THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF ACTUARIES
ANNUAL REVIEW 2008 – 2009 Capital Cranfield Trustees are pleased to support the Worshipful Company of Actuaries
“Independent Trustee of the Year” UK Pensions Awards, 2007 and 2008 Contents
Page
Court 2008 - 2009 2
Master’s Report 3
The Charitable Trust 5
Report from the Chairman of Trustees Children’s Liver Disease Foundation Study Day Programme Developing Competencies for End of Life Care Life Education The Twins Project Wainwright Projects make progress
Events 12
Installation dinner Autumn Livery dinner City Heritage Exhibition Lord Mayor’s Show Charity Dinner at Lord’s Carol Service and Supper Winter Livery dinner Pancake Race Livery Lecture 27th Annual Inter-Livery Bridge Competition Golf day at Muirfield 10-Pin Bowling Inter-Livery Swimathon Common Hall and Livery Lunch Mansion House Banquet Actuaries on Wheels Royalist Regatta Prince Arthur of Connaught Golf competition Master’s Golf Day Clerk’s Dinner
News from the Court 23
Membership of the Company 27
Court and Committees 2009-2010 28
Diary 2010 29
1 THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF ACTUARIES 2008 – 2009
SENIOR WARDEN MASTER JUNIOR WARDEN Adrian Waddingham Andrew Benke Graham Clay
COURT ASSISTANTS Charles Cowling, Nick Dumbreck, Alan Frost, Jeremy Goford, Chris Ide, Philip Jowett, John Lockyer, Nigel Masters, Martin Miles, Nick Salter, Petrea Simmons, Bill Smith, Huw Wynne-Griffith
PAST MASTERS & ASSISTANTS EMERITI Geoffrey Heywood, Len Hall, Derek Millard, Peter Parker, Peter Turvey, Ken Ayers, Roger Corley, Alan Hall, John Simon, Fraser Low, Marshall Field, Richard Hawkes, Alan Fishman, Sos Green, Peter Esslemont, Peter Derby, Robin Michaelson
HONORARY CLERK David Johnson
CLERK EMERITUS Michael Turner
CLERK EMERITA Jillian Evans
HONORARY CHAPLAIN The Rev Prebendary David Burgess (retired Sept 2008)
BEADLE David Cosh
2 The Master’s Report
Andrew Benke Master Actuary 2008 - 2009
As I mentioned in my speech at the Company’s Installation Dinner on 15 July I set as my theme for the year “The Power of Teamwork” with a view to linking in particularly to my predecessor’s theme of young people.
From this came the thought of how I might link my love of cricket with my charity for the year. I have seen how teamwork in sport can really help young people to integrate with society. So on 18 November we had a dinner in the Long Room at Lord’s cricket ground with proceeds of the event going to a charity called “Chance to Shine”. This charity seeks to give deprived youngsters the opportunity of not only learning to play cricket but the chance to discover the value of working with others for the benefit of the whole team. I am extremely grateful to all those who supported this event, not only by your presence but also through your generosity. Some 100 people had the opportunity of a conducted tour of the Lord’s ground and museum followed by a reception and dinner at which the famous Indian Test cricketer, Farokh Engineer, was our guest speaker. During the course of the year the Company raised over £12,000 for the benefit of “Chance to Shine”. 3 In February we held our Livery Lecture to which all the Masters of Livery Companies within the City are invited. The title of the lecture was “A Statisticians Tale” and was to be given by Bill Frindall, the well known cricket scorer of Test Match Special fame. There are times in a Master’s life when not all things go according to plan and this was one such occasion. Just a fortnight before the lecture we heard the very sad news of Bill’s untimely and sudden death. I will be eternally grateful to Nick Gandon, the director of the Cricket Foundation, under whose guidance “Chance to Shine” exists, for stepping in at the last moment and giving a lecture which was greatly appreciated by all present.
During the course of my year significant progress was made in obtaining our Royal Charter. I am delighted that this work bore fruit when on 4 September 2009 we were granted the Royal Seal and we look forward to being formally presented with our Royal Charter by a member of the Royal Family at our annual banquet in the Mansion House on 26 April 2010. It will not only be a splendid occasion but an opportunity to thank all those people and organisations that supported us in our quest for the Royal Charter.
I’m delighted to be able to report the continued support by the Company of the Edmonton Sea Cadets. This was instigated by Past Master, the late Robert Thomas. A trophy has been donated in his memory and will be awarded annually to the “Sea Cadet of the year” from the Edmonton Group. This year Jo Thomas kindly presented it for the first time at our Mansion House Banquet in April.
Turning briefly to sporting events during the past year. The outstanding occasion was a golf day held on the famous championship links course at Muirfield just east of Edinburgh. By kind permission of Liveryman Malcolm Murray, who is captain of the oldest golf club in the world, The Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, whose home is now at Muirfield and dates back to the middle of the 18th century, the golfers of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries had the most splendid of days both on and off the golf course in March. This follows another splendid day at Hoylake, the home of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club a year previously, when, by kind permission of the club’s captain, Liveryman Bob Chadwick, the golfers of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries enjoyed the challenges of another championship golf course and the excellent hospitality of the RLGC. I have often wondered if there is another City Livery Company who, within one year, can boast captains of two golf courses where the Open Championship is played!
During my year of office I had the privilege of representing the Company at over 150 functions, including 33 dinners, 16 lunches, 12 receptions, 8 lectures, 13 events organized by the Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs, 8 church services and 8 charity events. In addition I was able to give some 15 speeches at various events, many of which gave me the opportunity of publicising the work of the Company.
Finally another outstanding event at which I represented our Company was that of a Buckingham Palace Garden Party. The occasion was special not just because of what it was, but because the weather made news in the national press. It started fine and sunny while Her Majesty the Queen mingled with her guests but as soon as she went in for tea the heavens opened. There was thunder, lightening, rain and hail. What had been a very pleasant stroll in the gardens turned into an assault course trying to avoid paths which became rivers and lawns that became ponds. All good fun!
I am extremely grateful to the Livery for entrusting the mastership to me over the past year. It has been a real privilege and I hope I have continued the good work of my predecessors in raising the profile of our Company. I am indebted to the support I have received from Adrian Waddingham, my Senior Warden, Graham Clay, my Junior Warden and the whole of the Court of the Company. I cannot speak too highly of the hard work that is performed by David Johnson, the Clerk of our Company, whose administrative prowess is of a very high order. He made my job so much easier and I was able to relax and enjoy all the events I attended. Last but by no means least I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my Mistress (and wife) Janet, whose total support was unwavering and without which my job would have been so much harder.
It remains for me to wish my successor, Adrian Waddingham and his wife Angela, every success in his year of office and I hope they have as enjoyable a time as Janet and I had during 2008/09.
4 The Charitable Trust
TRUSTEES Roger Cobley (Chairman) Nick Dumbreck John Jolliffe Fiona Morrison Jeff Medlock Michael Turner
HONORARY ALMONER Lyndon Jones
This has been another very busy year for the Company of Actuaries Charitable Trust (CACT). Trust income for the year was over £160,000 and all of this was expended in donations to various charities. Income is derived from regular contributions from our Liverymen, most of which qualify for Gift Aid tax relief, donations and legacies, and fundraising events. In common with other invested assets, our Trust Fund reduced over the year but recent improvements in investment markets have now restored some of this value, although the year end figure is still below our target fund value of £300,000.
Our income was boosted by two major events. The “Lords Dinner” raised over £12,000 for the charity “Chance to Shine” and the “Thames Bike Ride”, organised in conjunction with the Stroke Association, raised over £40,000. The Trust is grateful to all those who organised or participated in these events which not only were financially very successful but also significantly raised the profile of CACT.
Income from regular contributions from Liverymen increased compared to previous years. Individual contributions are, of course, confidential to the Almoner, but we now receive an average annual contribution of about £300 from each contributing Liveryman. However, it is pleasing to note that average contributions from more recently joining members are considerably higher which gives cause for encouragement and confidence in future income.
The Trustees have continued with their policy of seeking to identify those charities which are efficiently run and where our donations can “make a difference”. As reported last year, they have worked hard to identify those worthy charities where our own Liverymen are directly involved and where a longer-term relationship can be formed with feedback on the direct effect of the donations. Establishing these longer term relationships has worked very successfully over the last year.
Last year we entered into an agreement with the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF) to provide funding for three years. This small but efficiently run charity, with Liveryman Tom Ross as its chairman, promotes research into the disease, provides support for affected families, and organises a series of Study Days for health professionals to raise awareness of the problem. CACT co-sponsors these Study Days and in particular provides free bursary places for attendees. We were delighted therefore to receive the report from the charity (see below) on how our donation had “made a difference”.
