Lord Mayor's Big Curry Lunch
6th April 2017Guildhall
One of the Lord Mayor's stated targets when he addressed his Masters back in November was to nearly double last year's record of £250,000 and get the present ten-year grand total of £1.6m rounded up to £2m - quite an ambition. Today will have added a goodly chunk to this ambition as, in addition to the ticket price (a "round number"), there were a 40 lot silent auction, donation buckets, charity cocktails (run by our new Liveryman Sean Gavin) and a whole host of other opportunities to be relieved of your cash!
Meeting the Senior Warden having cleared tight security, we passed through an HAC honour guard into a veritable royal mile of Livery Companies selling products they represented - turned wood, leather, books, you get the idea. Having navigated that lot successfully, we were guided into part of the art gallery for the "Royal Reception" - apparently Prince Andrew was due to appear. The place was already pretty lively, but plenty of wine or water was available and I found spritzing my white was the best thing at this hour. Amongst others I saw the Hon Liz Green, Master Framework Knitter - her last gig as Master as she's "out" tomorrow - bye for now Liz, it's been fun!
The meal takes place in the Great Hall and because of the number attending, in three colossal sittings - Ralph and I were on the last at 2pm. The downside was having to wait, but on the up, we weren't pressured to leave the table either. There was no queue at the curry station and once we'd found a bit of clear bench, it didn't take long to polish off a mix of tandoori chicken, pilau rice and prawn curry - we'd sat close to a bar as well, so plenty of Cobra washed it down. Pudding was an airline-style rice pudding - cold but tasty. As there was no coffee and it was still a beautiful day, once we'd eaten and drunk our fill, we broke free, running the gauntlet of vendors whose stalls still seemed amply stocked and into a warm afternoon. We never caught a glimpse of the Prince, or even the Lord Mayor, but hope the day was a success - time will soon tell.