WCL - Info for Prospect Members - March 2019-1

For Leaders in Lighting
Present, Past and Future

 

INFORMATION FOR 
PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS

 

FELLOWSHIP • CHARITY • EDUCATION • HOSPITALITY

 

The Worshipful Company of Lightmongers offers across industry networking and is a place where the whole of the lighting industry can meet as all members are involved in the lighting industry through engineering, manufacture, design, installation, distribution and promotion. We consider it a place where leaders in lighting, present, past and future come together.

It allows you to enjoy the unique and valued sense of fellowship for which the Livery movement is renowned and to make many new and lasting friendships with those connected to the same industry.

The Lightmongers Company

The main objects of the Lightmongers are:

  • Promote fellowship and networking amongst our members;
  • Invest in the future of the industry by encouraging the development of education and training programmes;
  • Provide support to the charities helping those who suffer from sensory impairment where good lighting can enhance quality of life;
  • Support, preserve and be part of the heritage of the City of London;
  • Maintain links with our affiliated organisations e.g. specialist schools, units of our Armed Forces and others.

Fellowship is a widely used word encompassing all sorts of things such as camaraderie, friendship, community, networking and a feeling of belonging. In Livery Companies this is generally achieved through meeting a broad range of like-minded individuals, in convivial surroundings.

The core values of our Livery Company are:

• To foster the art and science of lighting by bringing together those practising in the many different skills involved and to promote goodwill in our industry;

• To encourage invention and imagination in the use of light by the use of prizes, scholarships and other appropriate means;

• To develop fellowship and good citizenship

The Lightmongers’ principal charitable efforts are directed towards those with sensory impairment, in particular sight and hearing.

Our Company has a full programme of events, some of which raise funds for the benefit of our charities. These include dinners with a speaker, educational lectures, visits to interesting places, golf day, clay pigeon shoot and if you wish to, participation in the life of the City.

Other events are the Company Golf Day, Master’s Weekend and an Inter-Livery Clay Pigeon Shoot. Other informal events are organised from time to time through the year.

Membership allows you to take a full part in the life of the City, including gaining the Freedom of the City of London and ultimately even the right to stand for election to the highest offices of Sheriff and Lord Mayor.

As a Liveryman of the Lightmongers you are also able to become more involved in the City of London Livery movement e.g. apply for membership of the City Livery Club, and for sailing enthusiasts the City Livery Yacht Club.

Livery Companies

The Worshipful Company of Lightmongers is 96th in order of precedence within the Livery companies of the City of London. Although a comparatively modern Livery company, we maintain the core traditions of a City of London Livery company and play an active role in the life of the City.

City of London Livery Companies have their origins in the Medieval period of craft guilds. These guilds controlled much of the work in the City such as the prices and wages paid, but were also responsible for maintaining quality and provide training and welfare of their members and apprentices. They also had obligations to support the Crown and Government of the day e.g. through financing militia units.

Today there are 111 Livery Companies and nearly all are known as “Worshipful Company of….”. They are still associated with their craft but today are primarily involved in promoting fellowship in their trade e.g. holding social functions and supporting education, charities and affiliated organisations linked to their trade. Some have their own Halls and those that don’t have the opportunity of using the Halls of other Companies for their own social functions.

Being a Member

Becoming a member of a Livery Company should be seen as a life-long commitment and, along with the many benefits, come obligations and responsibilities.

Members should have a genuine desire to give something back to society, mainly by offering financial support to The Worshipful Company of Lightmongers Charitable Trust. They are also expected to support the Company by attending its Annual Members Dinner as well as other events during the year.

We hope that some members will become more actively involved in the work of the Company by joining a Committee, joining the Court and even making their way through the Chair and becoming Master Lightmonger.

Like many things in life, until you put something in you do not realise how much you can get out of it!

Charity

Membership of the Company implies that you are willing to donate to and support the fundraising activities of The Worshipful Company of Lightmongers Charitable Trust. There is no set amount or minimum donation. It is sensible however to factor in an appropriate amount for your regular donations according to your means when considering membership. Members have asked for an indication of how much should be considered as a minimum however and the guidance would be that a covenant in excess of £100 per year should be considered, increased for an individual’s own personal ability to give to good charitable causes.

Our Charitable Trust makes gifts and donations on behalf of the Company, primarily to organisations that relate specifically to our charitable objectives in the field of sensory impairment and supporting City of London charities. The Company, through the Charitable Trust, also presents over 20 Educational Awards as prizes or bursaries each year.

As part of the Lightmongers support to sensory depravation a major part of the charitable support goes to two schools, Mary Hare School and New College Worcester.

Mary Hare School
Securing the future of deaf children and young people

New College Worcester
Educating young people who are blind or visually impaired

Membership

In the Lightmongers there are two levels of membership, Freeman and Liveryman, with different entitlements attached to each. The Liveryman status is full membership, which enables you to become further involved by joining a committee, being invited onto the Court and ultimately becoming Master Lightmonger.

The Company holds three formal dinners each year, a black-tie Members Dinner, for members only, a formal white-tie Summer Banquet held at the resplendent Mansion House for members and their personal and business guests, and a black-tie Livery Dinner for members and their business guests held at one of the Livery Halls in the City.

WCL - Info for Prospect Members - March 2019-4

Summer Banquet at the Mansion House

These events include a variety of speakers covering both light hearted and serious topics and are an excellent way to entertain guests, business or friends, with good food and wine in surroundings unique to the City of London and entitles access to places for both members and their guests that would otherwise be very limited.