Similarly, through Past Master Richard Hawkes, CACT last year entered into an agreement with the St. Catherine’s Hospice to support an outreach project over three years. CACT will then identify specific projects to fund that will “make a difference”, with the direct involvement of the Liveryman concerned, who will provide regular feedback reports.
The Trustees intend to expand their work with Hospices and other charities with which our own Liverymen are associated and with which we can establish ongoing relationships. CACT will then, with the direct involvement of the Liveryman concerned, identify specific projects to fund, with feedback reports, to “make a difference”.
CACT entered into an agreement last year with Life Education Centres for three years at the rate of £30,000 per annum. Trustee Jeff Medlock is also a Trustee of this national charity whose aim is to work in partnership with schools and engage with others in the community to help children make healthy choices by contributing to life-skills and health education programmes utilising models of best practice, educating children about the effects and risks associated with the use of drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, and working with and supporting parents, carers, teachers and others in the community in communicating healthy life-styles messages effectively. The project is based on a pilot scheme which has operated 5 successfully in Tower Hamlets. Although Jeff holds an overall watching brief, the Trustees are very pleased that Liveryman David Barford has taken on the role of locally based volunteer to maintain a hands on approach and to report back regularly to the Company on this important work. We have received the first year’s report and, again, this emphasises that our direct involvement has “made a difference”.
In addition to these major initiatives, CACT continued to make donations to a wide range of charities. Over 70 charities received awards ranging from £500 to £2,000. Full details of all these donations can be found on our website.
CACT is involved also in education, granting bursaries for students in financial need on actuarial science courses at UK universities, and awarding prizes for success in actuarial examinations. A total of 25 bursaries were awarded to students at Herriot Watt, City, Southampton, LSE, Swansea, Kent and Warwick universities and these, together with prizes, amounted to over £20,000. We are always pleased to receive letters of thanks from bursary holders (see below). Trustees have developed relationships with the staff at the universities offering these actuarial science courses and visit the universities to meet the bursary holders.
Letter of thanks from a CACT bursary holder
I am an actuarial science student from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). I am writing to express my gratitude for the £700 bursary offered by the Worshipful Company of Actuaries Charitable Trust. Being the daughter of an accountant, I have developed a keen interest in numbers and problem solving in business context since young. Actuarial science in LSE is the only overseas degree I applied for three years ago and my appreciation towards the actuarial profession has been consistently enhanced through my university study. Coming from a family the annual total salary of which is only £3,200, I feel deeply thankful for the bursary offered to me. The bursary will greatly ease my financial burden of my third year university study. I will undoubtedly push myself to greater heights, aiming to make valuable contribution to my company and the actuarial profession. I sincerely wish every member of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries a very merry Christmas and happy New Year!
Some six years ago CACT supported research for a period of three years at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London as part of the “Twins Project”. The research student was Jamie Singer and we were delighted to learn that he had finally been awarded his PhD for that research work.
Charities’ needs are constantly growing and CACT expects many further appeals from charities for financial help. We are grateful to all those Liverymen who already give generously to CACT; nevertheless, our resources are limited and more contributions and donations are always required so that we can expand the charitable work of the Company.
Finally, may I extend the thanks of all the members of the Company to my fellow Trustees and our Honorary Almoner for all their hard work on behalf of the Trust which ensures that CACT fulfils its charitable duties and responsibilities and continues to expand year by year.
Roger Cobley Chairman of Trustees.
The trustees can be contacted through our Honorary Almoner, Lyndon Jones, who is always delighted to receive donations or applications for charitable donations. He can be contacted via the CACT’s email address charity@ actuariescompany.co.uk, or at Second Floor, 55, Station Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, HP9 1QL
6 CLDF Study Day Programme 2008 – Year 1 Report
Children’s Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF) – Why our work is important CLDF is the only organisation operating across the whole of the UK dedicated to the fight against paediatric liver disease.
• Liver disease affects more children than childhood leukaemia • At least two children are diagnosed with a liver disease every day • There are over 100 different types of liver disease affecting children • Liver disease has no cures; it means a lifetime of care
For most childhood liver disease we do not know the cause
How your support has made a difference The Company of Actuaries’ Charitable Trust Fund made a generous donation of £4000 in February 2008 as the first stage of a 3 year relationship established with CLDF to support the Study Days. The gift was to fund two elements of the Study Day programme during the first year:
• £3000 towards the cost of one of the study days • £1000 for 25 bursary places for delegates across all the study days.
As liver disease in children is rare (although it is more prevalent than childhood leukaemia) awareness of latest diagnostic and treatment techniques, research developments and the support available to patients and their families is not always a key priority for busy health professionals, particularly those based in the community.
The Study Day programme, therefore, is an essential tool in creating awareness and ensuring that medical teams are fully up-to-date. The programme is promoted through word of mouth at CLDF’s regular clinic visits, on the CLDF website and in publications such as the Paediatric Journal and the Royal College of Midwives Journal. This attracts a broad spread of attendees from both community health settings and those based in hospitals – typically, a Study Day will be attended by midwives, health visitors, nurses and sisters.
Feedback from attendees The feedback from attendees at the Study Days has been extremely positive. All speakers and sessions received excellent ratings with every attendee Strongly Agreeing or Agreeing with positive statements (and none registering even mild negative feedback). The one session that seems to strike a chord time and again is the perspective given by a parent of a child with liver disease. Here’s what just some attendees thought:
Very revealing from a parent’s perspective Eloquent, from the heart. Made me stop and think Very well presented. Excellent insight into their experience Superbly presented, incredibly informative and personal – a reminder of holistic care rather than just organ dysfunction
The figures Three study days have been held at Kings College Hospital, London in July and January and at St James’ Hospital, Leeds in June with a total of 136 attendees. CLDF recognises that attendees cascade the information to colleagues by a factor of 1:6. Thus, the reach / effect of the study day programme is extensive.
Thank you for your support - it is making an important difference on the frontline of healthcare support delivered to children with liver disease and their families.
7 Developing Competencies for End of Life Care
St Catherine’s Hospice is continuing to progress its pioneering initiative to work in partnership with staff from local care homes to support the development of competent end of life care practice. This project is being generously supported by the Worshipful Company of Actuaries’ Charitable Trust and other grant- making trusts and foundations.
Project Objectives The key objectives for this project are to: • work in partnership with four selected care homes to develop a set of core competencies • incorporate the core competencies into a specific five-day education package, to be delivered to care home staff • assess the impact of the education package on end of life care provided for residents in the care homes
Progress to date The care homes participating in this project are Ifield Park in Crawley, Wykeham House in Horley, Balcombe Place in Haywards Heath and Acorn Court in Redhill. Each of these care homes has responded positively to participating in the project, although some initial difficulties were experienced in getting all the relevant staff together. We have now nearly concluded the first phase of the project, which is to develop a competency framework for each of the four homes. This has been achieved via a series of focus group meetings and interviews conducted by our project team, in order to elicit experiences and develop statements.
Importantly, the process has not been to impose St Catherine’s own competencies on the care homes, but to work closely with each home to come up with their own areas for competency development. The following key areas of competency have been identified by the homes as being particularity relevant and helpful for care home staff: 1. Communication 2. Disease process and diagnosing dying 3. Patient care at end of life, including basic care and symptom management 4. Bereavement support 5. Personal organisation and time management It has been also encouraging to report that, primarily as a consequence of ‘word of mouth’, several other residential nursing and care homes in our area have started to express an interest in our initiative.
Next Steps We are currently confirming the competency statements and descriptors to provide a framework against which competencies can be measured. We are also now in the process of developing the tailored education programme that meets the needs of staff in the care home setting, as identified by the baseline assessment of competence based on the completed competency framework.
Evaluation of the education programme is ongoing and improvements continue to be made. We are also reviewing the assessment process in order to train senior care home staff to assess competence in the clinical area.
The care homes are now establishing their core staff groups and selecting the relevant staff to attend the specific five-day training programme.
Funding Update We are pleased to report that the Rayne Foundation has recently made a significant investment in this project over a two year period. We are currently awaiting the outcome of an outstanding application to another charitable foundation, which, if successful, is hoped would fully fund the project.
St Catherine’s Hospice remains extremely grateful to the Worshipful Company of Actuaries’ Charitable Trust for their continuing support for this initiative, aimed at improving the end of life care experience of residents in care homes.
