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Master and the Pearlys -
Spot the VIP (yes we are back to front) -
Senior Warden and Third Warden -
Senior Warden, Master, Third Warden by John Canning photography -
The 2025 poster and programme cover -
Outside Stationers' Hall
Lady Mayor's Show
8th November 2025City of London
On 8 November 2025, the Tobacco Pipe Makers made history: we took part in the first-ever Lady Mayor’s Show. We weren’t alone of course: this is the “oldest, longest, best-loved and least rehearsed” civic procession in the world, and in 2025 it celebrated the inauguration of Alderwoman Dame Susan Langley DBE as the 697th Lord Mayor of the City of London. The third woman to be elected to the role she is the first to formally adopt the title of "Lady Mayor".
Tradition dictates that the Pipe Makers are represented by the Master, Senior Warden and Renter Warden, but this year Tony Scanlan and Jacqueline Burrows were accompanied by Third Warden Terry Fenner-Leitao, jaunty in the most comfortable shoes he could find.
An early start is essential: gowns, churchwarden pipes, sign board and holster must all be retrieved from the cages in the vaults at Stationers’ Hall, before we walk fully robed across Paternoster Square to gather with the other Modern Livery Companies and an eclectic assortment of floats and participants, including Pearly Kings and Queens, historic fire engines, beyond-enormous farm machinery (declaring “Give Peas a Chance”), the original Sevenoaks stage coach and a great many horses (plus their inevitable deposits).
After a long wait in what seemed to be the only open coffee shop in the area, the procession moved off, with the Modern Livery Companies jostling for position.
The usual scrum saw the Launderers manoeuvring their sign board into position alongside the International Bankers: another Show tradition! We kept a steady pace behind the Master Mariners, anxious not to be overtaken by the Air Pilots coming up behind.
Sir Malcolm Campbell’s fully restored and gleaming Bluebird was a highlight, as was the “Pollinating London Together” float, festooned in fresh flowers and improbably carrying a baby grand piano complete with pianist. Several steam-powered vehicles were cheerfully flouting the clean air zone, leaving the accompanying firemen coughing in their smoke-filled wake.
As we rounded the corner by Mansion House, we waved our clay pipes enthusiastically at the Lady Mayor in her magnificent, feathered, black tricorn hat, while also attempting to catch the attention of the BBC cameras — just as the Third Warden inadvertently knocked the Senior Warden’s smoking hat clean off with our signboard.
We swept along Cannon Street and past St Paul’s Cathedral, where ranks of small choristers waved to us from the balcony, before proceeding along Fleet Street and the Strand. Eventually, a sizeable contingent of Masters and Wardens squeezed into the ancient Cheshire Cheese pub behind Temple Place to find our lunch, a glass of wine and a grateful sit-down. Rested and refreshed we set off once again together with hundreds of fellow participants, snaking along the Embankment before finally turning for home.
All along the route we were cheered and waved at and photographed all along the route, although the loudest reactions seemed to come when our signboard and churchwarden pipes were spotted among the throng.
It’s a Great Day Out! So do make sure you add it to your diary for 2026 and come and support the Pipe Makers: the Lord Mayor’s Show 2026 is already booked for Saturday 14 November!
By Senior Warden Jacqueline Burrows