New Freemen’s Dinner – 16 February 2022

 On Wednesday 16 February, one of the best-loved events of the WCIT calendar year took place – the New Freemen’s Dinner. 

The purpose of the New Freemen’s Dinner is to welcome those who have joined the Company in the past year (or in this case the past two years as COVID had cancelled last year’s dinner). 

The evening is an opportunity to get all new Freemen up to speed with the guidelines and traditions involved in a traditional City dinner, from a sung grace to the ever-popular Loving Cup ceremony, now in its more COVID-suitable format. 

Past Master Stefan Fafinski did a stellar job of stepping in and explaining the Rose Water ceremony – complete with “bunny ears”, and the traditional toast by a chosen New Freeman was beautifully delivered by Suzanne Harkins. 

The evening was rounded off with an entertaining after-dinner speech given by Alderman and Sheriff Nicholas Lyons.  Our own dear Beadle was back to full strength after his encounter with the pandemic, completing his duties with even more gusto than usual – many mentioned their ears continued to ring in the taxi cab home!