Notice is hereby given that the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Magna Masters Association will be held at the The Royal Air Force Club, 128 Piccadilly, London W1J 7PY on Monday 4 November, 2019 at 6pm

AGENDA

1. Welcome by Chairman

2. To approve minutes of Third Annual General Meeting - 6 November 2018 (attached)

3. Apologies for absence

4. To receive the Chairman’s report (Minutes of Committee Meeting 11 September 2019 attached refer)

5. To receive and adopt the Financial Report and Accounts to 30 June 2019 (attached below)

6. Election of Officers Chairman: (Current holder Jeremy Randall, Watermen and Lightermen) Vice Chairman: (Current holder AVM Patrick O’Reilly CB, Engineers) Hon. Treasurer: (Current holder Martin Miles, Actuaries) Hon. Secretary: (Current holder Ian Locks, Stationers and Newspaper Makers) Hon. Membership Secretary: Michael Godbee, Tax Advisers Hon. Events Secretary/Chairman Events Committee: Nic Birtles (Information Technologists); Stephen Bernhard (Gardeners); Gwen Rhys (Glass Sellers) Current officers are willing to stand for re-election. Other nominations should be sent to the Hon. Secretary.

7. Election of Financial Reviewer (Currently David Illingworth, WCO Chartered Accountants)

8. Other business

Ian Locks

Hon. Secretary

The meeting will be followed by a wine tasting at 7.00pm and Supper at 8.30pm. Event Concludes at 10.00pm

Minutes of the third Third Annual Meeting of the Magna Masters Association held at the The Royal Air Force Club, 128 Piccadilly, London W1J 7PY on Monday 5 November, 2018 at 6pm

Present: Nick Andrews, Simon Archer, Nic Birtles, Jim Conybeare, Michael Cooper, Michael Davis-Marks, Graham Dickinson, Christopher Ford, Michael Godbee, Graeme Groom, John Hayton, Stephen Hodkinson, Rowland Hughes, David Illingworth, Terry Last, Geoff Lewis, Ian Locks, Ian McIntyre, Martin Miles, Kevin Moore, Robert Morrow, Patrick O’Reilly, Debby Ounsted, Jeremy Randall (Chairman), Gwen Rhys, Adrian Scott-Knight, John Shonfeld, Barrie Stewart, Tony Watson, Peter Williams, Derek Woods

Apologies: Prof Graham Chase; Rupert Best; Patrick Draycott; Neville Chamberlain; Stephen Barnard; Robin Furber; Tony Alston; Roger North; Patrick Chapman; Mike Felton; Richard Herbert; Graham Dickinson; Ian Frood

AGENDA

1. Welcome by Chairman

Jeremy Randall (JR) welcomed members to the RAF Club once again and thanked Patrick O’Reilly for hosting the meeting at his club. JR said it was very good to see more than 30 of our members attending for the third successive year. He said the format for the evening was for the agm meeting, scheduled to last for one hour, to be followed by an informal wine tasting and then supper at about 8.00pm, concluding around 10pm.

2. Minutes of Second Annual General Meeting held on 6 November 2017 were approved.

3. Apologies for absence: As listed above

4. Chairman’s report:

The Chairman said that during the year we sadly recorded the death of Wynne Gilham, first Lady Master Upholder, who died on 1 July. Wynne with husband Michael attended our dinner at Fish Hall in January. MagnaMasters were represented at a memorial service Thursday 11 October at the Church of St Botolph without Bishopsgate by Michael Godbee and Ian Locks

Another successful year: membership had held at over 100 paid up plus our three honorary members. Our finances are sound.

We have congratulated Ald. Vincent Keaveny on his appointment as Aldermanic Sheriff.

25 members attended the open committee meeting. See minutes. The popularity of this open form of government was thus clearly demonstrated but the weakness becoming apparent was that de facto responsibility lay with just four officers and we hoped to broaden by sharing responsibility in the areas of membership and events programme.

Michael Davis-Marks had sadly decided to step down as vice-chairman: in the last couple of years his time and attention had increasingly been taken up with new business interests. The Chairman thanked MD-M for all his support and hoped to see him back in the line of succession for chairman in the near future. MD-H said he would continue to support MagnaMasters.

The Chairman said that since last year’s AGM, wine tasting and dinner here at the RAF Club

Some 140 of us attended a superb gala dinner at Fishmongers’ Hall thanks to James fforde;

a most enjoyable reprise was held in February of the Westminster College dinner organised by Nick Andrews with a reception kindly hosted by Tony Alston and Mary Foster;

a visit in April to the Tower of London had been organised by Ian Frood;

a most enjoyable visit to their farm near Stowmarket had been hosted by Tony Alston and Mary Foster.

