It was an honour to be installed as Master with my fellow officers on 23rd July in the magnificent Mansion House. We also installed four new Court Assistants and Mrs Maggie Hagon was made an Honorary Freeman, witnessed by her daughter Claire-Louise.   Maggie said how honoured she was and how she is looking forward to attending events in the future. Apprentice Hannah Crosby progressed to Freedom, along with twelve other members of the Company, with a total of thirteen Freeman advancing to full Livery. We are looking for members to join committees and help run the company whilst looking to progress through the various stages of membership. If any member is interested and would like to know more about the different Committees and what each one does, please contact the Clerk.

Personally, I thought the Installation lunch was exceptional and, for the first time, we enjoyed a Stirrup Cup which afforded members an excellent opportunity to network in Mansion House.  We were privileged to have as principal guests the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, Baroness Ruth Henig, Alderman Alison Gowman, The Sherriff Chris Haywood and his Consort, CoLP Commissioner Ian Dyson, MPS Matt Jukes Assistant Commissioner, Grp Captain Jason Sutton, our Honorary Chaplin Cannon Roger Hall and Peter Lavery Freeman and Chair of the Security Institute.  I was honoured to award the Ben Flenley Memorial Bowl to the RAF Regiment NCO leadership winner, Sergeant Craig Richards, who was promoted to sergeant only days before.  This was our first live event for all members since the Spring Ball at the of February 2020, and it was great to have 260 attendees. 

This brings me nicely onto what I am looking to do in my year of office, which is to bring the security industry closer together and I look forward to working more closely with Peter Lavery, Letitia Emeana of ASIS and Jayne King of the Security Commonwealth in order to achieve this goal.  

The Charter of Security Professionals is ten years old this year, and I hope you can all make the celebration on 27th September.  We now have over 220 CSyP’s and I was pleased to see a few of them at the Installation lunch. Should any member be interested in gaining chartered status please contact the Clerk for more details.

We are finally back to a full calendar of face-to-face company events, with the City of London Commissioners Dinner courtesy of JP Morgan on 30th September, the Annual Dinner at the Old Bailey on 14thOctober, Common Hall with the Sheriffs and Dog awards at Saddlers’ Hall on 10th November and the Carol service at the Tower of London on 3rd December with the Christmas Lunch at Apothecaries Hall on 10th December. The Clerk and I have worked diligently to secure the best venues at the best price to hopefully encourage all our members to support and attend as many of these events as possible. 

Once again, I thank each and every one of you in anticipation of your support during my year as Master, and I look forward to working with you in order to continue the good work of the IPM and indeed, all Past Masters who have gone before.

Stephen Emmins, Master.