Another year, and another annual cart marking ceremony carried out by the The Worshipful Company of Carmen.

I have written about the history of the tradition before – so I wont recount that again.

Today though, I noticed an interesting social phenomena.

The Guildhall courtyard is set up with some seats on the Southern side next to the old church, while rows of seats are set up on the opposite side next to the dais. Although anyone can sit anywhere (save a few reserved seats), somehow an invisible social line gets drawn across the yard.

By the church, people are largely dressed in casual clothing, while on the northern side, in general the men wear jackets, and the ladies wear hats.

Curious.

Anyhow, although the cheap seats have a better view of the dais where the dignitaries sit, and can happily watch the vehicles drive into the courtyard, the actual cart marking is hidden from their view by the vehicle itself.

Sadly for those of us in the Dress Circle, who should have a clear view of everything, the view of the marking was usually obscured by a clutch of photographers fluttering around the event most of the time – although I suspect a few were shoo’d away after a while as just one official chap was left all of a sudden.

The event itself followed the usual routine.

A vehicle drives into the courtyard, stopped by the dais, where the Master Carman, and later the former Lord Mayor applies a hot iron to a wooden board to mark it (this year, the letter code is “S”). A few photos, and along comes the next “cart”.

Throughout, a commentary is given as to the heritage of old vehicles, or notes why modern vans are of interest. Half way though, the Lord Mayor arrives (although this year, a former Lord Mayor as the current incumbent is away on business) and once each vehicle has had its branding, they all parade through the courtyard once more.

As a morning out, it is one of my favourite City of London traditions to attend. The wide range of vehicles dating from 1880 to 2010 make it a far more interesting spectacle than a conventional heritage vehicle show.

The full range of photos taken today

Below are a few of the more notable photos

City worthies leaving the stage to the sound of trumpet heralds

Chelsea Pensioners arriving in a 1950s Bedford Bus

A DAF motorway transport - with folding down crash impact "bumper" at the back for motorists who cant see the flashing lights and huge sign

A 1902 Purdey Pantechnicon

A 1937 steam powered Sentinel wagon

A branded board up close - note the S for this year.

A Smithfield market Bumaree's handcart - from around the 1920s.

A battery powered cab designed by the University of Birmingham

"Nobby the Grab" is the oldest truck still in daily commercial use in the City.

The full range of photos taken today

As part of the soon to finish City of London Festival, there was a talk the other evening at the Wax Chandlers Hall all about their trade – bees and beeswax.

The hall itself isn’t one of the grand old city halls that some of the Livery Companies own – mainly as some Germans dropped a bomb on it in the 1940s. Rebuilt in 1958, this is now the sixth hall to have been built on the site, which the Wax Chandlers have occupied continuously since 1501.

As a talk, it was a swift run through of the life of bees and how/why they make beeswax – and a side diversion into how they make honey which might put some people off the product, although in a way if you drink milk knowing where it comes from, then you can eat honey.

A bit of history about the Livery Company – and then the usual Q&A. Not quite the “history of beeswax in London” that I was expecting, which I hoped would be more anecdotal history of beeswax usage – but it was still a good romp through the history of the Livery Company in general.

Bees and bee-keeping being an increasingly popular pastime (your correspondent is mulling the idea as well) the room which had evidently been set out for maybe 50 people was standing room only and they had to let people sit up on a high balcony to create space.

Photo by Georgina Brown, Clerk, Wax Chandlers Company

The earliest record of beeswax in the City comes from the 12th century, when a royal decree was promulgated, setting out rules governing German merchants trading in beeswax in London. That almost certainly relates to the Steelyard by today’s Cannon Street station.

The Wax Chandlers themselves received their first Royal Warrant from King Richard III in 1484, which makes them the only Livery Company to have been granted a Warrant by the ill-fated King.

A Candle, A Candle, My kingdom for a Candle!

Very curiously a brief mention was made of the remains of an old building, now underground just under a manhole cover in the courtyard of St Paul’s Cathedral which made up their earliest property. Must investigate further!

Throughout most of their history, although beeswax is often used as an industrial product – such as in polishes – the use of beeswax in candles was usually reserved for churches alone. Most homes would be lit by oil lamps. It is only in recent times that the use of beeswax in the home has taken off, ironically at a time when churches try to reduce the amount of beeswax in their candles to save money.

Each year though, on 14th Sept, the Wax Chandlers still present a pound of beeswax to St Paul’s Cathedral for use in their Great Taper.

I also tend to burn beeswax candles, and there is a nice stall in the Greenwich Market that sells them most weekends.

As mentioned above, the Wax Chandlers has never been a huge company, being made up of around 100-120 members at a time, although their wealth rose in the years following the Plague as people become obsessed with the cult of praying for dead relatives – each prayer needing a candle.

Today they still function as a charity and trade body – and are working to promote beekeeping in general.

The Hall is usually open for London Open House Weekend – now irritatingly renamed as Open City,  and if you are in the area is is worth sticking your nose inside for a few minutes.

A long rambling exhortation from a member of the audience to plant nice plants was a bit wearing, but he did mention a rather interesting website hosted by the Natural History Museum – type in your postcode and it will tell you want plants are typically native to the area. Ideal if you are about to visit the garden centre and want to also look after local wildlife.

If you were in the vicinity of Old Street or Moorgate on Tuesday evening, you might have been slightly alarmed by the sight of a very low flying Chinook Helicopter coming into land, shortly followed by the sound of explosions and machine guns blazing away.

Not a terrorist incident, for this was the highlight of the 3rd annual open evening at the Honourable Artillery Company.

The HAC is is the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior in the Territorial Army, and Tuesday night was a chance to persuade people to join the army, although the sales pitch was very relaxed and it doubles up as a fine night out for those less inclined to don camouflage clothing.

