Issue 66: Dec 2015
MONITOR
the newsletter of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists
MASTER’S LETTER
O
ne of our new Liverymen told me with great pride that a member
of another Company had said to him, "You're an Information
Technologist? They're the Livery of the moment." Whoever he
was, he was right and I already have four special moments to make the
point.
235 at our Installation Dinner, in a Hall that takes 180; we overflowed into
another room and used information technology to link us up so everyone
could hear. Before dinner, 32, including the "one" above, were admitted
to the Livery at St Bartholomew’s Church in our annual ceremony
beforehand; there were lots of family and friends there to see it and to
Celebrate; accompanied by a terrific speech by the Lord Chief Justice on
the use of technology in reform of the legal system…a great party.
Many of the livery Class of 2015 came to our Livery Dinner at the Hall, as
did four of the six Clerks in the Company's history: Peta Walmisley,
Michael Grant, our current Clerk Mike Jenkins and the toast to the
Company proposed by Robin Laidlaw- 1st Almoner, 2nd Liveryman,
3rd Clerk and 4th Master. A wonderful example of the continuity in our
Company, connecting the generations ahead of the 25th anniversary of
the grant to us of Livery status.
The Master, Alderman Sir David Wootton
Inside this issue:
Master’s Letter
1
WCIT’s link with
Northampton
4
Education
6
City Walks & Golf
8
Master’s Installation
10
The Lord Mayor’s
Show & the WCIT
Float
12
600th Anniversary of 16
Agincourt
WCIT Charity &
Panels News
18
WCIT History:
Reminiscences
Series
20
Clerk’s Letter
24
To the Museum of London for the inaugural lecture by Professor Martyn Thomas CBE, our
Worshipful Company (as he described it) Professor of Information Technology at Gresham
College - the body established by a Lord Mayor centuries ago to provide free lectures to the
public and highly relevant today. Professor Thomas is one of the leading thinkers and writers on
the relationship of technology and society. We are proud to be sponsoring Gresham College to
allow him to give a series of lectures on the subject and this, his first and very well attended
especially by leading industry figures, was a scene-setter for the remaining lectures in this series.
His theme was the inadequacy of software to protect us from the potential threats, his most scary
example was hackers taking control of a car while it was being driven by its owner!
Finally, Cadets from our affiliated 46F Kensington Air Cadets performed wonderfully at an
evening of readings from the 1st World War at Kensington Town Hall, very kindly hosted by the
Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea and Victoria Borwick, MP for the borough, with our Company
being represented by Past Master and Lord Lieutenant of London Ken Olisa OBE....as well as
me. One of our cadets read superbly a long and moving letter home by a soldier at the front and
the evening was rounded off by the Last Post and Reveille by the Cadets Band. Magnificent!
I felt very proud.
Four special moments illustrating the diversity of what and who we are and what we do. I aim to
concentrate this year on giving our members a chance to use their experience and show their
talents across the wide range of the Company's activities. I am honoured to be your Master and
to take over from Nicholas Birtles, who had a terrific year for which we all thank him. I look
forward to seeing you all as "my" year progresses.