8 Life Education - Helping the children of Tower Hamlets make healthy choices
Background Since 2007, Life Education has worked successfully with just under 40 schools in Tower Hamlets to deliver programmes to over 3,000 children. The programme currently offered in Tower Hamlets is designed to support children in Years 5 and 6 as they prepare for the transition into secondary school. It has been developed specifically to meet the diverse needs of the borough and includes four modules to help schools achieve and maintain Healthy Schools Status. Funding recently awarded by the Worshipful Company of Actuaries Charitable Trust is being used to support the continued development of work in Tower Hamlets and the development of new work within the neighbouring East London boroughs of Newham and Hackney.
Key target milestones 1. Recruit founder member of the Development Group from Actuaries to guide the development of Life Education in East London 2. Establish a Steering Committee with Tower Hamlets Children’s Services to oversee ongoing development of the Tower Hamlets model 3. Agree ongoing funding model for Tower Hamlets post July 2009 when Lehman Brothers Foundation funding ends 4. Pilot Life Education in one additional borough by April 2009 5. Test model for recruiting parents, governors and teachers to promote Life Education to schools in Tower Hamlets
Progress • Liveryman David Barford has been identified to participate on the Development Group. The Scout Association in East London and Tate & Lyle have been approached with some success and links with the Rotary network in East London are currently being explored • A Community Development Manager has been recruited to co-ordinate the continued recruitment of Development Group members • Stephen O’Brien MP hosted an event in May to raise the profile of Life Education within Tower Hamlets. Attendance at the event was good and the event gave Life Education the opportunity to develop links with key individuals, including influential members of the Bangladeshi community. As a result, Life Education is now in talks with the East London Mosque, the Jagonari Women’s Centre (which also runs a SureStart Children’s Centre), the School Governors’ network, a local Councillor and Tower Hamlets Children’s Services (THCS) • Tower Hamlets Chief Executive, Kevan Collins has publicly endorsed Life Education’s work in Tower Hamlets and has invited staff within THCS to work collaboratively with Life Education to achieve better outcomes for children in the borough • A plan has been developed to support the introduction of Life Education’s services throughout East London and other London boroughs. The focus of the plan is for Life Education to expand into Hackney, Newham, Islington and Camden. The plan would provide a mixed economy of mobile classroom and Lifebase delivery to enable Life Education to work across all year groups and achieve a penetration of about 20% in primary schools in the 4 new London boroughs • An independent evaluation has been completed. This has provided positive feedback about the value of Life Education’s programmes and has also reported positive findings about the usefulness of Life Education’s programmes to parents • New marketing materials to support the promotion of Life Education’s work in East London are being developed, highlighting the successes of the Tower Hamlets pilot.
Future Developments Work will focus on achieving the Milestones listed above. This will involve carrying out market analysis in Hackney, Newham, Camden and Islington to establish existing provision and ongoing need; conducting research to establish the feasibility of using the mobile classroom in schools in the four identified boroughs; developing the strategic links and networks necessary to support Life Education in achieving its aim of establishing itself as a key provider of Health Education within inner city London.
9 The Twins Project
The Company’s involvement in this project started in 2002 when Past Master Alan Fishman identified the opportunity to sponsor a research student at the St Thomas’ Hospital Twins Unit and he put forward Jamie Singer as a potential candidate for this project.
The main challenge for the Company was to raise the £60,000 required to support the three year study programme under the supervision of Dr (now Professor) Tim Spector and his senior colleagues in the Twins Unit. A generous offer of support from the family trust operated by a member of the Court provided a valuable contribution and the Trustees of the Charitable Trust confirmed their support for this new and longer term commitment as the central element of the Company’s charitable initiatives over the next few years.
Past Master Robin Michaelson led the detailed discussions with St Thomas’s Hospital and he agreed the terms of this three year commitment (starting in January 2003) on behalf of the Company, even though we only had confirmed funding for the first two years at that stage. It was around this time that I was asked to act as liaison between the Company and Jamie, essentially to monitor his progress, to provide personal encouragement and to give regular reports to the Court. I also arranged for successive Masters to meet Tim Spector and Jamie as the project progressed and they were both invited to attend a couple of Livery functions.
I was not responsible for reviewing the academic aspects of Jamie’s proposed research programme, to ensure that it lived up to the expectations of the Company in providing such substantial support for this educational project. This important role was undertaken by Howard Waters, a member of the actuarial science degree course teaching staff at Heriot-Watt University.
As the nature of the Company’s commitment to this research project became clearer, a general appeal for financial support was made to the Livery and was answered by specific donations which bridged the funding gap in the third year. Jamie Singer A striking feature of Jamie’s time at St Thomas’ was the tremendous support that Jamie received from all sides: his supervisors within the Twins Unit were diligent in keeping him “on track” and the involvement of Robert Plomin, the world renowned expert in twins research, as his moderator was invaluable. As the work progressed and results started to emerge, Jamie was actively encouraged to write papers for appropriate scientific journals and over the course of his three years of study he had three papers published so that most of the results which would form the core of his doctoral thesis were formally documented in these publications.
At the end of 2005 the research phase finished, along with our financial commitment to St Thomas’ Hospital. Even though Jamie had started to write his thesis in the last few months of his time at the Twins Unit, he still had some way to go until it would be ready to be submitted to the examiners from King’s College London. However, he now had to start earning his own living and so he secured a job with a small publishing firm in south London which specialises in medical literature, articles for medical publications, etc. The competing pressures of working full time and trying to complete his thesis proved very difficult to cope with but, after a number of revisions and additions to his thesis suggested by his supervisors, he finally submitted it for examination in late 2007. A viva examination followed in early Spring 2008 at which he was given the news that the thesis was “almost there” and would require only relatively minor revisions for it to be formally accepted by the examination panel.
A very busy time at work and preparing for his first marathon together conspired to delay progress on the thesis until much later in 2008 and just into 2009. After that final push, however, Jamie finally heard on 1 March 2009 that the award of his PhD had been confirmed, just over 6 years since he embarked on the programme of research and study at St Thomas’ Hospital.
10 I was honoured to be asked to be one of the three guests who could attend his graduation ceremony at Southwark Cathedral on 3 July 2009. It was a splendid occasion and a fitting end to Jamie’s sustained and impressive effort. It was also pleasing to meet his very proud parents and to share some of his special moments along the way with them.
Looking back, it has been a real privilege being so involved for so long in this novel initiative by the Company. I hope that the success of our sponsorship of the Twins Project will convince the Company and the Charitable Trust that the “and more” aspect of “money and more” in our charitable work is just as important as writing the cheque.
Philip Jowett
Wainwright Projects make progress
It is always good to follow up on your investments to see how they have performed, even though this may provide disappointing news. Supporters of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries’ Wainwright Walk of 2007 may also wish to see what has been done with their money, some £28,000. It was raised in support of existing youth projects with the Scouts, Shelter and the Children’s Society. We have therefore followed up on how your money was used, and the news is far from disappointing! This also provides us with the opportunity to thank all sponsors for their generosity.
The Chief Executive of The Scout Association, Derek Twine, has confirmed that the new climbing wall at Gilwell Park has been completed on time and is now in regular use. The Company is planning a visit to Gilwell Park in May to see it at first hand.
Alan Gosschalk of Shelter writes about the Newham pilot project based in London: “It is now up-and-running across the country. Four other groundbreaking projects are running in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Knowsley, and four locations in Scotland. In addition, the team of regional coordinators is established, and the Children’s Legal Service is running. So the national initiative is now achieving all it was designed to.” Chris Ide and Philip Jowett on Sharp Edge
Kate Hurley of The Children’s Society writes: “Right Track makes childhood better by working directly with black and ethnic minority children and young people in Bristol who are either at risk of, or already involved with, the Youth Justice system. Since receiving the gift, the project has grown and developed, and last August we celebrated 10 years of working with young people in Bristol with an event at Circomedia. Guests included young people and their families and representatives from the local community. Another part of the gift went to support a Leading Edge worker whose aim is to ensure that young refugees and asylum seekers are offered inclusive, informed and safer experiences in our schools.”
All three charities reiterated their thanks to the Company and the sponsors for their generous support.
11 Events 2008 - 2009
Installation Dinner 15 July 2008 Our Installation Dinner was held at the Haberdashers’ Hall in West Smithfield. The Haberdashers are one of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of the City of London and can date its activities back to 1371. Its first hall was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and its second hall was destroyed in an air raid in 1940. This stunning Hall was designed by celebrated British architect Sir Michael Hopkins. It combines modern architecture with traditional materials and building skills to form a very fine home for the Haberdashers and was opened by the Queen in 2002. We were very grateful to the Haberdashers for the opportunity to dine in their splendid Hall. Haberdashers’ Hall Chris Ide in his last act as our previous Master handed over the chain of office in the Installation Ceremony and Andrew Benke duly became the 30th Master of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries. In addition Adrian Waddingham was installed as the new Senior Warden and Graham Clay was installed as the new Junior Warden.
