City Consorts 3rd Anniversary Lunch 'Zoom' style

Dear Von

My “short” report/review of The City Consorts Banquet Lunch on Tuesday 15th September 2020

Do you know how much I suddenly realised I had missed the camaraderie that The City Consorts movement has provided?   Really seeing a screen absolutely chocker with smiling faces was a treat, but slightly bittersweet as that’s when I realised I missed you guys!  Everyone of us has something in common as a City Consort, so it was easy to fall into chatter mode, but Von steered us beautifully to where we needed to go in our new virtual world. With a comprehensive, but wonderfully short, introduction and a thank you to everyone - and we were off!!!

We had an excellent presentation by The Lady Mayoress, who mastered the technology with aplomb and managed her slides magnificently.  And then, Lady Bowman, with Locky, the luckiest Jackdaw in the world - who totally stole the show!  Perched on Samantha’s shoulders, walking over her laptop, trying to get a word in edgeways and relishing his(or her-Sam wasn’t too clear on that point) moment in the spotlight!! I doubt any of us will forget that sight, an unexpected but somehow also a typically lovely thing for the Bowman’s to do.  I guess with their other “fledglings” ie Grace and Charlotte having flown the nest, they have been replaced, maybe rather too quickly, in their mothers affections!  

After that we smoothly went into “breakout rooms” or tables, so we could really chat withstood small group of  old - and new - friends. A really good chance to catch up and find out how we were all adapting to this new normal. Everyone had a story to tell and it was great fun.  A few of us had our food (and drink) whilst chatting, and it really allowed us to feel close to each other.

We hadn’t been advised how long we would have, so when a clock came up on screen counting down the seconds until we were rejoining the “crowd” we all rushed to say our goodbyes, and clicked off when it reached zero.  However we didn’t actually need to try out our technological prowess because it was all being managed behind the scenes for us.

At this stage Von shared a few more bits and bobs, admin, thank you’s - and really everyone behind the scenes must have done such a lot of work - so thank you all from me too!

Then we went back into Breakout Rooms.  I think this was the only disappointment  - we were in the same group, and I suspect we all had hoped to expand our “closer” contact by being in different groups.

Anyway lovely to chat, finish our personal meals and then back to the big group again.

A superb opportunity to find out what’s happening across the Livery, and to catch up with likeminded lovely people. Thank you so much for arranging it. 

Lindy Estlin