BPEC LIFE AWARD PRESENTATION – 24th OCTOBER, 2012

Mister Chairman, Trustees of the BPEC Charity, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Many thanks Paul for your kind words of introduction. It is a pleasure to be here at the first Life Award Presentation Evening and say just a few words about The Worshipful Company of Plumbers and the background to the maquette of The Plumber’s Apprentice being presented tonight.

Livery Companies have been around for a long time. They originated in the City of London in the fourteenth century and came into being as craft guilds which undertook to maintain standards of workmanship for the Citizens of London in return for a monopoly over such trades as plumbing. As you can imagine, that made some of the Companies quite rich and created enormous wealth which has been retained to this day.

The first records for The Worshipful Company of Plumbers date from 1365 which means that the Company is nigh on 650 years old and will celebrate a major anniversary in 2015. In 2011, we also celebrated the 400th anniversary of the grant of our most recent Royal Charter about which more later.

Not all of the Livery Companies have maintained a close link to their craft but the Plumbers have. We enjoy contact with all the plumbing organisations such as BPEC and provide support for education and training in a number of ways. We are also able to co-ordinate action nationally on behalf of the plumbing industry and are taking a major part in the creation of the Water Safe Scheme which will be formally launched shortly.

The Water Safe Scheme is, as many of you will already know, of major significance and importance to both our industry and the general public. It will promote good plumbing practice, provide a searchable website to identify recognised, competent plumbers and reduce the risk from rogue traders. In this respect, BPEC are to be congratulated on playing their part in providing an entry route for experienced plumbers who do not currently hold an appropriate, recognised qualification.

In addition to its involvement in the plumbing sector, the Plumbers’ Livery Company has a role in the corporate life of the City of London and has a charity which provides awards, burseries and funds for colleges, schools, the armed services and apprentices. Time does not permit me to expand further but, if you are interested in finding out more or, indeed, joining the Company which is open to all, please have a look at our website which gives further details.

As I mentioned earlier, the Worshipful Company celebrated the grant of its most recent Royal Charter last year and I had the privilege of being associated with the organisation of those celebrations. In the planning stage, it was felt that we wanted something tangible which would be a permanent momento, a recognition of both the importance of apprenticeships as part of the learning process and the support given by Livery Companies in education and training. Out of these objectives, the thought of a statue depicting a plumber’s apprentice was born.

By a fortunate chance, Cannon Street Station in the City of London, the site of the Plumbers’ last Livery Hall, was being redeveloped at the time and Network Rail kindly agreed that we could put a statue on the new station concourse. We then went about the process of commissioning a statue and fundraising for the not inconsiderable cost.

Those of us involved had little experience of commissioning a statue and it was a steep learning curve. However, after preparing a shortlist of possible sculptors, we held a competition between three of them and unanimously selected a design by Martin Jennings, the sculptor probably best known for his statue of Sir John Betjamin at St Pancras International Station.

We then had a site and a design but not the money! Fundraising therefore began and, despite the prevailing economic hardships in the UK, we were able to raise the necessary funds through the generosity of many organisations and individuals. BPEC was one of those involved in making a contribution and I want to take this opportunity of again thanking you for your most helpful donation.

With the funds in place, the order was placed and the statue completed and installed at Cannon Street Station in a period of just over nine months. It was officially unveiled on the 6th October last year and named The Plumber’s Apprentice by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester, in the presence of many dignitaries including the Lord Mayor of London, and now stands as a permanent statement on behalf of the plumbing industry. If you have not seen it, I urge you to do so. You will be impressed!

And, finally, tonight you will be presenting a maquette of The Plumber’s Apprentice to the winner of the BPEC Charity Life Award, the maquette being a bronze casting of the original model submitted by Martin Jennings when he put forward his successful entry in the Worshipful Companies’ design competition. It is something which the recipient should be proud to hold.