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January 2017

NEWSLETTER
To be deserving of the status of Premier Livery Company of the City of London and through the discharge of the Companys historic
obligations and the development of programmes to meet current and future needs, to serve those who suffer deprivation or disadvantage
and to add value to and support the community.

Mercer Diary Dates

(Please check your invitations on your
online profile)
Inter Livery Skiing - Thursday 19thFriday
20th January
Freemans Dinner - Thursday 26th January
Gresham College Lectures
Key: * Museum of London
Barnards Inn Hall
Mathematics goes to the Movies - 10th Jan,
1pm*
Safety-Critical Systems - 10th Jan, 6pm*
Something in the Air: The Insidious Challenge
of Air Pollution - 12th Jan, 6pm
Did Sir Walter Scott Invent Scotland? - 17th
Jan, 1pm*
King George V - 17th Jan, 6pm*
Schools Enterprise Competition
On Wednesday 30th November, the Company hosted its second Mercers Schools Enterprise
Competition which took place over dinner. This competition is part of the wider Academy Awards
programme, set up by the Grocers Company four years ago, also involving the Haberdashers and the
Drapers Companies. The programme sees teams of sixth form students develop their entrepreneurial
skills, conceptualising an idea into a real world product, then competing through a series of dragons
den style presentations. One team of students from each Hammersmith Academy, Lilian Baylis and
City Academy Hackney took part this year.
Working with Mercer mentors, who volunteered to help the students develop their ideas and business
pitches, the students worked over the Autumn term to create and investigate their business ventures,
considering potential implications of their products by researching the markets, targeted audiences,
start-up costs and financial growth, as well as realistic goal setting and product design.
Over the evening, the teams took to the stage to present their new concepts. All were remarkably calm
and held engaging presentations in front of an audience of close to 100 guests. Their ideas were
innovative and it was clear all had worked hard researching their intended fields. The concepts were
very varied, ranging from a 3D body scanner Gym Pod, to Peer to Peer, an online mentoring re-
source, and, T.L.C. (Teach. Learn. Connect), a cloud-based training resource for students with SEN
(Special Educational Needs).
All the teams were able to think quickly and flexibly, tackling challenging questions from the esteemed
panel of judges and members of the audience, and, despite a few hard questions from the floor, the
students were able to answer all questions extremely confidently.

The Mathematical Skyline - 18th Jan, 1pm
Sudden Death in the Young: A Terrible
Waste - 18th Jan, 6pm*
Roman Singing and its Influence Across Eu-
rope - 19th Jan, 1pm St. Sepulchre Without
Newgate
Is Reality Limited to What Science can Un-
cover? - 24th Jan, 1pm*
Shakespeares Sonnets and the use of Personi-
fication - 24th Jan, 6pm *
Americas Advents - 26th Jan, 1pm
When Legal Worlds Collide - 26th Jan, 6pm donation of 1,000 to their chosen charity, the National Autistic Society. The team go on to represent
Cheats, Liars and Fornicators: The Hidden
Face of Mother Nature - 31st Jan, 6pm*
All lectures are free to attend. For more lec-
tures and the latest news on Gresham College
events please click here.
After the presentations the five judges - Adam Fenwick (Chair of the Judging Panel) and Sarah Barker,
and non-Mercers, Amber Atherton, Lewis Iwo and Paddy Willis - gathered together to decide who
were the most deserving winners. Each table was also given a vote and acted as a silent sixth judge.
The winning team (shown
left with the Master) was
from Lilian Baylis Technolo-
gy School who impressed
the audience with their
unique idea T.L.C, which
tapped into an overlooked
area of the educational
market, the thorough re-
search and development
undertaken by the students and their confident presentation. They won 5,000 for their school and a
their school and the Mercers Company at the Mansion House Final on Monday 30th January where
they will compete against the three winning teams from the other Livery Companies competitions.
There are a limited number of spaces available to attend the Mansion House Final on the evening of
Monday 30th January. If you are interested in attending this event, please contact Kate Rounce at
kater@mercers.co.uk.
Thanks are due to all of the Mercer mentors who gave up their time to support the participating teams,
together with the judges on the evening itself: Hugh Stafford-Smith and Francis Wathen (Hammersmith
Academy). Laura Wathen and Richard Sutton (The City Academy, Hackney). Chris Bryant and Chris
Watney (Lilian Baylis Technology School).
Kate Rounce, Education Grants and Project Officer

