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The Company

and seek to give as much as we can to Charity, both to our own internal Charitable Trust and other
good causes within the City, we also run events for our members. The cost of these is always
increasing and over recent years we have depended to quite a large extent on external agencies
supporting our programme. The Sponsorship Committee has the difficult job of balancing the
commercial advantage gained by our sponsors with our role as a Livery Company, particularly where
Charity events are involved. There are many who would say that this should never be an issue, and
with some of the more established Livery Companies it isn’t, because their income is assured from
historic investment. Ours is not, and funding to maintain our charitable commitments is always a
challenge.
The Publicity and Events Committee
The Publicity and Events Committee is the workhorse of our organising committees in that it is
responsible for organising all our informal events, which are the fundamental component of our
outreach and fellowship activities. The chair of the committee is CA Andrew Hornby, who would
welcome any suggestions from members and readers for future events, which can be sent care of
“The Constructor”.

The Membership Committee
The Membership Committee was previously an essential part of the Publicity, Events and
Membership Committee (PEM), but because of the importance of membership it has now been
established in its own right, and is chaired by Michael Rigden. Michael is now inviting other members
of the Company to form the committee. Some of these will naturally be drawn from the previous
PEM committee whilst others may be new to our committee work.

The Honorary Treasurer
We rely greatly on the services of our Honorary Treasurer (Arthur Seymour) who records all monies
paid and received by the Company and provides the accounts necessary for our monies to be audited
each year. It is he who administers our day to day accounting and also manages members’
retrospective payments for events. Whilst he was previously an Honorary Court Assistant Arthur has
recently become a Court Assistant and his role as Honorary Treasurer will be taken over from
October 2016 by HCA David Fawlk.
Membership
There are various grades of Membership. Most new members join as Freemen, in the process of
making certain commitments, or Obligations to the Company. Freemen are entitled to apply to the
City Chamberlain to become a Freeman of the City of London. That achieved, and after a period of
satisfactory service with the Company, a Freeman can apply to become a full Liveryman, which
entitles him or her to vote in City elections and attend certain events, like the United Guilds Service at
St Paul’s Cathedral
Other grades of membership include Yeomen – most of whom have been scholars or prize winners;
Apprentices; bound to a Liveryman or member of the Court for a prescribed period of indenture, and
inroled at Guildhall; Companion - the widow or widower of a member of the Court or a Liveryman.
The Company has also recently admitted International Constructors, the first of whom was Frank
Lesh from USA and Honorary Members, who are recognised as being leaders of their field and highly

22 | Autumn 2016 | The Journal of the Worshipful Company of Constructors