CityandLivery

Throughout this year I have been immensely honoured to attend as a guest of (and sometimes speaker to) a number of livery companies other than my own. This cooks' tour of companies has given me the opportunity to observe and interact with the different organisational cultures that exist among the livery at close quarters. The most recent of my outings was as guest of a Bowyer who shared with me his perspective on how these diverse cultures fit into a common framework that ensures commonality of purpose while allowing each company to follow its own path. My host drew a comparison with the Commonwealth of Nations, an organisation that embraces many different countries, cultures and ethnicities but does so with a common set of values and language under a single unifying authority. I found this comparison with the Commonwealth a particularly good model for explaining the similarities and differences among the Livery Companies, let me explain further: Common Objectives The Commo...

I have recently been researching the City's various links with Australia and New Zealand in preparation for a speech I will be delivering to the Worshipful Company of Butchers in early October. As with so much else about the City and its Livery Companies, there is much to be discovered - often hiding in plain sight but poorly documented and little known outside of the circles that have a reason to know. The following list of links vary from historical one offs to ongoing relationships. At the time of writing there are serious moves afoot to establish associations of Freemen and Liverymen in Australia and a newly formed one in New Zealand. Perhaps in the future we will see an Antipodean equivalent of The Honourable Company of Freemen of the City of London of North America (yes there is such a thing) form in those countries. If that Bonzer Company of Freemen of the City of London Down Under (a working title of my own invention) does come to fruition, it may be helpful to give th...