The principal guest at the dinner was Mr Peter Nelson, Assistant Town Clerk of the City of London Corporation who gave a most interesting talk and insights into the workings of the Corporation. In his first speech as our new Master, Andrew Benke paid particular tribute to Peter Parker who retired from the position of Renter Warden after more than 16 years’ service to the Company in this role.
This very enjoyable occasion marked an excellent start to Master Andrew’s year.
Livery Dinner 8 October Our Autumn Livery Dinner was held at the Armourers’ Hall, which has been the home of the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers since 1346. It is a building full of history and treasures including 16th and 17th Century armour and paintings. The Livery Hall, with bold mottoes high under the roof lantern, has a rich display of 16th and 17th century arms and armour. The three George II brass chandeliers have been in constant use since they were made in the mid-1700s and, together with the Men-at-Arms candelabra, provide a unique candle-lit setting for banquets and we felt privileged to have the opportunity to dine there.
The evening (and dinner) survived a near fatal blow when the kitchen was put out of action by an electrical fault. Our Clerk was frantically making contingency plans (including the possibility of an Indian takeaway!) but fortunately the caterers were able to access a nearby Hall and the cooking was done there. Despite these problems which resulted only in a slight delay to dinner, the food was excellent and indeed many liverymen were unaware of the the excitement that had Armourers’ Hall been going on behind the scenes.
Our principal guest was Sir Alan Haselhurst, Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons who gave a very entertaining speech and the evening was much enjoyed by Liverymen and their guests.
12 City Heritage Exhibition 17 October The City of London Guide Lecturers Association held an exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery to commemorate its 25th anniversary. The theme of the exhibition was a display of “City Heritage” items, objects that were at one time in the City of London, and are now, for whatever reason, no longer in the City. Over 300 such items were traced for this exhibition in all five continents.
Past Master Robin Michaelson, became a City of London Guide after his retirement, and he organised this unusual and fascinating exhibition. When Temple Bar, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was re-erected in 2004 alongside St Paul’s Cathedral, its return to the City prompted Robin to ponder what else had left the City, only to emerge elsewhere in the world. This innocent thought set in motion a fascinating trail which culminated in this exhibition.
Anything proven to have resided in the City of London at any time, which is now, for whatever reason, domiciled elsewhere was considered eligible for recording. Immediately, London Bridge transplanted to Arizona sprang to mind for obvious inclusion, and if you visit Twickenham Rugby Ground along the A316 you will see the All Hallows Wren church, Lombard Street, which has been re-erected there. Muse sculpture at Spier winery
In Melbourne, Australia, there is a statue by Boehm “Young Bull and Herdsman” sent by the City to commemorate the centenary of Australia in 1888 – it cost so much to get it there, that it was decided that Melbourne could keep it, and it is still prominently on display.
In Wellington, New Zealand, recently a man digging in his garden discovered a paperweight made from the lead roofing of Temple Bar, demolished in 1878. The paperweight bears the initials “HJ”, and it is widely believed to have belonged to Horace Jones, the designer of Tower Bridge.
There are Tompion clocks located in Spain, Latvia, and China, and no doubt in many more places. In South Africa at the Spier winery near Stellenbosch, one can see the nine golden sculptures of the Muses that adorned the original entrance to the Barbican Centre.
In America, as well as Rennie’s London Bridge re-erected over the Colorado River, there is a Wren church in Fulton, Missouri, a shop from Cheapside in Michigan, and the bells of St Dunstans-in-the-East now grace a winery in the Napa Valley, California, not to mention numerous artefacts on the East Coast taken over by early settlers, including the font in which William Penn was baptised in All Hallows by the Tower in the 17th century.
Recently, the remains of the bombed Baltic Exchange have been purchased by an Estonian businessman, and these will be re-erected in Tallinn, capital of Estonia. So the Baltic Exchange will go to the Baltic!
The suburban churches of London, built during the expansion of London in the 19th century, contain altars, reredoses, organs and panelling from Wren City churches that were demolished to make way for office buildings. Railings from St Paul’s Cathedral can be found in Kent, Sussex, Toronto, and at the bottom of the Atlantic. There are statues of monarchs removed from the City which are now in Yorkshire, Greenwich, Hastings and Hatfield.
Robin Michaelson kindly volunteered to provide a personal guided tour of the exhibition and on Friday 17 October, a group of liverymen and their friends met at the Guildhall Art Gallery for a fascinating tour of the exhibition. All present greatly appreciated Robin’s expertise - the insights he gave ensured that all departed with many new and fascinating stories from the history of our great City.
13 The Lord Mayor’s Show 8 November Master Andrew, the Wardens and the Clerk all participated in the Lord Mayor’s Show as part of the Modern Livery Companies Float. Some 24 Modern Livery Companies joined the procession this year to welcome the new Lord Mayor, Alderman Ian Luder, a tax accountant with Grant Thornton, who became the 681st Lord Mayor of London.
It was the wettest Lord Mayor’s Show in memory and our stalwart participants were thoroughly soaked by the time they completed the three mile course and arrived back at Mansion House. More than 6,000 people in 220 vehicles and 60 floats took part this year and the weather did not dampen the enthusiastic Lord Mayor, Alderman Ian Luder support of the several hundred thousand people who lined the streets as the procession passed. Interestingly the Show is the oldest regular outside broadcast on television and continues to draw millions of viewers both in the UK and abroad.
Afterwards the damp but enthusiastic walkers were joined by almost 50 fellow members of the Company, their families and friends for a warming curry lunch in a private room at Doggett’s Coat and Badge next to Blackfriars Bridge overlooking the Thames. This provided a splendid view of the fireworks display launched by the new Lord Mayor from a barge moored on the river and marked a memorable close to the day’s festivities.
Charity Dinner at Lord’s 18 November A highlight of Master Andrew’s year was undoubtedly his main charity event, a black tie dinner in the famous Long Room at Lord’s, the international home of cricket. The main purpose of this event was to raise funds for the charity “Chance to Shine”. This charity gives disadvantaged youngsters the opportunity of learning to play cricket, thereby teaching them how to function in a team atmosphere. This in turn helps to equip them with the skills needed to work in an environment where, so often, being a team member is vital to a successful and satisfactory career. With parents, school teachers and society despairing of the behaviour of some of our young people, how much better to take them off the streets and onto the playing field where they can compete against each other in a “gang”, called a cricket team, as well as developing skills which could benefit them in later life.
The event started with a fascinating tour of Lord’s Cricket Ground including the new media centre and the museum. We then adjourned back at the Long Room (possibly the most famous room in all sport) for a reception where we were privileged to welcome the chief executive of the Cricket Foundation, Nick Gandon from “Chance to Shine” and Mike Brearley, President of MCC and generally acknowledged as England’s best cricket captain of the past century.
This was, of course, a meeting of former cricket stars able to reminisce shared glories. Master Andrew played under Mike Brearley’s captaincy at Cambridge University and, in particular, in the 1962 Oxford University v Cambridge University match at Lord’s. The annals of cricket history record that Mike Brearley scored a fine unbeaten hundred in this match and Master Andrew took three vital wickets with his tricky off-breaks, including his 50th first class wicket of the season - a fine achievement for any cricketer, let a alone a student studying for important exams. Despite these excellent performances, Oxford escaped with a draw on that occasion. Master Andrew with Mike Brearley and Farokh Engineer 14 Farokh Engineer, the famous Indian Test cricketer and long time member of Lancashire’s County side, was our principal guest at dinner in the Long Room and delivered an excellent speech, following which Adrian Waddingham, in characteristic style then performed an admirable job as auctioneer to sell off a number of items donated by members of the Livery.
Not only was this a hugely enjoyable evening, but it also raised over £12,000 for “Chance to Shine” - a very successful outcome. Many thanks to all those who supported this event.
Farokh Engineer and auctioneer Adrian Waddingham
Carol Service and Supper 15 December Our Christmas Carol Service was once again held at our traditional home at St Lawrence Jewry. There were the familiar readings and congregational carols and the choir at St Lawrence Jewry also treated us to a number of beautifully sung carols.
Following the service we adjourned to the Barber- Surgeons’ Hall for a very jovial festive family supper, after which we were treated to a some fine music from a brass sextet including Chris Ide on the tuba and Nick Taylor on the trumpet. This enjoyable evening was rounded off with some hearty community carol singing ably accompanied by the brass sextet and we all departed into the night full of Christmas cheer. St Lawrence Jewry Livery Dinner 15 January 2009 Our Winter Livery Dinner was held in the magnificent setting of the Goldsmiths’ Hall. This is not only a wonderful hall, but it is also still a working building as the assaying of gold in London is still carried out there. Founded to regulate the craft or trade of the goldsmith, the Goldsmiths’ Company has been responsible since 1300 for testing the quality of gold, silver and, from 1975, platinum articles. The word hallmark originates from the fifteenth century when London craftsmen were first required to bring their artefacts to Goldsmiths’ Hall for assaying and marking. This requirement continues unchanged today and the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths still carries out its statutory function through the operations of the Assay Master Andrew thanks Sir David Brewer Office London.
