On Wednesday 9 November 2022, the Master, Wardens, Liverymen, Freemen, Members, Apprentices, and guests gathered for the Company’s 2022 Common Hall and Award Presentations which were held in Saddlers’ Hall, a popular venue for our event. Our principal guest was Sheriff Andrew Marsden. The Master, Mr Paul Miller, declared Common Hall open, and the following ceremonies took place:

Admittance of Apprentices

With support from their Apprentice Masters, the following made their declarations and were inroled on their four-year journey as Apprentices:

• Mr Turkay Clark-Suleyman
• Miss Camille Debas
• Mr Billy Edwards
• Mr Matthew Gilbert
• Miss Bethanie Picton
• Mr Michael MacDougall
• Mr Raja Shahbaz
• Mr Lucas Stephens
• Mr Patrick Twitchett

Completing Apprentices admitted as Freemen of the Company, by Servitude

The following, having completed their four-year apprenticeships were admitted to the Company as Freemen:

• Miss Faith Fetuga
• Mr Owen Gosling-Campbell
• Mr Morgan Males
• Mr Nicolas Markantonis

Admittance of Members as Freemen

After making their declarations, the following members were admitted to the Freedom of the Company:

• Mr Ashley Collins
• Mrs Natasha King
• Mr Colin Luther-Davies
• Mr Joshua Murray

Freeman Clothed in the Livery

The following Freemen were clothed as Liverymen of the Company:

• Mr David Beech
• Mr Andrew Hollis
• Mr Shaun Smithy-Ward

Company Briefings

At the conclusion the of the ceremonies, the Master and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Claire Palmer, gave short presentations on the activities and achievements of the Company and Trust over the past 12 months and looked ahead to the challenges and goals in the coming year.

After a short break in proceedings, the following presentations were made by the Sheriff:

The Sheriffs’ Award for Bravery 2022

The recipient of this year’s award was Mr Rayan Bouguerra, who had been presented with his award at the Company’s Annual Dinner held on 20 October 2022 at Mansion House. Invited to Common Hall, to receive commendation certificates, were the Finalists in the 2022 Award. The citations for all finalists were read, and certificates were presented by the Sheriff to the following:

• Master Hari Thomas & Master Dylan Pritchard-Evans
• Miss Erin Denton
• PC Andrew Cushing
• Ms Anna Gilmour
• Mr Ingesh Khaki & Mr Jay Verceles

The 2022 Annual Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Handler and Dog

Civil Division

The award is made to the dog-and-handler team which is the supreme Champion at the Annual Security Dog User Trials held by the National Association of Security Dog Users (NASDU). The Winners of the Civil Division Award for 2022 were Security Dog Ronnie and his handler Mr Mick Swindells of Search Dogs UK.

Civilian Police and Law Enforcement Services Division

The Award is open to individual dog-and-handler teams, dog sections and individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the welfare or use of dogs in protecting the public through law enforcement. Nominations are given to the Award Judging Panel of the WCoSP.  The Winners of the Civilian Police and Law Enforcement Services Division Award for 2022 were the Dogs Section of the Metropolitan Police Service & 26 other police forces deployed on the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Military Division

Each Service can submit up to three pairs of dogs-and-handlers or a unit nomination to the Award Judging Panel of the WCoSP to be considered for the Award. The winner of the Military Division Award for 2022 were the RAF Police Military Working Dogs Section of RAF Northolt.

Following the formalities, the evening concluded with a reception.