In June 45 of us joined the One-for-All Banquet at Lambeth Palace for a splendid summer occasion;

we appreciated the invitation for Steve Hodkinson to join him for Cricket at Windsor Castle in July.

As mentioned, 25 of us met to plot the way forward (and enjoy a good lunch) at the open committee meeting in September

He said a big thank you was due to Graeme Groom for hosting lunch and giving his most moving address.at Innholders’ Hall attended by 50 of us including Consorts.

Twenty of us including guests met to make gin at the City of London Distillery thanks to Allan Cheesman also in September.

Meanwhile the CartaConsorts had been busy with four events during the year: Sir John Soane Museum in February; Women on the March walk in June; Bloomsbury and Dickens in September and Ely Cathedral Christmas Fair later this month.

The Chairman thanked all those who had helped make this comprehensive programme happen.

5. The Financial Report and Accounts Martin Miles, Hon. Treasurer, reported that membership in 2017-18 had held up at 100 paid subscriptions; half the subscription revenue of £5,000 had been use to subsidise the highly successful dinner at Fishmongers’ Hall hosted by James fforde and attended by 70 members and their Consorts. Last year’s open committee had been subsidised along with website costs, golf day prizes and printing etc making up a general expenses figure of £1,047 with a surplus of £1407 towards a balance of £5135 carried forward on 30 June. MM said the question of the surplus might need to be addressed in the future if it was allowed to rise to unacceptable levels. The report and accounts were proposed by the Hon. Treasurer, seconded and approved nem. con.

6. Election of Officers

The Chairman said that with the exception of the vice-chairman other officers - Jeremy Randall, chairman; Martin Miles, Hon. Treasurer; and Ian Locks, Hon.Secretary - were prepared to continue for a further year unless there were other nominations.

Chairman: Jeremy Randall, Watermen and Lightermen. Proposed Michael Davis-Marks and agreed nem. con.

Vice Chairman: Air Vice Marshal Patrick O’Reilly, Engineers. Proposed by the Chairman and agreed by show of hands.

Hon. Treasurer: Martin Miles, Actuaries. Proposed by the Chairman and agreed by show of hands. The chairman thanked Martin for his work during the year.

Hon. Secretary: Ian Locks, Stationers. Proposed by the Chairman and agreed by show of hands. The chairman thanked Ian for his work during the year.

Hon. Membership Secretary: Michael Godbee, Tax Advisers, as nominated at Open Committee. Proposed by Ian Locks and agreed by show of hands.

Hon. Events Secretary/Chairman Events Committee: Ian Locks proposed Stephen Bernhard, Nic Birtles and Gwen Rhys as nominated from open committee. Agreed by show-off hands.

Election of Financial Reviewer (Currently David Illingworth, WCO Chartered Accountants)

Martin Miles thanked David for carrying out the role of Financial Reviewer and proposed his re-election. This was agreed by show of hands.

7. Other business

Programme for 2019

Upcoming event: 31 January - Fourth Gala Dinner hosted by Nick Bence-Trower at Drapers’ Hall. We have 94 signed up: we needed another 50 or so to make this a successful evening in this lovely hall. The cost was being heavily subsidised from subscriptions so the Chairman hoped all would make every effort to attend. He asked whether the meeting was happy to let members bring guests at the unsubsidised rate of £115 per head. After discussion it was agreed that those members wishing to bring two guests in addition to their Consort might do so provided this did not exclude members from attending.

Programme for 2019

31 January - Gala Dinner, Drapers’ Hall

April/May Visit to CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research - Patrick Draycott.

June/July - boat trip: Jeremy Randall and Tony Watson to investigate visit to the Cutty Sark, Greenwich

11 September - Open committee/Autumn lunch

27/28 September Visit to York: John Shonfeld and Dr Alan Suggett - Hotel and Merchant Adventurers Hall booked provisionally. Deposits will be required

October - Dinner , Lincolns Inn - Tony Watson

4 November - AGM and Dinner

Ian Locks

Hon. Secretary

The meeting was followed by a wine tasting presented by the chairman, Jeremy Randall, and Supper.

