Lord Mayor's Big Curry Lunch
18th April 2013Guildhall
Our Clerk Paul Bethel and I attended on behalf of the Company. As one of the Livery Companies supporting the event, in aid of the Army Benevolent Fund, we were presented to HRH the Duke of Kent beforehand, when everyone was lined up in alphabetical order in the Print Room at Guildhall. HRH stuck to the task of talking to just about every person and luckily we were under 'P' for Pipe Maker rather then 'T' for Tobacco, so we didn't have quite so long to wait as we might have.
Once inside the Library, it seemed right to take part in the Champagne draw and I was able to buy a glass for the Lord Mayor of Westminster as well as for the Lord Mayor. Angela Harvey, the Lord Mayor of Westminster, is an old friend and she has invited me to go and look at some of Westminster's tobacco related treasures, one of which has just been on loan to the Wallace Collection.
We were joined by Fran Morrison, Martine Petetin and Ann Tradigo, all of whom used to work with me at British American Tobacco and all of whom are in the process of taking up the Livery. Will this year have seen the series of Big Curry Lunches, started in 2008, pass the £1 million mark in terms of sums raised?