The Warner Lecture
Jan 2024
The Warner Lecture 2023, postponed due to Rail Strikes, finally took place on Tuesday 16 January 2024. Each year the Founders’ Company, as part of its programme for furthering interest and discussion in matters industrial and financial, stages this event to bring together senior professionals and academics, as well as students that receive our charitable support, to hear a challenging insight into a current topic and to promote a lively discussion around it, all held under the Chatham House Rule.
This year’s speaker was Rob Elder, The Bank of England’s Agent for Greater London. Rob gave an hour of eye opening insights into the current UK economy, along with his views on what has happened and what WILL happen with regards to interest rates and inflation. A very hearty discussion was had by all after supper and all were grateful to Rob for making the topic so accessible.
We are grateful to have recieved the following messages from Y12 Students at the John Warner School who joined us:
"I would like to offer my thanks to the founders company in such a great learning opportunity and forming fellowships with experienced members of the foundry. I would also like to thank you for inviting me the foundry hall on the 16th, it was such an insightful lecture and helped my understanding greatly about the financial state of Great Britain.”
"I’m writing to you to offer my thanks regarding the evening of the 16th of January and my invitation to the Warner Lecture. It was a spectacular experience which I am so grateful for having the opportunity to attend. It has given me an insight on the country's current and past economic state which I otherwise wouldn’t have expanded my knowledge on. It was amazing to meet and hear the stories from so many great knowledgeable people with such great experience in all industries. It has really opened up my eyes into my future and the experiences of life I am yet to face.”
"I would love to thank in abundance for the opportunity for attending the evening and found the lecture lead by Rob Elder extremely interesting as it has given me a broader outlook on the current economy which will help as I am currently studying business studies at sixth form. Aswell as the fellowship I have gained from the experience that is why I would love to apply for the artisan and further my knowledge from the benefit of your experiences within your industries .”
"Thank you so much for the opportunity you have offered me. It was a wonderful experience to be able to talk to the members of this company. It has broadened my view of economics and the things we have talked about. The excellent communication we had with the people of this company really helped me with my communication skills and boosted my confidence.”
A visit to MRT Castings
Oct 2023
Members of the Industry Committee and other Company members and guests were treated to a visit and tour of MRT Castings Ltd in Andover as part of the committee’s on-going programme of industry engagement.
MD and Freeman Phil Rawnson explained how the company had responded to the ventilator challenge during 2020, scaling up its manufacturing capacity to produce sufficient components for its global medical device customers to build over 500 critical-care ventilators per week to help meet domestic and international demand. During this time sales grew by 437% and the proportion of sales exported increased to 85% of total sales. This led, in 2022, to the company being honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, in recognition of their outstanding export growth over the previous three years, as well as the 2022 Best of British Casting Company of the Year Award from the Cast Metals Federation (the Trade Association for the UK castings and foundry industry).
Phil explained how the company was incorporated in 1947, from a factory in Bromley, Kent before moving to Peckham in 1954, and then to its current premises in Andover, Hampshire in 1966. As a family owned business, the company has continually invested in the latest technology and training to ensure it can manufacture high quality aluminium die casting. MRT's current export markets cover Western Europe, Eastern Europe and North America supplying parts for defence, medical and general engineering applications.
The visitors were able to see the technology and equipment used to manufacture the components, including a range of high pressure diecasting machines, with the complex tooling used to create the shapes, and extensive machining centres required to finish the components, as well as the range of quality assurance processes employed to ensure that the components reliably meet customers specifications.
The visit finished with a discussion about the future challenged and opportunities for the UK component casting industry over lunch.
November 2023
The Lord Mayor’s Show
Childhood memories of the Lord Mayor's Show are that it was always a colourful, military, musical and spectacular event but invariably cold and wet, which dampened a younger one's enthusiasm when being told 'we're going to the Lord Mayor's Show'. Saturday 11 November 2023 meteorologically was the exact opposite. Dawn brought the most extraordinarily clear blue sky over the City with sunshine and associated warmth all day. I was in the Senior Liveries Float (SLF) which was not a vehicle but a gathering of Masters, Prime Wardens, Wardens, Clerks and guests of the senior companies who walked the slightly over 3 mile route. The SLF only featured for the first time in 2022 and this year numbers doubled to some 150. Having taken our place (No.17) in the formation in London Wall, we found that our Marshall was another Founder, Lt. Robert Butterworth RNR, who the Pageant Master had kindly allocated to us, so he could tell his father what to do (for once!).
The procession commenced after two minutes' silence at 11:02 towards Mansion House where in passing our group was greeted by the most almighty cheer from the 695th Lord Mayor, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, Sheriffs, past Lord Mayors and many others. We proceeded along Cheapside past St Paul's to Fleet Street and on to the Royal Courts of Justice, ever mindful that immediately behind our walking party was a traction engine with brakes of uncertain certainty! Our float stopped for a brief lunch at Carmen's Hall from where we gathered on the pavement to provide three cheers to the Lord Mayor as he passed in the magnificent 250 year old gold state coach and from where he greeted us by saying what an amazing welcome we had given him. Under orders from the Marshalls, the procession re-grouped at 13:00 on the Embankment for our walk back to Mansion House, and then on to Ironmongers' Hall to de-gown and bid each other farewell.