City and Livery Events
December Livery Briefing - To read the
latest edition of the Livery Briefing please
follow the link; http://
www.liverycompanies.info/library/livery-
briefing/. This edition diaries dates and events
to note for the coming year.
The Drapers Spring Concerts - Tuesday
21st February, Tuesday 14th March and
Wednesday 3rd May. All are invited to attend
the Drapers Company 23rd Concert Series.
Each concert performs different musical com-
positions. Early booking is recommended.
Concert Tickets Only - 25
Concert Tickets and Dinner - 45
More information can be found on the Mem-
bers Website under the recent news articles.
Forever Trial & Error - Monday 13th
Wednesday 15th March from 7pm, the popular
theatrical spectacular is back at the Old Bailey.
The show, 400 Years of Newgate and The Old
Bailey, is devised by His Hon Judge Peter Rook
QC and is raising money for the Sheriffs &
Records Fund and Pan Intercultural Arts.
Tickets:
60 for one
50 for two or more
For more information or to book please send
emails to: moretrialevents@outlook.com
Gala Concert by the London Symphony
Orchestra - Tuesday 14th March at St Pauls
Cathedral, 7pm.
In aid of the Lord Mayors Appeal a special
concert with the choir of St Pauls Cathedral
and The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor, Alderman Dr
Andrew Parmley.
For further information or to book tickets
(prices vary) please visit lma-gala-
concert.eventbrite.co.uk
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NEWSLETTER
MakeLunch
is an award winning network of churches in the UK who are working to fill
the holiday hunger gap. An estimated 3.7 million children are living in poverty
in the UK and while they are entitled to free school meals, in the holidays
many risk going hungry.
MakeLunch seeks to tackle this injustice by supporting churches to utilise their buildings, volunteers
and desire to serve their communities by setting up kitchens which offer nutritional meals in the
school holidays. Through links with schools, foodbanks and other local services the projects reach
children and parents who would otherwise be at risk of going hungry. Since their inception they have
worked with churches to provide over 36,000 meals to vulnerable children.
The Standing Church Committee awarded MakeLunch a grant of 15,000 for one year to fund a new
London co-ordinator to expand their network of kitchens in the City. As we come to the end of the
first year of funding for MakeLunch we are encouraged to see 2016 was a year of growth for the
charity, both in the number of kitchens feeding vulnerable children and in new strategic partnerships
supporting others in the fight against child food poverty.
The SCC had the chance to experience the work first hand over the summer holidays at St Lukes,
Hackney, which ran a MakeLunch kitchen for the first time. Its main building, cleared of pews, had
been transformed into a holiday club and kitchen buzzing with children and parents. The St Lukes
youth worker had been able to use the churchs links with local schools and its community relation-
ships to reach the most vulnerable young children. It was clear that the kitchen was living up to the
charitys #morethanjustfood, as the project provides relationships, a safe space, educational
opportunities and signposting to other services.
In addition to the inspiring work of the kitchens all over the country the project has exceed
expectations by developing an exciting training partnership with the Mayors Fund for London.
Thanks to their expansion into London they have been able to develop a successfully piloted training
package, which worked with youth organisations from
across the City sharing their tested model to equip
others with the necessary skills and resources. This
training is going to be taken forward by the Mayors
Fund for wider use and MakeLunch are exploring how
they might be able to share it with other local authori-
ties and diocese around the UK.
Leah Skouby, Grants Officer
Mercers Staff Office Move
A New Year and a new office for the executive team at Mercers Hall. For a while now ideas and
plans have been underway to change the layout and operations of Mercers Hall. On the 12th Febru-
ary 2016 it was approved by Court that the internal team will relocate from 4a Fredericks place,
where the current offices are, to the 4th floor on Becket House (two stories directly above the
Hall).
The move will mean all staff will be on one open plan floor, making communication between the
departments smoother and reducing the Companys carbon footprint as less electricity and gas will
be used, the heating and air conditioning will be modern and energy efficient, sending less emails
internally and reduced printing.
The archive department will remain, for the time being, at 4a Fredricks Place, and the Hall team will
remain in their office next to the Hall.
The move is planned to happen in late January 2017 and will be an exciting development for the
Company. The office move is part of a bigger project to redevelop 4a Fredricks Place into a more
accommodating commercial space.