Our principal guest was Sir David Brewer, Lord Mayor of the City of London in 2005/06. During his year as Lord Mayor, he hosted Her Majesty the Queen at the Mansion House to celebrate her 80th birthday, and he is now her representative as the Lord Lieutenant of London. This very splendid evening marked an excellent start to 2009.
15 Pancake Race 24 February On Shrove Tuesday 24 fiercely competitive teams gathered in Guildhall Yard under the watchful eye of the Lord Mayor, Alderman Ian Luder, for the annual Inter-Livery Pancake Race organised by the Poulters’ Company. This was the first time we had been successful in securing a team place for the Actuaries Company and we were determined to give it our best toss.
The Actuaries team Adrian Waddingham in determined mood Our team acquitted themselves well, finishing 3rd out of 4 in most heats. The Senior Warden won his heat but missed out in the semi-final when he dropped his pancake!
The winning team was the Remembrancers’ Department at Guildhall.
Livery Lecture 24 February Our annual lecture and buffet supper was once again held at Staple Inn. This allowed the Masters or their representatives of fifty other Livery Companies to see the home of the Institute, to admire its Hall and to have a most enjoyable evening.
The lecture continued the cricketing theme of our Master. It was to have been given by the most famous statistician in the land, Bill Frindall, known to all cricket lovers as the “Bearded Wonder”, but he tragically died a few weeks before the lecture. Instead it was given by Nick Gandon of the Charity “Chance to Shine” who is director of The Cricket Foundation.
Chance to Shine is the Charity supported by the Master for his year. It is helping to give state school children the chance to play cricket. People from deprived backgrounds would not otherwise have the opportunity to play such team sports. The teamwork skills learnt in doing this help pupils both in their attitude to school and in subsequent life. Nick Gandon Nick gave an inspiring and humorous talk about his career starting with his training to be a teacher with the bottom class at a school in a deprived area of England. The pupils if anything behaved worse than during a normal lesson when the inspector came to assess his performance. He felt his teaching career was only saved by one very unruly pupil who showed that even the inspector could not control things when he went up to him, asked him what he was smiling at and pulling his beard. Needless to say the Inspector said well done and Nick qualified as a teacher.
The pupil was from a broken home but he found he could bowl well. Not only did he continue playing cricket but his attitude at school and his performance in other subjects then improved markedly as a result. It is therefore no surprise that in due course Nick left education for this charity work. This early experience shows how the objectives of this charity, which this year aims to give 250,000 pupils from state schools the chance to play cricket, can help improve the lives of so many.
16 27th Annual Inter-Livery Bridge Competition 2 March It was another very successful year for the Worshipful Company of Actuaries at the Inter Livery Bridge Competition held at the Drapers’ Hall. This competition is organised by the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and the profits for the evening go to the Lord Mayor’s Charity.
The outright winners out of 64 pairs were Peter Turvey and John Macleod. Also, together with Sos Green and John Lockyer, they won the teams’ trophy for the Livery Company with the highest placed two pairs. Our 3rd pair was Graham Clay and Peter Bennett and all 3 pairs came comfortably in the top half of the field. Peter Turvey and John Macleod accept their prize
This is the 6th time that a pair representing the Actuaries has won the event and also the 6th year out of just 8 when the Actuaries has won the teams’ event.
We would have done even better if Chris Ide, and his wife Barbara had not played for his other Company, the Makers of Playing Cards on the excuse that he is on their organising committee for this event! Even so we were delighted that they came 5th and won the prize for the highest placed pair from the Makers of Playing Cards. Unfortunately for them winning this award disqualified them from winning the Flitch Trophy for the highest placed married couple. That would have made a nice treble for the Actuaries as our Company presented this award, which instead was won by a couple from the Tin Plate Workers.
This event is held every year on the first Monday in March. If anyone would like to play in future years please contact our captain, Chris Pullan.
Golf day at Muirfield 10 March Continuing the welcome precedent set by Bob Chadwick last year members of the Livery golfing fraternity were this year invited by Malcolm Murray to visit the famous Muirfield links where he had the distinction of being captain. Muirfield is the prestigious home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers whose records date back to 1744 and has played host to numerous Championship competitions. It has recently been nominated to host the Open competition in 2013.
Twenty-four golfers accepted the March invitation with some apprehension given the location’s weather reputation. However although the previous day’s golf at Gullane was played in very blustery conditions, on the appointed day for Muirfield we were blessed with sunshine and little wind, so that we could enjoy not only the golf but the stunning views over the Firth of Forth. We also enjoyed the honour of lunching in the captain’s own dining room and tea after the golf was in the club’s dining room, enabling us to absorb the splendid atmosphere of this illustrious club. Our ladies were made most welcome by the club which quickly dispelled any fears that its formidable reputation might have engendered.
After the golf we were joined by a number of non-playing guests at the renowned restaurant La Potiniere where we enjoyed a delightful dinner in very convivial surroundings hosted by Malcolm and Muriel. A warm vote of thanks was given to Malcolm for arranging the visit and making it so memorable. A presentation of a print of the Muirfield course was made by Malcolm to each member of the winning team comprising Lindy Clay, Peter Bennett and Stuart Shepley.
17 10-Pin Bowling 16 March The Blind Demolition Men (Bill Harris, Nick Quigley and James Teasdale) became the first winners of the WCA 10- Pin Bowling trophy with an aggregate score of 406 at the inaugural event held at the All Star Lanes in Holborn, in the basement of what used to be the Liverpool Victoria offices - bringing back many happy / unhappy memories for those who sat actuarial exams there.
Nick achieved 160, the evening’s highest individual score. Sarah Gemignani was the highest scoring lady with 115 and the average individual score across all 21 players was 109.
Seven teams enjoyed an hour’s highly competitive and excitable bowling, followed by splendid canapés and drinks Bill Harris, Nick Quigley and James Teasdale with lively conversation about spares and strikes (and complete misses!). Junior Warden Graham Clay presented the trophy.
The winners will be defending their trophy at the next event which is expected to attract even greater interest. Thanks go to the WCA Social Committee, specifically Liveryman Roger Bevan, for organising this successful occasion.
Inter-Livery Swimathon 30 March The Worshipful Company of Actuaries’ team of 5 swimmers (David Hager, Bill Harris, Philip Jowett, Petrea Simmons and Mike Thomas) participated in this year’s Inter Livery Swimathon, held at Woodcote Park, Epsom. Once again the team completed the 5km challenge in the required time. Although not a swimming race, one of the opposing teams was joined by Mark Foster, who rather put us all to shame.
The charities supported by this year’s Swimathon are the Lord’s Taverners and St John’s Ambulance London (Prince of Wales’s District).
Following the swim, four of the team were able to stay on for a well earned dinner in the clubhouse Bill Harris, Philip Jowett, Mike Thomas and Petrea Simmons Common Hall and Livery Lunch 2 April Common Hall was this year held at Vintners’ Hall. This is an opportunity for liverymen and freemen to be updated about the activities of both the Company and our Charitable Trust, to be appraised of the financial position, to raise questions and to make comments.
The Master welcomed all present to Common Hall and presented his Report. Richard Hawkes, Chairman of the Finance Committee, who had made available to the meeting a summary of the accounts for the year ending 31 July 2008, briefly explained the significance of the more substantial figures.
Roger Cobley, the Chairman of the Trustees of the Company’s Charitable Trust, introduced his report on the activities of the Trust, and drew attention to the detailed information about the Trust which is available on the Company’s web site.
Jeff Medlock made a presentation on the work of Life Education Centres, a charity which has been a recent recipient of substantial donations from the Trust.
Common Hall was followed by a special Livery Lunch in the splendid surroundings of Vintners’ Hall. 18 Mansion House Banquet 20 April Amid the magnificent surroundings of the Mansion House in London, the Lord Mayor, Alderman Ian Luder, welcomed liverymen and guests to his home. He spoke of his own initiatives in the City of London and for the need for reform of the financial services sector, where he felt that the city is playing its part. This, together with cricket, would become a theme for the evening.
