Testimonials Blog

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My first introduction to City Consorts was a pre Covid trip on the River, which past mistress, Deborah Parritt, kindly invited me to. I am so grateful for this introduction as it has made a huge difference to my preparation for my year as Consort to my husband, Stephen, when he becomes Master of The Plaisterers Livery in July 2022. He was to have been robed this July, but due to the Pandemic, his year has been postponed. Lucky me, as I have another year to learn and explore all the fascinating history and current life of the City with C2- this means I will most likely end up knowing more about it than he does!
I have been accompanying Stephen to Livery functions for 27 years and to be honest, as much as I enjoyed the events, I felt it was very much ‘his thing’ and my role was to look lovely and be an entertaining hostess with his guests.
Whilst the role of Consort is simply to support The Master, one of the greatest privileges of joining C2 has been to learn how much more being a support can be, rather than simply than looking good and making sociable conversation.
It has been a real gift to have the opportunity to learn about the City, how it is structured, and how the old traditions have been carefully woven into today’s business world. C2 have really brought the City alive for me and I look forward to being able to share this with others, as well as being more confident in my own role as Consort, now that I have a deeper understanding of what we are part of.
I am so excited to know that part of our year includes the opportunity to organise my own events to raise funds for Stephen’s chosen Charity and to share and enjoy these special times with Consorts from all the other wonderful Livery companies. I have to admit, I am known for being a little creative with my ideas, so watch this space!
Sadly, just as I was looking forward to getting involved, the Pandemic hit the world and all live events had to be cancelled. What a strange time it has been ever since, and not a situation we could ever have imagined or prepared for. I have been humbled and inspired by the resilience of Von, and her fabulous team for the way they adapted to the virtual world and a life on Zoom. In no time at all, we had a wealth of events greater than we ever could have shared in reality. We had virtual tours of Churches, Museums and secret gardens, we visited each other at home and had so much fun on a Treasure Hunt. We have been able to feast our eyes on beautiful jewellery, amazing clocks, cloaks and even cooks in a private Master Chef demonstration with our very own Sous Chef ,Von!
For those of us yet to have our year as Consort, the Jigsaw Coffee mornings were so enjoyable. They and gave us a wealth of information that has been an immeasurable gift of preparation, which will only enhance the overall experience and enjoyment of being a Consort. I know we are all so appreciative of the time and preparation that went into these sessions. I really enjoyed soaking up the wide variety of topics that we covered, as well as having a giggle with people I have never met during the dark days of a locked- down winter.
I was very happy to be able share some of my own expertise during this time, with some stress busting, life enhancing, Mindfulness sessions. Zoom has the great advantage of making distances irrelevant and I was thrilled to bring members from different areas together to share these sessions. We even had the company of two members from Canada, who got up bright and early in another time zone to join our wellbeing sessions, and also gave us a live, weekly weather forecast from Canada!
It has been an unusual introduction to C2 - we have all had to become screen experts and TV personalities. Again City Consorts have done an amazing job, even going as far as providing technical support and coaching for those of us who are less technically experienced – there has been no limits to our learning!
As restrictions ease, I am really looking forward to meeting members in person and getting out and about in the City that I now feel so much more informed and comfortable about than a year ago. It was such fun to meet some of my local group last week for a real coffee and I am eagerly anticipating our next outing.
It is a real privilege to be a C2 member and I would like to offer a huge thank you to Von and her wonderful support team that have made all this possible – long may it last!

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