After a wander round the 18th century Armoury House, it was time to get a drink and have a closer look at a rather formidable bit of weaponry that was rotating around the place and pointing its missiles at people in a manner that reminded me rather too much of an ED-209 for comfort.

The Rapier 2000, for that it what it is, is a rather formidable bit of weaponry, and the four missiles mounted on it could travel from the grounds in the City to Heathrow Airport in five seconds. A talk given to us by an operator who had served in the Falklands left us in no doubt that if one of these beasts locks onto your aircraft, then basically, you’re dead.

Nice that the Brits own these machines, rather than the other side.

The team were also demonstrating the radio targeting – and if you were on a plane flying over London at about 6:30pm and felt a bit uncomfortable, then this might have been the reason.

Like many military divisions, the HAC has its own Horse Artillery Regiment and a demonstration of horses drawing a gun carriage rolled over the initially pristine, and soon to be churned up cricket pitch.

As the HAC is rather old, there was a demonstration of a civil war regiment. The HAC has the rare distinction of having fought on both the Royalist and Parliamentary sides of the English Civil War.

On the previous open evenings, there had been a large Chinook Helicopter on the grounds to peer inside. This evening was initially lacking said flying machine, but half way through the evening, the rear of the ground was cleared for a Chinook to come in low over Old Street and land in the grounds. In the process also sending a display tent flying away.

As on the previous few open evenings, the main event was a display of modern warfare. The scene was set as a battlefield in Afghanistan and a patrol had hit an IED planted by terrorists who were over to the far side of the ground.

An almighty fire-fight then took place, with mortar explosions, machine guns (although the chap closet to us seemed to have a gun jam) and eventually the successful killing of the attackers.

Unlike being in Afghanistan though, the success of the operation was met with with the slightly surreal sound of polite applause from an audience held back by metal railings.

There was expected to be a display of parachutists as well, but as they were due to use the Chinook, and it was packed full of people wanting to have a closer look – it realistically seemed that the display wouldn’t happen, so it was time to think about heading off home.

For the 3rd year in a row, somehow they managed to get the weather just perfect for a summers evening out with good military displays.

Obviously the main reason for the event is to promote the Territorial Army, although the commentator did acknowledge that some of us might be there for a good night out, and just asked that we mention their regiment to friends.

With this blog post, I consider my debt paid.

More photos over at Flickr as usual.

You may recall that just a few weeks ago I attended the formal reading of the Proclamation for the Dissolution of Parliament as it was read on the steps of the Royal Exchange in the City of London. Such a proclamation is not the only one read on that location though, as the announcement of a new Monarch (and by inference, the death of the previous) is also carried out here.

There is also another more sombre proclamation that can be read out on the steps of the Exchange – and that is declaring War on another country.

As far as I can tell, the last time such a proclamation was duly proclaimed from this location was on December 8th, 1941, when the UK declared War on Japan. Thanks to increasing multilateralism in international affairs, with most countries now tending to resort to UN sanctions or so-called peace keeping measures, the chances that another such proclamation of war will be issued by the UK is now, slight.

Legally, the UK didn’t declare war on Argentina during the Falklands War – and military actions in other countries were under the authority of the United Nations, or were dubious – such as Suez.

Although obviously it is good that the UK doesn’t declare war any more, I think it would be sort of exciting to attend a formal Proclamation of War being read out.

Can we invade someone? Please?

Below is a short excerpt from the Illustrated London News of April 1854, when war was declared between the British Empire and Russia – marking the formal beginnings of The Crimean War.

ROYAL EXCHANGE

The ceremony of Proclaiming War – of which, as enacted in olden times, we gave some account in our Journal of last week – was performed in the City on Friday last; although it must be acknowledged that the scene was unattended by any of those heraldic or other official accompaniments which invest the form with attraction.

About noon, Mr. Beddome, the mace-bearer, accompanied only by Mr. Hill, the gate-porter at the Mansion-house, proceeded from thence to the Royal Exchange, wearing their black robes of office, but without the mace or any other insignia. These officers were soon recognised, and followed to the steps in front of the Exchange, and were speedily surrounded by between 200 and 300 persons. The news spread in all directions, and a rush was made to the point of interest; but before many reached the spot, the brief ceremony was finished amidst loud cheers.

Details for the annual City of London Festival have been published and while the majority of the events are art based, there are some which either appeal to me or might be worth flagging as above average in interest.

My personal pick of the lot are:

Sat 26th June & 3rd July – Open day at the Bank of England. Free guided tours of the building and museum. An ideal chance to avoid the worst of the long queues that snake around the building on London Open House Weekend. (Free, just turn up)

Sat 26th June – Walk – Where the Wild Things Are. A guided walk around the City looking at the City’s Hidden Wildlife. (£10 – booking needed)

Sun 27th June – Walk – The Tidal Thames, a Wildlife Thoroughfare. A guided walk along the riverside looking at nature reserves. (£10 – booking needed)

Wed 30th June – Deutsche Bank Art Tour. Rare guided tour around the collection of contemporary art, housed within the offices of Deutsche Bank, featuring works by Anish Kapoor, Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst. (£10 – booking needed)

Sat/Sun 3rd-4th July – Walk – The Restoration. Guided walk around the City focusing on buildings associated with the Restoration of the Monarchy and the Diarist Samuel Pepys. (£10 – booking needed)

Tues 6th July – Truth is the Light. A talk about the importance of beeswax in the history of the City. (Free)

Sat 10th July – Walk – The Friends of the City Churches. A guided walk around 20 City churches by the society, who don’t normally offer public tours. (£7 – booking needed)