The 2022 Common Hall ceremony of the Worshipful Company of Butchers (WCB), held at Butchers Hall, London today [8th September] has elected Andrew Parker as its new Master for the coming year, together with a new Court made up of Wardens and Assistants.
Common Hall is an annual event with a history stretching back many hundreds of years and Liverymen of the WCB are required to attend when the new Master is put forward for election.
This is the second time that Andrew Parker has been elected as Master and follows his original year commencing back in September 2020 which was badly disrupted by the Covid pandemic.
Subsequently, it was agreed that it was only fair that he should be put forward again as Master for the coming year once Margaret Boanas, the outgoing Master (whose year commenced back in September 2021) stepped down.
The Common Hall ceremony follows a church service at the nearby St Bartholomew The Great and the outgoing Master and the Court process from Butchers Hall to the church and then return for the election. The election process and confirmation of all the appointments is followed by a convivial lunch attended by family and guests of livery members.
Having been made Master for the second time, Andrew Parker told Meat Management: “I look forward to taking on the mantle of Master. Though I was Master back in 2020/2021, this second time around, in hopefully a Covid-free environment, will allow me to fully represent our Livery across the city and the meat industry. A heartfelt thank you to all Liverymen for supporting me this year.”
Andrew Parker’s late father, Bill Parker was a past Master, who held the prestigious office in 2003.
The outgoing Master, Margaret Boanas, commented: “It has been a wonderful, exhilarating rollercoaster of a year. On the one hand representing the Livery at City of London Livery and meat industry events has been such a privilege; on the other, dealing with the financial situation has been very difficult. But I am so proud to have been the Master of the Butchers’ Company."
The Common Hall election confirmed the following:
Master:
Andrew Parker.
Wardens:
John Jones, Gwyn Howells, Peter Allen, Stephen Chick and Tim Stone.
Assistants:
Timothy Dumenil, Margaret Boanas, Christopher Wood, David Baker, Tony Stanton, Rachel Griffiths, David Richards, Paul Dolan, James Connell, Julien Pursglove, William Buchanan, Amanda Buitelaar, Andrew Burton, William Thurston and Peter Wright.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
