A Plumb and Perfect Banquet – 16th March 2026
Held at Mansion House on 16 March, our Annual Banquet welcomed distinguished guests including the Lady Mayor. An excellent attendance, engaging speeches, and a warm, convivial atmosphere combined to deliver a memorable and widely praised evening for members and their guests.
Our Annual Banquet took place on 16 March, in the glorious surroundings of Mansion House. We were privileged to have as our special guest The Right Honourable the Lady Mayor, Alderwoman Dame Susan Langley DBE. We were also joined by Sheriff and Deputy Keith Bottomley. It was a huge honour to be able to welcome them with their consorts.
The Sea Cadets were well turned out and provided an excellent carpet guard to welcome everyone.
The zenith of the livery year, this years’ banquet was no exception. We had the highest number of attendees since covid. In addition to the Company guests, many of you were accompanied by your own guests, friends and family.
During her speech, the Master presented the Lady Mayor with a cheque from the Plumbers’ Charity to support the Lord Mayor’s Appeal. She spoke about both the challenges and the achievements of the Company and introduced the guest speaker Felix Francis. The Master also thanked the sponsors for the banquet, HDR and PEW for their generous support that made it possible to hold the ticket price at the same level as last year.
The Lady Mayor gave us a glimpse of the amazing work that she is doing to ‘Unsquare the Square mile’ and the charitable work of the Lord Mayors appeal.
The Upper Warden welcomed the other guests.Felix Francis had the audience laughing from the outset with his, at times topical, always entertaining and amusing speech. He explained how he came to carry on his father’s work as a best-selling crime writer.
Guests took advantage of the opportunity to mingle during the reception and afterwards at the stirrup cup, where we were joined by the Lady Mayor, Sheriff and their consorts who were happy and comfortable conversing with the gathering.
The friendly atmosphere was apparent throughout the evening and, from the feedback we have from many who attended, the event was a great success with our members and guests thoroughly enjoying themselves. Here is just a sample of what some of you and our guests had to say:
“Many thanks and congratulations on a wonderful banquet. The whole evening was an enormous success.
This was a truly special event, brilliantly organised with every detail thought about. The food was fantastic and the whole event was so memorable. My guests absolutely loved it.
It did feel like a truly friendly atmosphere on Monday evening with many smiling faces and, of course, it was superb to have the Lady Mayor and Consort present.
What a splendid Banquet evening last night, which I so enjoyed. The ambience was very friendly and relaxed.
It was a really good evening, those I spoke with who were attending for the first time were completely bowled over by the friendliness of the evening.
My sincerest thanks for inviting me to last Monday’s annual banquet, which will surely be long remembered as one of the best.
Thank you very much for an enjoyable dinner last night. Great food, excellent company in amazing surroundings. It was great to hear Felix Francis speak.
What a wonderful Mansion House Banquet – we very much enjoyed the event, the company, and the speakers – all fantastic.”
To all those who attended, a huge thank you. It is you that makes these events so memorable. If you were not able to make it this time, try to get to one of our future functions and join in the fun.
The Banquet sponsors were PEW andHDR
Photographs by Andy Sillett.
The article was written by Liveryman Ian Raine.
