Go Back to Charitable Trust Fund
It was a gloriously sunny day as we arrived at Trinity House near Tower Hill. The Thames was sparkling, and the Fuellers present gathered in the entrance hall to welcome our Affiliates, prize winners, friends and family.
Once present and correct we assembled and took the short walk to St Olave’s Church, drawing the eye with our fire motif robes and following our fearless Beadle as he negotiated the occasional surprised vehicle. The borders in the grounds freshly spruced up, we arrived to the welcome of Fuellers Honorary Chaplain The Reverend Nick Mottershead. Once assembled within the church, Father Mottershead led our service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving, pausing within to remember those Fuellers no longer with us. Though small in number, we raised the roof with the help of the choir (though only being 4 voices, they sang as well as a full choir) with such Hymns as ‘I Vow to Thee, My Country’. As Master I read the Lesson and Father Mottershead gave a very good Sermon which had made keen observation of the times we are in and our ‘new normal’ among other themes. Once concluded we stepped back out into the sunlit courtyard garden before processing back to Trinity House.
Having taken the chance to mingle, our guests were welcomed through the receiving line which had dwindled slightly due to my negotiating a medical issue at home via phone and so thank you in particular to our Senior Wardens Consort, Past Master Jan Harrison for providing a warm welcome. Having had a chance to speak to some of our prize-winners and hear about their work, and their other interests, it was time to process through to lunch which was a wonderful menu produced by Mark and his team at Cook & Butler. During lunch I was pleased to have the chance to speak further with Commodore David Eagles from RFA and my guest speaker, Air Vice-Marshall Richard Hill CBE RAF who were both very interesting, particular with regards to their different fields. Richard is also an Honorary Carman, once again bringing our two companies closer together as the Master Carmen and his Consort Joy were also with us on the day.
The awards followed lunch and were introduced by the Chair of the Fuellers Charitable Trust Fund, Past Master Chloe Andrews-Jones who explained the work of the Trust and how they support Affiliates and Students as well as Scholars. Then onto the citations read by Senior Warden Peter Harrison before each prize winner was presented with their certificate by the Air Vice-Marshall. Each just as worthy as the next and with an array of background knowledge and their own application around fuel within their various posts. For full details you can read the citations here: CITATIONS. Sadly one of the prize winners was unable to join us due to a recent Covid result but her certificate was collected on her behalf and her citation read aloud to deserved applause.
After the prize giving, Air Vice Marshall Richard Hill CBE, who works as Director of Defence Support and Strategic Command Defence Support spoke to us about the relevance and importance of fuels, power and energy in both the supply chain and every day life. Before hand we had discussed environmental targets and the challenges in meeting them, which he also addressed. Having given us much to ponder it was time to conclude the day’s events with my thanks to several people, and the Charitable Trust for funding the event and the prizes, we took our leave.
I am pleased to say that there was further opportunity to mingle and to find out more about the prize-winners as the celebrations continued away from Trinity House, all of which were very much deserved. Congratulations to all.
Carrie Marsh
Master Fueller