 

How to Join

Membership usually takes the form of three stages:

  • Admission as a Freeman
  • Attaining Freedom of the City of London
  • Progression to full membership as a Liveryman

Full details can also be found at www.lightmongers.co.uk

Admission as a Freeman

This is the first step to becoming a full member of the Company. As a prospective member you will need to be sponsored to become a Freeman by two existing Liverymen of the Company who you may already know. If you need support in identifying sponsors you should contact the Clerk.

There is an Application Form, available on request from the Clerk or downloadable from the Lightmongers’ website.

Once the form has been received the Chairman of the Membership Committee will invite you for an interview.  Following the interview, if you and the Membership Committee both wish to proceed, you will be asked to pay your Admission Fine and your membership will be proposed to the Court.  Should they approve, you will be invited to attend the next Court meeting to be Admitted to the Freedom of the Company.  Both you and your partner will be invited to join the Court at its Court Dinner, at your own cost, a very nice evening and otherwise only open to Court Members, those being admitted as Freemen and those being clothed as Liverymen.  Your partner will also be invited to enter the Court Room with you to see you become a member.  Attendance of partners is by no means a requirement, they may well not wish to join you, of course. Court meetings are usually held in February, May, September and November and at the one in November partners are not invited as it is the Annual Meeting for members only.

Attaining the Freedom of the City of London

Having achieved Freedom of the Company you need to attain Freedom of the City of London.  This is done through the Chamberlain’s Court at Guildhall and, presuming your application is approved, is a simple yet nice ceremony to which you can take a partner and a couple of guests. It is always good to finish off such a prestigious occasion with lunch in one of the many nice City restaurants.

More details on how to do this will be provided after you have been admitted as a Freeman to the Company.

WCL - Info for Prospect Members - March 2019-5

New Freemen on the evening of their Court attendance

Progression to full membership as a Liveryman

Once you have your Freedom of the Company and your Freedom of the City you are entitled to progress to be Clothed in the Livery of the Worshipful Company of Lightmongers, thus becoming a full member.  To become a Liveryman you will need to let the Clerk know that you have achieved Freedom of the City and you will then again be invited to a meeting of the Court to be Clothed in the Livery.

Once a Liveryman you are then eligible to sit on Company committees and join the Court, and entitled to vote at City elections for the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, should you so desire.

WCL - Info for Prospect Members - March 2019-5 copy

The Court

Charges

There are one-off costs, traditionally called ‘Fines’, and an annual membership fee called, for historical reasons, ‘Quarterage’.  (Quoted as at the time of writing)

Fines
Admission as a Freeman                                                                           £250
Progression to a Liveryman                                                                      £250
Admission as a Journeyman                                                                     £125

Attaining the Freedom of the City of London (A City fee)      £100

Quarterage  – Due 30th September each year (in respect of the membership year 1st August to 31st July each year). To be paid by Direct Debit

For 2023/24 the rates are:

Freemen & Liverymen                                                                                £390
(For members joining during a membership year the Quarterage is applied pro-rata from the date of joining)

Freeman & Liveryman under 40                                                              £292.50
(same apportioning applies)

Freeman & Liveryman under 37                                                               £195
(same apportioning applies)

Freeman & Liveryman under 34                                                               £97.50
(same apportioning applies)

Journeymen                                                                                                  £0

Whilst membership of the Livery company is in the name of the member, many members are sponsored by their company.  It is expected that the individual will maintain their membership should their company no longer sponsor them or they change employer.

WCL - Info for Prospect Members - March 2019-6

Livery Dinner at Drapers’ Hall

Events

The cost of events vary and inevitably rise over time, but typically are currently:

  • Summer Banquet at the Mansion House                                              £150
  • Members Dinner                                                                                        £120
  • The Livery Dinner                                                                                       £130
  • Other events                                                                                      £35 to £50

Affiliations

From early times the City of London and its Guilds, like other great European cities, had maintained a militia, in support of the Crown and Government.  Livery Companies maintain that historical tradition through affiliations with our armed forces.  Representatives of the services play a full part in the social and ceremonial occasions through being Honorary Members.  The current military affiliations of the Lightmongers are:

Army

579 Field Squadron for explosive ordinance disposal at Tunbridge Wells

Navy

HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Haringey Sea Cadets.

Royal Air Force

606 (Chiltern) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force at RAF Benson, Oxfordshire.
56 (Woolwich) Squadron Air Training Corps (Cadets).

The Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers

The Tallow Chandlers are one of the older Livery Companies and generously sponsored the Lightmongers to become a new Livery Company in 1984.  From that time the Lightmongers have enjoyed the facilities of the Hall of the Tallow Chandlers. A small but wonderful Hall, the Lightmongers Court meetings are held in the oldest remaining purpose built court room in the City, built in Tudor style in 1672.  The Court Room includes the unusual feature of the bar, which is closed whilst the Court is in session.  The Master sits on a high dais with the other Court members sitting around the room on the benches to the left and right of the Master.

Court dinners are held in the Tallow Chandlers’ banqueting Hall, as is usually the Members Dinner.

 

 

 

 

For more information about the Lightmongers
please visit our website www.lightmongers.co.uk
or if you wish to progress an application to join
The Worshipful Company of Lightmongers
please contact us via email on:

clerk@lightmongers.co.uk

For more information visit our website:

www.lightmongers.co.uk