====================================== 2018/19 Accounts of MMA

======================================

Assets at start of year = £5132.45

(= bank balance at that date after allowing for a couple of small prepayments)

Assets at end of year = £6498.93

(= bank balance at that date after allowing for a couple of small prepayments)

So Surplus for year = £1366.48**

===========================

INCOME

£5050 (= 101 Masters paying subs of £50 each)

========================

EXPENDITURE

£539.33 Open Committee Meeting

£130.20 AGM, Wine Tasting and Dinner

£2902.00 Gala Dinner

£111.99. Miscellaneous Expenses

£3683.52 TOTAL EXPENSES

=======================

**So Surplus for year = £5050 - £3683.52 = £1366.48

=================

MINUTES of an open committee of the MagnaMasters held on Wednesday 11 September 2019 at CÔTE BRASSERIE - ST PAUL'S, LONDON 26 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7DR commencing at 12 noon followed by a light lunch.

Attending: Chris Ford, Stephen Bernhard, Martin Miles, Peter Williams, Sir Roger Vickers, Jim Conybeare, Patrick Chapman, Michael Godbee, Ian Locks, Nic Birtles, Tony Alston, Raymond Layard, Neville Chamberlain, Barrie Stewart, Geoffrey Lewis, Patrick O’Reilly, John Jackman, Tony Watson, Richard Herbert, Jeremy Randall (Chairman), Debby Ounsted

Apologies: Heather Hawker, John Hayton, Gwen Rhys, Mike Felton

1 Chairman’s welcome and introduction

The Chairman, Jeremy Randall, welcomed and thanked those attending, representing some 20% of the paid membership and a similar number to earlier years for the meeting, the purpose of which was to review what we had been doing and to plan what we might and would like to do in the next 12 months.

He congratulated on receiving the OBEs in the birthday honours this summer: Dr Ian Frood (Coopers) for services to agriculture and Eddie Donaldson (Basketmakers), chairman and treasurer of the RNLI among other things. He also congratulated Alderman Vincent Keaveny (Solicitors) on his election as Aldermanic Sheriff for the current year and Mark Henderson (MagnaMaster Currier) elected inaugural Master Investment Managers, a group he has worked for several years to establish as a Guild.

A memorial service was held on 11 October for Wynne Gillham, MagnaMaster Upholder, who died after illness on 1 July.

Roger North and Nic Birtles were to be congratulated on winning the Livery Past Masters Association Autumn pairs competition at Chobham GC on 5 September and also took second and third places respectively in the singles event at Sonning GC in April.

Once again we had enjoyed a busy programme: Lunch with Graeme Groom (Innholder) at Innholders’ Hall on 5 October 2018 was, to put it bluntly, a triumph. With some 50 MagnaMasters and Consorts enjoying one of the finest Livery lunches in town, Graeme, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at King’s College Hospital, told us about his double life “moonlighting” as a volunteer in Palestine helping to reconstruct mostly young people shot by Israeli guards.

Monday 5 November 2018: MagnaMasters AGM, accompanied by a fun wine tasting conducted by Chairman Jeremy Randall and supper courtesy AVM Patrick O’Reilly in the magnificent Presidents' Room of the Royal Air Force Club.

Gin Making Experience - City of London Distillery 9 October 2018, with many thanks to PM Vintner Allan Cheesman.

Magnificent Drapers' Hall, which hosted our Fourth Gala Dinner, pulled out all the stops to make this a great occasion with 146 paid to attend. Our speaker for the evening was Ald. and Sheriff (and MagnaMaster) Vincent Keaveny attending with Amanda Keaveny flanked by Hon. President Sir Ald. Alan Yarrow and Lady Yarrow and Chairman Jeremy Randall and Irene Randall. Our host for the evening, Past Master Draper Nick Bence-Trower, there with wife Nicky, opened proceedings with a warm welcome to one of the three organisations of which HM The Queen is a member. A very big thank you to Nick.

The amazing CERN project in Geneva on 4 June 2019 and attended by 24 members and Consorts was organised by Patrick Draycott, to whom enormous thanks were due, describing the experience JR said this was “one of the most exciting things” he had done and “the most amazing experience for those attending which had been the maximum allowed at one time. The group had been granted outstanding hospitality.

An Exclusive tour of Smithfield Market followed by breakfast on 30 May 2019 was organised by Jeremy Randall and and a visit to Royal Museums, Greenwich 10 June 2019 was kindly organised by Tony Watson.

The CartaConsorts had also had a busy programme with a tour of Dicken’s Bloomsbury in September; a trip to the Ely Cathedral Christmas Market in November; a backstage tour of the Royal Opera House in February; a visit to the Globe Theatre to see Merry Wives of Windsor in June; and an East End Experience later in September to look forward to.