Greeted by the Edmonton Sea Cadets, entertained by an enthusiastic Militaire Orchestra and served with choreographed precision by the caterers to the Mansion House, the two hundred liverymen and guests were glued to their seats for the speeches, not only because there is a tradition (not always observed) that once seated, guests are not expected to leave the table until the end of the proceedings. Clearly a healthy prostate is an essential criterion in the selection of Lord Mayors.
Master Andrew reflected on the power of teamwork, which is the theme for his term of office. He and the Lord Mayor share an obsession for cricket, and the Lord Mayor’s chosen charities are St John Ambulance and The Lord’s Taverners. The Master presented him with a cheque in support of these, and a second in respect of the Mansion House Scholarship Scheme. He then presented Nick Gandon, Director of the Cricket Foundation, with a cheque for £12,400 in favour of ‘Chance to Shine’. Master Andrew suggested that gangs of youths would do better to focus on knocking each others’ bails off rather than indulging in their more traditional inter-gang competitive activities.
Traditional livery companies saw to the continuing success of their trades by ensuring an effective apprenticeship scheme. The Master announced the development of a new membership class of apprentice, and challenged liverymen to support the initiative by volunteering as mentors.
19 Jo Thomas, widow of Past Master Robert Thomas, presented the Robert Thomas Memorial Award for the Sea Cadet of the Year to Able Cadet Rebecca Sibley.
Our principal guest and speaker was Professor Dame Sandra Dawson, Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. She talked of her husband Henry’s concerns as she had progressively adopted increasingly dominant roles as Doctor, Professor and then Master; and of his evident relief when she finally accepted the title of Dame. She returned to the financial services theme, calling for global financial regulation, and observing that those framing regulations would do well to look from the perspective of other disciplines, and to remember the need “to see ourselves as others see us”.
The beautiful venue, the pageantry, the musical accompaniment, especially the stirring trumpet fanfares and the whole sense of occasion mark this out as one of the highlights of our Company year. This year was no exception. Liverymen and their guests departed after another very special evening of fellowship.
Royalist Regatta 12 & 13 May Richard Hawkes with Julie Griffiths as his 2nd in command and Graham Jung and Nick Salter represented the Company for a second attempt at the Royalist Regatta. This fund-raising event is run from Portsmouth in chartered boats in aid of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the Marine Society and Sea Cadets. Our participation helps us maintain a close relationship with “our” Sea Cadet unit at Edmonton, since their Chairman, Allan Jones, and three cadets made up the other half of the crew.
There was a practice afternoon on the Tuesday, followed by a black-tie dinner in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses the Earl & Countess of Wessex in the Historic Dockyard’s “Boathouse No. 7”. The Master, Andrew Benke, was presented to The Earl before joining the crew for dinner, and then watching the racing on the following day from the TS Royalist, which was acting as the committee boat.
Whilst not repeating last year’s successes - when the Company was 4th overall, winning raffle prizes and the City Trophy - the Company still maintained a high profile by winning the Bonham Telescope. This is awarded to “the boat that, in the opinion of the Race Committee, has in the course of the Regatta demonstrated most need thereof”. Richard is embarrassed to admit that, whilst the Race Committee decided to run another race, our crew set their eyes on an early lunch and we thus trailed round a dismal last for that race, eventually making us 7th out of the dozen competitors after six races.
Whilst it was disappointing not to have improved on our position in 2008 it is a fun and high-profile event, including entries from the Haberdashers and Management Consultant Companies - the crew is determined to do better in 2010!
20 Prince Arthur of Connaught Golf Competition 21 May This much coveted prize is named after Prince Arthur of Connaught, a grandson of Queen Victoria and a very keen golfer. It is competed for in May each year over 36 holes of foursomes and open to all 108 Livery Companies provided each can raise a team of 4 golfers. Currently it is held at Walton Heath, one of the finest courses in the South of England, ranked among the top 100 courses in the world by Golf Magazine and also, a former Ryder Cup venue.
Because the capacity of the golf course is limited, it is never possible to have more than 54 Companies taking part in any one year. However this still represents 216 players attending and playing and the event is believed to be one of the largest amateur meetings in the Country.
Despite a very slow (and late) start, the Actuaries returned a total score of 20 down. Whilst this in no way threatened the eventual winners (the Cutlers), it did place us slightly above half way. This was a very creditable effort and one which ought to earn us an invitation for next year. Many congratulations to the team of Graham Clay, Ian Farr, Bill Sharp and Andrew MacRae.
All agreed that this was a most enjoyable day on a great course. The event is highly commended to all liverymen and we hope for more volunteers in future years.
Actuaries on Wheels 31 May The morning of 31 May dawned with a clear blue sky and the promise of the hottest day of the year. So it looked like a wonderful day for a nice gentle bike ride. Perhaps though it might be a bit warm for an energetic ride of 33 miles from Tower Bridge to Hampton Court on a route that meant riding over all the London bridges in between.
This did not deter some 123 actuaries and friends of actuaries from setting out in support of Senior Warden, Adrian Waddingham in a major fund raising event. The team included three couples on tandems. The event was arranged by the Stroke Association, which was the major beneficiary of the funds raised. There were about 2,400 riders in total but the Actuaries were the largest group there. They sported bibs in the colours of the Company of Actuaries – thereby raising the profile of the profession amongst the crowds on the riverside paths.
Master Andrew welcomed the riders and their supporters with much deserved food and drink in a noticeable red refreshment tent. This supplemented the refreshment breaks that several of our riders were observed to take at a number of riverside hostelries en route.
21 In total we raised over £40,000 - a magnificent effort. The major part of this fund raising effort went to the British Stroke Association. Every year an estimated 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke, and about a third are likely to die within the first 10 days; a third are likely to make a recovery within one month; and about a third are likely to be left disabled and needing rehabilitation. A quarter of a million people are living with long-term disability as a result of stroke in the UK. A big thank you to all those who helped to make this such a successful and enjoyable event.
Master’s Golf Day 8 June The Master’s golf day took place at Woking Golf Club, which is a fine course and provided a great day’s golf. The overall winner was Jeff Medlock who thus regained the trophy he temporarily passed over to Jane Bennett last year and the runner-up was Bill Smith. Rosemary Derby won the ladies’ prize. The day was rounded off with an excellent supper and fine wine.
Master Andrew’s apparent quick change between presentations was due to the completion of the prize- giving taking place at our July Livery dinner.
Clerk’s Dinner 17 June Our dinner in honour of our Clerk, David Johnson and his wife, Judith, took place at the Oxford & Cambridge Club in Pall Mall. David continues to do a great job as Clerk and it was fitting that there was a good turn out to join Master Andrew in thanking him for his efforts on behalf of the Company.
22 News from the Court
Membership The Company will continue to flourish only if it maintains an adequate number of active members. Although membership of the Company continues to grow, the Court has set itself the ambition of increasing the membership substantially to a target of 300 Liverymen. The Court has a further objective that 90% of members attend at least one Company event each year and 50% of members more than one event. The Court would therefore like all members to seek to identify potential new liverymen amongst their actuarial contacts, perhaps inviting them to one of our sporting or social events rather than a Livery Dinner.
During the year we welcomed 5 new Freemen: Mark Goodale, Jethro Green, Andrew MacRae, Graeme Muir and Jerry Staffurth. We also clothed 9 new Liverymen: Matt Barnes, Paul Collis, David Dullaway, Ian Farr, Sanjay Gupta, Michael Pomery, Faisal Rafi, Mark Roberts and Gordon Sharp.
We were saddened to record the deaths of Liverymen Richard Machin and Clifford Lewis as well as former Liveryman David Peacock
At 31 July 2009 there were 234 Liverymen and 19 Freemen. Additionally there was one Honorary Freeman. The membership is listed in full on page 27.
Worshipful Company of Actuaries Prizes The Company donates prizes to students who obtain the highest mark in individual examinations. We were pleased to congratulate the following winners of Company prizes: Thomas Harper - Life Insurance Claire Dudley - Pensions Martin Jecks - Investment
Royal Charter The Court is delighted to report that our formal Petition to Privy Council was gazetted in the London Gazette on Thursday 12 February, approved by the Queen in Council in May and formally sealed by the Queen on 4 September 2009.
The impetus for the Company to petition for a Royal Charter came from the late Past Master Robert Thomas and the Court is extremely pleased to have carried through this vision which will culminate in our being formally presented with our Royal Charter in 2010.
Apprentice Scheme The Court has agreed to the introduction of an Apprentice Scheme. Under this scheme the Company will offer a limited number of apprenticeships to recently qualified actuaries resident in the UK, with a view to them becoming Freemen and then Liverymen of the Company. A key objective of the proposed scheme is to increase the number of younger members, some of whom might be encouraged to seek election to other roles within the City in due course.