The event is the world's greatest unrehearsed civic procession and this year there were more entries than ever with 133 floats and the atmosphere was constantly happy, friendly and welcoming to spectators and participants alike. Our involvement in the Show perhaps removed a little of the mystery about Livery Companies and demonstrated how active the Livery movement is in charitable giving and educational support nationally, a point highlighted by the BBC commentator when mentioning the SLF. The cheers, flag and hand waving by the crowds was constant throughout the procession and one of many lasting memories for me will be the smiles on the faces of children who stuck their hands out to be 'low fived' by a number of Masters, demonstrating that we might have looked as if we were from medieval times but know how to relate in a modern way.
A tremendous experience.
- Nicholas Butterworth, The Master Founder
Future Females In STEM
Jun 2023
Stuart Higham (Freeman and Robotics Fellow for our Education Committee) recently took a handful of the John Warner School’s engineering ladies to Deutsche Bank for a STEM day using funding provided by the Founders.
Click the link below to find out how they got on:
21 Apr 2023
The British Art Medal Society
At the British Art Medal Society Prize Giving in April Upper Warden, Nick Butterworth, presented the Grand First Prize to the winner, Tina Avery, from Glasgow School of Art. In presenting the prize Nick drew attention to the connection between the Founders’ Company and this casting Project. Tina was really quite overwhelmed by the presentation. The Company will obtain a copy of the medal for its Collection. While the Project began in a small way, it now produces unmeasurable benefits for the students in terms of casting skills. The Prize puts the Project into a category where participating Colleges can see a double value: terrific skills learned, but also a big reward to aim for.
22 Mar 2023
Jonathan Leigh’s spectacular insight on life as a Headmaster
Maybe it was the more intimate setting of the Parlour, or maybe it was direct but disarming manner of his delivery, but those at March’s Informal Lunch came away with a greater appreciation of the nuances of independent schools in England and Canada, and internationally. Our speaker, Jonathan Leigh, displayed a modest mastery of his many Headmaster roles, making us appreciate how varied the sector is and delicate is its balance of conflicting influences, interests and impacts.
22 Feb 2023
The Founders’ Company introduces its newest group of Warner Bursary students to The Founders’ Hall
The Company entertained five of our Warner Bursary students to lunch on Wednesday 22 February. They came from Imperial College London and Manchester and Birmingham Universities. Four of the students delivered short talks (with long titles!) on their studies:
Graphene-based Piezoresistive Wearable Sensors for E-Textile Applications
Designing high temperature surface spinel protection for nickel-base superalloys
The students brought great energy and zest for knowledge to the event, amply demonstrating the value of using Warner charitable funds to support them.
Young Founders a success despite strikes
03 Feb 2023
It was a cold wet Friday eve and the City of London was in a great slumber, as most were avoiding getting caught up in the rail strikes. Yet tucked away in a historic part of the City, a bunch of Young Founders got together to have dinner, drink wine and practice singing grace without the worry of having to try it for the first time at the Civic Dinner. Under 45? We had better see you there next year.
Founders’ Prize Winner heads to Korea
09 Nov 2022
Congratulations to Mark Spooner (pictured left) who was the inaugural recipient of the Founders’ Industry Contribution Award (Non-Ferrous).
We are pleased to hear that his time at the 74th World Foundry Congress in Busan, South Korea was a useful experience.
A historic connection
08 Nov 2022
The office were delighted this week to recieve a fascinating account from the 1950’s of a ‘bell focused visit to London’, which included a stop at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, St Paul’s Cathedral and St Bartholomew the Great. Huge thanks to Una Suseli O’Connell for providing us with this.
The Worcester Connection
02 Nov 2022
In the autumn of 2019, the Historical Group visited Worcester. One of the highlights of the tour was the Library at the Cathedral, home to a magnificent collection of books and manuscripts dating from the Saxons to Sir Edward Elgar’s music, and plenty in between. We made a modest donation to the Library which we hoped would help restore one of its many treasures.
After the Covid interregnum, Cathedral Librarian David Morrison selected volume two of Purchas’ Pilgrims published in London in St. Paul’s Churchyard in 1625 for restoration using our donation. This is a travel, geographical and social history book containing very early accounts in English of travels in Africa, Palestine, Anatolia, Syria, Arabia, Persia, and other parts of Asia including India. It also has some black and white maps and some pictures. The significance of this work is that Samuel Purchas’s multi-volume work, despite its flaws, is still one of the earliest records of exploration from the early-modern era.
On 18 October the Master, Clerk, Past Master Martin Shenton, and Geraldine Shenton visited the Library. In the photo they are with David Morrison who is holding volume two of Purchas’s Pilgrims.
Later that day the Master and Clerk dined with the Worcester Clothiers’ Company, who were celebrating their 500th anniversary. This year Princess Anne was the guest of honour at the Clothiers’ dinner.
The Founders’ Company support the Cathedral Guild of Bellringers in their work teaching our art and science, which we call ‘The Exercise’.
We’re in Country life!
07 Sept 2022