2 Minutes of meeting 12 September 2018 were approved

3 Financial Report

In his report Hon. Treasurer Martin Miles said the balance of £5132 at the end of the previous financial year had been added to by a surplus of £1366 in the last financial year giving a balance of £6499 after a couple of small repayments. The income of £5050 represented 101 MagnaMasters paying £50 each. Main expenditure had been £539 for the Open Committee; £139 for the AGM, Wine tasting and Dinner; £2902 for the Gala Dinner plus £112 miscellaneous expenditure - £3683 in total.

Raising the question of the surplus MM wondered whether there were thoughts about what constituted a “reasonable balance” for the association to accumulate. After discussion it was agreed that the decision last year to allow the balance to accumulate during these early years was wise: membership attrition and rising costs would resolve the issue in due course.

4 Upcoming Events

Ian Locks reported that on 27/28 September the visit to York would be centred on the Grand Hotel and Merchant Adventurers’ Hall. Bookings had reached its minimum number of 50 but not without a lot of effort by John Shonfeld and Dr Alan Suggett, to whom much thanks were due.

The AGM and Dinner 2020 would be held on 4 November - this was attracting interest and we expected around 28 members to attend.

The Fifth Gala Dinner would be held at Saddlers' Hall courtesy Mark Farmar, PM Saddler. We were hoping for 140 attendees and some 60 had registered so far.

In a general discussion it was agreed that Central London probably worked best on the whole for events but that should not prevent events being offered elsewhere.

5 Programme for 2020

The following ideas had been carried forward or were volunteered either during or after the meeting and will be pursued.

• Patrick Draycott is investigating the possibility of a repeat of the visit to CERN. It was agreed there would be a rapid take-up for 24 places even though the facility would probably be fully operative by then.

• Jeremy Randall and Nic Birtles are planning a visit to wine growing area. It was agreed May/June would be the most popular time but bank holidays in both Britain and France should be avoided.

• Gala Dinner - this should be black tie (except at Mansion House); the subsidy for members should not be applied to guests; future venues might be Goldsmiths’ Hall (though this would need to be joint with another year); Butchers and Skinners.

• Ditchling Village: Vineyard & Art and Craft Museum - Mike Felton still prepared to arrange this.

• Dinner Lincoln’s Inn - Tony Watson said restoration was now complete. This would need to be dinner rather than lunch and the room would be dependent on numbers. He hoped to include a tour of the Great Hall and archives.

• Magic Circle Visit - Patrick Chapman

• Tideway Tunnel - Richard Herbert

• Westminster Abbey - Raymond Layard

• Shuttleworth Collection, Biggleswade -

6 Events Committee (Stephen Bernhard, Nic Birtles, Gwen Rhys and Ian Locks )

- IL reported on two meetings of the committee which had resulted in a smarter approach to monthly newsletters (thanks to guidance from Gwen Rhys) and an offer by Nic Birtles to develop a guide to organising events (target date end September). It had also been suggested that the onus of overseeing events should be shared. The main area of confusion was the extent to which members should be exposed to possible loss in organising an event; how costs should be shared among those taking part, particularly when drinks were involved; and the process for seeking financial underwriting for an event which required a minimum number. This would be discussed at the next meeting of the committee and proposals brought forward.

Strong bases for events were offered by a) Trips members had organised as Masters b) trade-related events eg the gin making experiences organised by PM Vintner Allan Cheesman c) hitching to other City events d) Hosting events at members’ halls (eg Graeme Groom’s lunch at Innholders’) e) Christmas markets f) Basile/Zurich

Members were asked to consider supporting the Sheriffs’ Ball on Friday 20 September for which there was still one spare table in support of Ald. Vincent Keaveny,

7 Membership

Martin Miles said he anticipated anticipated that paid membership would remain around 100 for the coming year

Membership Directory - no action following decision last year. No strong demand had been indicated for a further version. The existing version was available on request from the Hon. Sec.

The Chairman said the extent to which we should exercise almonry responsibilities to our membership had been raised. It was agreed this should rest with the Membership Secretary and should be low key, limited to ensuring best wishes were extended as appropriate and notification of deaths/memorial services open to the membership.

8 Other business

The Chairman hoped as many as possible wold attend the AGM, Wine Tasting and Dinner at the RAF Club, Piccadilly on 4 November.

There was no other business and lunch was served at 1.00pm.