman, the incomparable centenarian Olive Clarke OBE JP DL. Olive had us all in stitches with her wry comments. All who were lucky enough to hear it agreed that it was one of the best speeches ever heard at one of our events, receiving an unprecedented standing ovation at the end.
Olive Clarke thrills the audience with her witty speech
Post a comment