Each apprentice would be assigned a mentor who is a Liveryman. The mentor would be expected to:
• Maintain regular contact with the apprentice • Make the apprentice aware of the aims of the Livery and any relevant developments in the affairs of the Company • Invite the apprentice to a Livery dinner each year • Attend an annual reception for apprentices • At the end of the apprenticeship period, to recommend the apprentice (if suitable) for admission as a Freeman.
Practical implementation of the Apprentice scheme is well under way. The initial offer of apprenticeships has been made to former winners of Company prizes. The Court is now looking to collate a list of Liverymen who are prepared to act as mentors to these Apprentices
23 Company Strategy A full strategic review of the business and operations of the Company was last carried out in 2001. Although Company strategy has been regularly on the Court’s agenda it was considered timely and appropriate to carry out a further full review of strategy. The Strategy Committee carried out the review and presented a number of recommendations to the Court at a special meeting held on 26 January 2009. At this meeting, the Court approved the following recommendations:
• The role and time commitment required of the Clerk has increased considerably over the last few years. Moreover, as the Company seeks to establish a deeper role in the City and increase its relationship with the Actuarial Profession, it is recognised that the Master will place even greater reliance upon the Clerk. It was therefore agreed that the Clerk should be paid. The title Chief Operating Officer is a better description of the Clerk’s role as envisaged although it was agreed that the traditional title of Clerk would be retained.
• All committees will be made up of those whose knowledge and skills best contribute to the work of the committee and there should be at least one member of Court on each committee
• The Senior Warden should develop a plan for his year of office and present this to the Election Court meeting
• There should be the development of a consolidated communications strategy (which assumes that email correspondence is the main means of communication) to include communications to all members of the Company on City issues, advising of opportunities for Company members in to be involved in City affairs
• The Company should strengthen its links with the Actuarial Profession through formal bilateral meetings with the Profession and with SIAS and if possible by using the Profession’s new concept of Member Interest Groups.The Company should establish closer links with those in the Profession with responsibility for Staple Inn with a view to improving its accessibility to Liverymen. Liverymen are encouraged to consider Staple Inn as a venue for City related events.
New Badges Past Master Peter Moody left a legacy to the Company, which was used to pay for a very fine new loving cup and superb new badges for officers and members of the Court, all designed and crafted by Grant MacDonald. Following the success of these new badges, it was agreed that the Court would commission a new Mistress Badge and a number of Past Mistresses badges also from Grant MacDonald. The Court was indebted to Master Andrew, Past Master Jeremy Goford and a number of others who contributed to the cost of these badges. The Mistress Actuary’s Badge was worn for the first time at our Annual Banquet at Mansion House. The Court agreed to offer a Past Mistress Badge as a gift to Companion Jo Thomas.
The original Senior Warden’s Badge has been donated to the Museum of London for display in their collection of Livery Badges.
Web site Our web site www.actuariescompany.co.uk has been up and running now for over 2 years and we hope that members of the Company are finding it useful. The web site contains the Clerk’s communications, information on forthcoming events as well as details and minutes of meetings of the Court and of the standing committees. It also contains information on the activities of the Charitable Trust. Additionally the web site provides members of the Company with the facility to email other members. Members of the Company are encouraged to make use of the significantly improved web site.
Michael Turner has retired as our webmaster and the Court wishes to record its grateful thanks to Michael for all his hard work developing the Company’s web site. If there are any queries or suggestions on the web site, please contact the Clerk.
24 Livery lectures For more than 10 years the Company has sponsored an annual lecture at Cass Business School. We have now agreed to sponsor an annual lecture in a topic related to actuarial science at six more universities (Heriot-Watt, Kent, LSE, Manchester, Southampton and Warwick), starting in 2009. Our sponsorship is intended to cover the cost of a reception after the lecture, plus the speaker’s expenses where appropriate. The main purpose of these lectures is to encourage students taking actuarial science (or similar) degrees to consider joining the Institute or Faculty and pursuing an actuarial career. This objective will only be achieved if the students have an opportunity to talk to actuaries at the reception, and we aim to have a minimum of one Liveryman/Freeman for every 10 students expected to attend.
Actuaries attending the lectures are expected to talk mainly about their work, and are not expected to have a detailed knowledge of the Profession’s examination system. Nevertheless a short briefing note is provided for those who wish to be conversant with the current structure. In addition, since many of the students are likely to be from overseas, a note on the main issues facing overseas students wishing to work in the UK is provided.
The lectures also provide an early opportunity to make potential future actuaries aware of the Livery, and a means of strengthening relationships between the Profession and the universities which provide actuarial courses.
The following lectures took place in the 2008/09 session:
University Date Lecturer Cass 18 February Prof Ian Marsh Kent 25 February Chris Daykin LSE 6 March Paul Embrechts
From the feedback we get back from the students we know that they find the lectures very interesting and helpful and they raise the profile of the Company with the next generation of actuaries. We hope that more liverymen will volunteer to help out at these events in 2010.
Appointments With effect from 14 July 2009, Adrian Waddingham became the 30th Master of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries, Graham Clay became Senior Warden and John Lockyer, Junior Warden. In addition Nick Dumbreck and Peter Thompson joined the Court as Court Assistants. Past Master Huw Wynne-Griffith retired from the Court and he was thanked for his many valuable contributions to the Company.
Our Honorary Chaplain, the Reverend Prebendary David Burgess retired in September 2008. The Court, wishing to maintain our association with St Lawrence Jewry, has appointed the new incumbent David Parrott (see below) as our new Honorary Chaplain. Reverend Canon David Parrott was installed as the Guild Vicar of St Lawrence Jewry by the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres at a Licensing service on 1 July 2009. The service was attended by our Clerk and by many representatives from the City of London Corporation, including the Lord Mayor Locum Tenens, Alderman Sir David Brewer.
The Court congratulated Past Master Ken Ayers and Liveryman Clare James on their success in the elections to the Court of Common Council.
Further details on the membership of the Court and standing committees for 2009 – 2010 are given on page 28
Robert Thomas Memorial Award The Court approved the creation of a memorial to Robert Thomas through the creation of an annual award to the Edmonton Sea Cadets for the “Cadet of the Year”. The winner of this award would receive a trophy at our Annual Banquet and be given a 6 days trip on a Sea Cadet’s ship.
25 Finances The Court recognises that the introduction of a paid Clerk (as discussed under Company Strategy above) will increase our costs significantly. Inevitably, therefore, we need to increase income. The Court intends to do this gradually over 5 years, rather than through immediate dramatic increases to fines and quarterage. This will also give time for expected increases in membership to defray part of our increased costs.
The Court has agreed that the Freedom Fine will increase to £100 (for Freemen applying after 2 April 2009 ) and the Clothing Fine will increase to £500 (deferred until 1 August 2011 for those who applied to become Freemen before 2 April 2009). Quarterage is maintained at £150 from 1 August 2009 (£60 for members under age 40 and nil for members over the age of 80) if payment is made by direct debit. The intention is that quarterage will increase to £200 from 1 August 2010 (£80 for members under age 40 and nil for members over the age of 80).
Worshipful Company of Actuaries Golfing Society We now we have a number of Livery golfing events which are enjoyed by members of the Company. The Court has therefore approved the creation of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries Golfing Society. Past Master Peter Derby has kindly agreed to be the first Secretary of the Society and oversee the necessary arrangements.
New Chaplain It is a privilege to be asked to be your new chaplain and to get to know members of the Company. I have worked for the past 25 years as a clergyman in the Essex and East London section of the Church of England, known as the Diocese of Chelmsford. This involved four different posts in parishes. I was a curate first in Thundersley, near Southend, and then at Rainham. Next I worked as vicar of a group of seven village parishes just outside Saffron Walden in north west Essex. Later I was Team Rector of a large town centre parish in Rayleigh.
This 20 years of parish experience led me to be asked to take a role in the diocese where I ran the in-service training department. In the church this is known as David Parrott Continual Ministerial Education. For the past five years I have had the joy of telling other people how to do the job; now comes the challenge. Can I remember how to do it myself?
I have now been honoured to be appointed to the unique and strange job of Guild Vicar of St Lawrence Jewry. The Corporation of the City of London and the Livery Companies are my parish and I am pleased to have Actuaries as part of that parish. I have lots to learn. I have not worked in the City before and so each and every thing I do is new to me. I love this sort of challenge. If I can be of any help to any of you, my parishioners, please be in touch. [email protected]
Masters Board With help from Liveryman Roger Bevan the Court commissioned a Board from craftsman Steve Spalding for listing all Past Masters.
This Masters Board was completed and displayed at the January Livery dinner at Goldsmiths’ Hall and much admired by Liverymen and their guests. It is hoped that we will find a permanent home for the Board at Staple Inn.
