1. Installation Court

8^th July 2019 –  My first thought on awaking was to look at an up to date weather forecast. Stationers’ Hall Garden in the rain would not be much fun! Happily, fortune smiled upon the Company, and we were blessed with perfect weather conditions.

Around 50 Members of the Company, family and friends gathered together at 11.45 for the Installation Ceremony at Stationers’ Hall. Rob Casey was installed as Thames Warden, Graham Howells as Fleet Warden and Martin Baggs as Walbrook Warden, with myself installed as Master.

The Ceremony was followed by the  Installation Lunch, where just over 100 Members of the Company and family friends and Invited Guests marked my Installation.

Our Guest Speaker for the Lunch was Professor Michael Proctor FRS, Provost of King’s College, Cambridge. His address was varied, entertaining and stimulating .We heard from Prof. Proctor that he became inspired by fluid mechanics as a student at Trinity College Cambridge, and he is still studying it today. We were introduced to two of the many heroic figures in the world of fluid mechanics – namely Archimedes, and Lord Rayleigh, a Victorian – Edwardian scientist, and first winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics. We learned about plasma on the sun’s surface, and turbulent flow, which remains one of the great unsolved problems of physics. Prof Proctor then went on to discuss the impact inter-relationship of fluid mechanics and climate changes.

I then set out my themes for my year as Master. We will be continuing in our role as a  developer of thought leadership and policy discussion on issues relating to water, waste, and the broader environment. We will be continuing with the development of our relationship with The City of London Corporation on environmental matters, and with our recruitment of new members to the Company under our H2Outreach initiative.

In the evening Judy and I were guests of the City Corporation at a lecture at The Guildhall entitled “ The Turning Tide , City and River “. This fascinating presentation was delivered by Professor Jeremy Black MBE, Professor of History at Exeter University.