New Staff
The Mercers Company are happy to announce
that a new member of staff has joined the team.
Eugenie Fitzgerald Grants Administrator -
02077767265, eugenief@mercers.co.uk
Job Description Providing administrative
support to the Philanthropy Department.
Employed part time Monday-Thursday until
June 2017.
Previous employment - Several years working
for lifestyle and fashion PR agencies before
starting up own event planning company.
Staff News
The Mercers Company are delighted to
announce the birth of Jane Middletons first
baby. The Head of Fellowship had a daughter,
Darcy Florence Middleton, at approximately
8.30pm on Christmas Eve.
Your Feedback
As a membership organization your thoughts,
comments and suggestions are invaluable to
the Company.
Please keep an eye out for a new membership
survey, which focuses on Fellowship and
Philanthropy.
The survey will shortly be sent out via email
and, working off of the 2014 survey, aims to
provide us with a deeper understanding on
what you want and how you wish to interact
with the Company.
It is important we hear from as many
members as possible to ensure the Company
acts in your interest.
Editors Notes
If you are unable to log into the site to update
your profile or if you have a story you think
should be included in the next edition of the
newsletter please contact Isabelle Coulton on
Isabellec@mercers.co.uk
Please remember that most Newsletter stories
can be found on the Members website, often in
greater detail.
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January 2017
NEWSLETTER
Revealing the Charterhouse
In 2014 the Mercers Company donated 150,000 to the Charterhouse for the project Revealing the
Charterhouse. The project creates a newly landscaped Charterhouse Square, provides a purpose-
built Learning Centre and a new museum which tells the story of the Charterhouse from the Black
Death to present day.
The Charterhouse is a former Carthusian monastery in
the City of London, located between Barbican and
Smithfield Market, to the north of what is now
Charterhouse Square. Since the dissolution of the
monasteries in the 16th century the site has served as
a private mansion, a boys school and an almshouse,
which it remains to this day.
The Charterhouse opens to the public later this
month, at which point it will become not just an
almshouse but also a heritage site to be visited by the
general public, something not seen since 1348.
Behind this multi-faceted project lies a simple aim on the part of the Charterhouses governors: to
open up their historic site more fully to the general public, thereby putting their organisation on a
better footing for the future. The Charterhouse is a registered charity and the first duty of the
governors is to pursue the charitys purposes which were set down by the founder Thomas Sutton
(died 1611) and confirmed by Act of Parliament in 1628.
A feature about the project Revealing the Charterhouse appears in a recent edition of Barbican Life
magazine. It was written by project curator Cathy Ross. You can read it http://flickread.com/edition/
html/57d26ff45cccd#9
Robots: The 500 Year Quest to Make Machines Human
In May 2016 the Science Museum received a 4,000 chairmans grant towards a Robots exhibition.
Throughout history, artists and scientists have sought to understand what it means to be human by
recreating ourselves. This new exhibition will explore that obsession and reveal the remarkable 500
year story of humanoid robots. Set in five different periods and places, the exhibition features a
unique collection of over 100 robots,
Two tickets are available (members and a guest) to attend a reception at the Science Museum to
celebrate the opening of the Robots exhibition, which takes place on Tuesday 7th February, 19.30-
22.00.
If you would like to attend please contact Tom Bell, Tomb@mercers.co.uk before the 19th January.
The tickets will be issued on a first come first served basis.
The exhibition opens to the public from the 8th February3rd September 2017.