Steve Spalding with the new Masters Board 26 Membership of the Company at 31 July 2009
LIVERYMEN (234) Phillippa Aaronson Nick Dumbreck Arno Kitts Charles Rich Bill Abbott David Duncan Roger Laker Arthur Richards Richard Ablett Lawrence Eagles Adrian Lawrence Brian Ridsdale Ian M Aitken Elizabeth Edwards Tony Leandro Anthony Roberts Ian S Aitken Peter Esslemont * Stuart Leckie OBE James Roberts Ron Akhurst Jillian Evans Edward Levay Mark Roberts Monica Allanach Don Ezra Chris Lewin John Rogers George Arnold Ian Farr Michael Lewis John Rood Mike Arnold Graham Farren Geoffrey Lindey Geoff Ross Terry Arthur Peter Felton Roger Livesey Tom Ross OBE Ken Ayers KStJ CC * Norman Ferguson Graham Lockwood Ian Rushton Cecil Baker Marshall Field CBE * John Lockyer Nick Salter Anthony Bamford Michael Field Peter Lofthouse Peter Savill Gordon Bannerman Alan Fishman * Fraser Low * Gordon Sharp John Bannon Ralph Frankland Stuart Lyon Bill Sharp David Barford Norman Freethy John MacLeod Michael Short Matt Barnes Alan Frost * George Maher Norman Shuker Andrew Benke Ian Gilmour John W Martin Petrea Simmons Peter Bennett Jeremy Goford * L John Martin CBE John Simon * Colin Berman Ron Goldby Robert Masding John Sinclair Roger Bevan Lawrence Gooderham Tony Mason Martin Slack Alan Bonner Mike Granville Nigel Masters Nigel Sloam John Bowman Sos Green * Brendan McBride Locksley Smaller Alan Bradley Roger Grenville-Jones Jim McCaughan Angela Smith Paul Bradshaw Julie Griffiths Alastair McLean Bill Smith John Brew Tom Grimes Jeff Medlock Eugene Smyth Sally Bridgeland Sanjay Gupta David Meldrum Cliff Speed Roy Brimblecombe CBE David Hager Pat Merriman Dick Squires Chris Brocksom Alan Hall * Robin Michaelson * Brian Stevens Bernard Brown Len Hall * Martin Miles Andrew Stoker John Brumwell Bill Harris Derek Millard * Anne Stoye Michael Burns David Harris Nicholas Mitchell Dick Strattan Brenda Capel John Harsant Raj Mody Paul Sweeting Bob Chadwick Michael Harvey Mike Moliver Deryl Tandy Mark Chaplin Richard Hawkes * Philip Moore Nick Taylor Brian Clark Norman Head Fiona Morrison David Thomas Terry Clarke Roger Heard Ken Murden Edward Thomas Graham Clay Michael Hepher Malcolm Murray CBE Mike Thomas Roger Cobley Geoffrey Heywood MBE * Hamid Nawaz-Khan Perry Thomas Paul Collis Christopher Hirst Andrew Newman Robert Thomas Brian Conway David Hollas Pat O’Keeffe Peter Thompson John Coomber Frank Honeysett John O’Neill Lindsay Tomlinson Graham Cooper Victor Hughff Tim Palmer Michael Tripp Brian Coote Chris Ide Peter Parker TD * Ken Trott Roger Corley CBE * Icki Iqbal David Parmee Michael Turner Charles Cowling Rodney Jagleman Trevor Parry Peter Turvey * Francis Crayton Clare James David Paul Adrian Waddingham Peter Croucher Mark Joannes Alan Pendleton Iain Walker Peter Crutchett David Johnson Robert Plumb David Wilkie CBE Colin Czapiewski John Jolliffe Gordon Pollock Michael Willett Andrew Davies Lyndon Jones Mike Pommery Michael Winters Peter Davies Philip Jowett John Prevett OBE Brian Wood Joseph Day Graham Jung Sir David Prosser Steve Wood John Deane Geraldine Kaye Chris Pullan John Woolhouse Peter Derby * Kevin Kelly Faisal Rafi John Wybrew Hunter Devine Richard Kelsey Michael Rallings Huw Wynne-Griffith * Roger Dix David Kingston Bill Rayner George Yoxall Peter Duffett Michael Kinney Colin Redman David Dullaway Mike Kipling Derek Renn CBE *Past Master HONORARY FREEMEN (1) The Rev Prebendary D Burgess
FREEMEN NOT CLOTHED (19) Robert Clarkson Jethro Green Joseph Monk Jerry Staffurth Seamus Creedon Christian Hardy Graeme Muir James Stuart-Smith Eamonn Flanagan Alastair Hunter Ian Owen Mark Teeger Peter Gatenby Andrew MacRae Bobby Riddaway Margaret de Valois Mark Goodale Hugh McNeill Stuart Shepley
COMPANIONS (8) Petronella Burnett-Brown Gladys Ross Goobey Nancy Jackson John South Christine Gibson Zara Haigh Pamela Brinkley Lander Jo Thomas 27 Court and Committees 2009-2010
SENIOR WARDEN MASTER JUNIOR WARDEN Graham Clay Adrian Waddingham John Lockyer
Court Assistants Ken Ayers, Andrew Benke, Charles Cowling, Nick Dumbreck, Alan Frost, Jeremy Goford, Richard Hawkes, Chris Ide, Philip Jowett, Nigel Masters, Martin Miles, Nick Salter, Petrea Simmons, Bill Smith, Peter Thompson
Clerk David Johnson
Executive Committee Adrian Waddingham (Chairman), Graham Clay, John Lockyer, Andrew Benke, Richard Hawkes, David Johnson
Strategy Committee Alan Frost (Chairman), Jeremy Goford, Philip Jowett, Nick Dumbreck, Brian Wood, Graham Clay, David Johnson
Appointments Committee Chris Ide (Chairman), Jeremy Goford, Andrew Benke, Adrian Waddingham, Graham Clay, David Johnson
Education Committee Nick Dumbreck (Chairman), Philippa Aaronson, Roger Cobley, Roger Dix, Charles Cowling, Trevor Watkins (Institute representative), Graham Clay, David Johnson
Finance Committee (including Investment sub-committee) Richard Hawkes (Chairman), Nick Salter, Martin Miles, Nick Taylor, Julie Griffiths, Graham Clay, David Johnson
Membership Committee Bill Smith (Chairman), Philip Jowett, Peter Thompson, Paul Sweeting, Graham Clay, David Johnson
Social Committee Clare James (Chairman), John Harsant, Martin Miles, Michael Tripp, Roger Bevan, Graham Clay, David Johnson
Public Relations and Fund Raising John Lockyer (Chairman), Brian Ridsdale, Petrea Simmons, Lyndon Jones, Mike Arnold, Graham Clay, David Johnson
Merchandising Jeremy Goford (Chairman), Nick Salter, Graham Clay, David Johnson
Liaison Responsibilities Livery Schools Link Roger Dix Fellowship of Clerks David Johnson Modern Livery Companies Float David Johnson Edmonton Sea Cadets Tim Palmer Financial Services Group Jeremy Goford Bridge Competitions Chris Pullan Swimathon Petrea Simmons Golf Matches Bill Smith City of London Freemen’s School Bill Smith City of London School for Boys Roger Dix City of London School for Girls Sally Bridgeland King Edward’s School Witley Philip Jowett City University John Lockyer City & Guilds John Lockyer
28 Diary 2010
20 January Winter Livery Dinner and Common Hall at Grocers’ Hall
2 February Livery Lecture at Staple Inn
3 February Hanging Hooke at Staple Inn
1 March Inter-Livery Bridge Competition
15 March Inter- Livery Swimathon
19 March United Guilds’ Service at St Paul’s
30 March Lunch at Athenaeum Club, Liverpool
15 April Livery Lunch at Staple Inn
19/20 April Golf outing at Royal Troon
26 April Annual Banquet at Mansion House
18 May Visit to Scout Association, Gilwell Park
20 May Prince Arthur of Connaught Golf Competition
7 June Master’s Golf Day at Woking
21-24 June Master’s Event - Trip to Oberammergau
24 June Election of Sheriffs at Guildhall
22 July Installation Ceremony and Livery Dinner at Saddlers’ Hall
3-5 September Master’s weekend in Cambridge and visit to Duxford
29 September Election of Lord Mayor
12 November Silent Ceremony
13 November Lord Mayor’s Show
For further information please contact the Clerk, Worshipful Company of Actuaries, 3rd Floor, Cheapside House, 138 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6BW
Tel 020 7776 3880 E-mail [email protected] 29