Issue 68: May 2016
MONITOR
the newsletter of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists
MASTER’S LETTER
T
he weeks and months continue to demonstrate the many and varied activities of the
Company and the way we allow and encourage the huge talent within our numbers to
show itself and come to the fore, particularly among our more recent members.
Sometimes….increasingly….our members’ contributions are recognised by others; two years
ago Tom Ilube won the first prestigious annual Root and Branch Award of the City Livery Club
for his remarkable work on and with the Hammersmith Academy, our joint venture with the
Mercers and now fully established. This year the Award - which is for work which brings
benefits across the Livery as a whole, not just for one’s own company - is going to another
Liveryman, Paul Jagger, for his initiative in writing The City of London Freeman’s Guide, a
compact but comprehensive “all you need to know” about the Civic City, now in its second
Magna Carta best-selling edition: the kind of thing you would assume had always existed and
were amazed to discover it didn’t, so all credit to Paul for filling the gap. Paul receives the
Award from the Lord Mayor at the City Livery Club Civic Lunch on 24 th May.
A different form of recognition comes in the selection of our Livery cutter Cito to take part in
the river procession on the Thames on 11th June to mark The Queen’s 90th birthday: well
done our crew, well led by our Barge Master John Gavin.
The Master, Alderman Sir David Wootton
Inside this issue:
Master’s Letter
1
City Livery Club:
Root & Branch
3
Livery Schools Link
Showcase
4
Fellowship Events
& News
6-9
WCIT Charity
Grants Report
10
WCIT Charity
Grant Updates
12 15
Education News
16
Reminiscences
Series
18
WCIT History Corner
20
Clerk’s Letter
24
Sometimes we do the recognising ourselves. At our 92nd Business Lunch on 18th May I
present the Pinkerton Award, a 3000-word essay competition on an IT-related subject for our
Journeymen: the Journeyman Scheme now very capably led by Major Sarah Trevelion.
Our 91st Business Lunch in February gave a platform to Sherry Coutu CBE, Liveryman and IT entrepreneur
and promoter extraordinaire: the second industry-leading woman in a row to address our Business Lunches:
I'm trying to maintain the habit.
We repeated at the lunch a new format, of interleaving the speaking into and during the eating, so attendees
can discuss what the speaker has already said, and suggest what she might go on to say, rather than leave it
all to the end, when people are coming under time-pressure on a working day. So far, so good, I think.
We tried a bit more innovation at the May Livery Dinner, when, again with the aim of giving members more of
a chance to shine, four of us - Sheldon Stoutt, John O’Connell, Jo Connell OBE DL, Guy Leppard - spoke
about what we individually do within the Company, exemplifying our four pillars of Education, Industry, Charity
and Fellowship - in Guy's case, that Cito cutter again. The Clerk Mike brought us up to date with Company
progress overall. Suggestions that this is in fact all about saving the Master's voice are, of course, wholly
without foundation! I did say something, promise…
We have held a session for Prospective School Governors, led by Dr Jon Hall, and attended not least by Past
Masters Mercer and Haberdasher, with whom we have strong links in Education; also a very well attended
introduction to the Company and the City for officers and NCOs of the Royal Signals about to leave the
service, organised by Nick Claydon, part of both our enhancing links with the Royal Signals and our
programme of supporting those transitioning from the armed services to the world of civilian work; and an
excellent debate, moderated by Alistair Fulton, on the implications of Brexit for the IT industry...at least I think
that's what it was about!
Our Panels do wonderful things: I attended a brilliant Arts Panel event on social media, at which the opening
speaker said that "social media" isn't new at all: that's how people communicated from the beginning of time
until the era of broadcasting: all that's changed is the technology......did I say "...technology"? And an
excellent Security Panel dinner at the Hall, with Lord (David) Blunkett, a remarkable man."
You will appreciate that I have mentioned quite a number of members in this article: I could have mentioned
countless more. That's what we are: a Company with skills and energies we allow to come through.
Thank you all, and good luck.