Royal visit to the Turners stand at the Big Curry Lunch
A team consisting of the Clerk, the Assistant Clerk, Assistant Jo Baddeley and Past Master Peter Gibson and his wife Di, were up early on Thursday 7th April, to take some carefully selected woodturning over to Guildhall for the Lord Mayor’s Platinum Jubilee Big Curry Lunch. The pieces being sold were all from the Turning for Good project the Turners Company ran during lockdown to help our woodturners get through a very difficult time. The Company bought an amount of stock from any professional woodturner wishing to take part, in order to build up resources for future charity events such as the Big Curry Lunch.
The sale proved very popular, and £2,000 was made during the few shopping hours available to lunch guests, and a further £800 was made from the silent auction. Items were specially made for the silent auction by George Shapland (who turned a platinum jubilee bowl) and John Boyne-Aitken, both chosen to take part in this initiative for their military backgrounds.
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- George Shapland piece
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- John Boyne-Aitken piece
The Master Turner, Melissa Scott had the pleasure to present Their Royal Highnesses Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie with honey drizzlers turned by Colin Norgate. The Princesses took time to chat at the stall and look at all the wonderful woodturning on display, and seemed thoroughly delighted with their gifts.
Master Emerita Penrose Halson was also at the lunch, selling copies of her book, Marriages are Made in Bond Street, all proceeds going to the Soldiers’ Charity. Her handcrafted jacket shows the patron saint of The Turners’ Company, St Catherine.
Permission was given in 2022 to call the Lunch ‘The Lord Mayor’s Platinum Jubilee Big Curry’ in honour of The Queen’s extraordinary service to this country and to the Commonwealth over seventy years. Her Majesty is, of course, Head of the Armed Forces and is regularly updated about the ways in which the Lunch supports veterans.
Despite the country slowly returning to normal, employment is a huge issue still affecting the nation in the wake of the pandemic. It has created difficulties for many people including military veterans seeking a job in the civilian world.
More than ever, support is needed to help veterans and in particular, those suffering from the debilitating impact of pain – physical, psychological or both – manage the pain and, as a result, be able to seek and hold down a job.
We are going to continue to support the Veterans’ Pain Management Programme at the King Edward VII Hospital our ambition for 2022 is to fund 15 veterans waiting to go on the Programme. New for 2022 is our support of the LifeWorks Programme where we hope to be able to support 65 veterans through the programme. Both these programmes help to transform the lives of individual veterans and their families. Big Curry Lunch
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