Exam success for children preparing for the Lord Mayor’s Show

John Stuttard, on the occasion of his election by the City Livery Companies to the role of Lord Mayor of London.

Notes for Editors

For further information, please contact Lesley Mair at the City of London Corporation on 020 7332 1754 or email: lesley.mair@cityoflondon.gov.uk

The Role of the Lord Mayor

The Lord Mayor of the City of London is an international ambassador for the UK financial services industry and spends up to 80 days a year traveling to around 20 countries to promote this industry and the Square Mile as a place of excellence in which to do business.

As head of the City of London the Lord Mayor is involved with local government and London-wide issues, ranging from the City of London’s work in the regeneration of neighbouring boroughs to transport and environmental issues which affect the City.

On behalf of the Sovereign and the Government, he also acts as host when the City of London provides hospitality for visiting heads of state and foreign dignitaries. In addition, the Lord Mayor provides a platform for Government Ministers to make keynote speeches. The Prime Minister attends the Lord Mayor’s annual Banquet at Guildhall, whilst the Bankers’ Dinner each June is the occasion for the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s annual keynote speech, known as the Mansion House Speech. The Easter Banquet, also held at Mansion House, is the major annual opportunity for all London’s diplomats to listen to the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. Other Cabinet members and international business figures also value these opportunities.

The Lord Mayor also presides over meetings of the Court of Common Council and Court of Aldermen, and attends Livery events and charitable projects. He receives visiting overseas ministers and senior businessmen and keeps in close contact with City institutions and firms as well as travelling to other UK financial centres to keep in touch with regional economic activity. In his year of office he will make some 600 speeches on a wide variety of subjects from City financial matters to charity and patronage.

Some facts about the Lord Mayor’s Show

• First Lord Mayor was elected in 1215; the Show is now in its 793rd year.
• The procession is on Saturday 11th November, beginning at Mansion House at 11.02am. The Show takes place annually on the second Saturday in November.
• At 5pm, the Lord Mayor will light the touch paper to the spectacular Lord Mayor’s Fireworks display on the River Thames between Blackfriars and Waterloo Bridge. Over a ton of fireworks will light up the sky in what is London’s largest annual fireworks display.
• The word “float”, used to describe components of a parade or procession, is derived from the Lord Mayor’s Show when originally the exhibits would do just that, “float” along the Thames.
• Pageantmaster Dominic Reid’s key tasks include overseeing the design, production and organisation of the Lord Mayor’s Show to ensure that it runs like clockwork including timings down to the second.
• It has previously been painted by Canaletto, drawn by Hogarth, referred to by Shakespeare, described by Samuel Pepys and featured in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel, Dr. No.
• This year there will be 6,040 participants, 1550 military personnel, 249 vehicles from Morris Minors to open top buses, 71 floats, 14 bands of all shapes and sizes and 116 Military horses. The total length of the parade will be approximately 3 miles!

City of London Corporation

The ancient City of London Corporation has a 21st-century role supporting the business city as the world’s leading international financial and business centre. The City of London Corporation provides local government services for the City of London “Square Mile” at the heart of London – but its responsibilities also extend far beyond the City boundaries and include paying for and running the Barbican Centre, Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath, and three wholesale food markets, as well as acting as the London Port Health Authority.

Press release published Friday 06 October 2006

Each year, hundreds of children get involved in creating and designing many of the floats and acts that feature in the Lord Mayor’s Show, the 3 mile long street procession now almost in its 800th year that weaves its way through the historic streets of the Square Mile to welcome the Lord Mayor of London into office. Many of these children have been putting this practical artistic experience to good use, with schools reporting that children submit their work as part of their Art GCSEs and even college entrance portfolios.

In one year alone, 134 pupils from five different schools within London gained their Art GCSEs with help from their work on Lord Mayor’s Show floats. Between 2000 and 2001, nine pupils won places on art and fashion college courses using their designs and projects for their floats and in 1998, one city fringe pupil won a place at the London College of Fashion for her work designing costumes for the Show, the first person in the history of her school to attend arts college. Many primary schools involved frequently use their Lord Mayor’s Show float project in their Design and Technology curriculum.

Every year for the last 5 years, the City of London Corporation has chosen five or six community groups from surrounding boroughs and provided them with valuable funding to enable them to participate in the Show, to further expand opportunities for local communities and particularly children, to get involved in the creation of the Lord Mayor’s Show. The Show has now been used as a platform to develop children’s various talents and skills as well as opening their eyes to the possibility of a career in the City by making it physically and mentally more accessible to them.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the recent years’ projects:

2003

• Archbishop Michael Ramsey School, Southwark, used the entire design and the build of the float to contribute towards their pupils’ GCSE Art continual assessments.
• A pupil from Archbishop Michael Ramsey School, Southwark, composed the special arrangement which was played in the Show on the float and contributed towards him getting his A-Level in Music a year early.
• With Bigga Fish – Westminster City School in Westminster, Maria Fidelis School, Camden and Marylebone High School, Westminster held design and costume workshops. The initial designs, samples and final garments produced by the students went towards their GCSE Art Unit Three Module with 80 pupils gaining their Art GCSE.
• Lambeth Music Service float, designed by Stockwell Park High, Lambeth involved GCSE art students who also got their GCSE Art Unit Three Module.
• In total, 134 students from the five different schools involved got their Art GCSEs from their designs for the floats and costumes for the Show.

2002

• Bigga Fish, a not for profit youth organisation dedicated to the education of 13-18 year olds through music and its related industries, was a City of London Corporation sponsored float who used its funding towards equipment and costumes for the Show which were also used in the following year’s Notting Hill Carnival.
• The Phoenix School in Bow, a specialist school for autistic children, worked with Barclays and to design, build and perform in the Barclays float.
• Since 2002, Barclays has continued its partnership with the Phoenix School with volunteering and sponsorship.

2001

• The Woolwich float involved students from Bexley Grammar School, Welling incorporating the design and creation of their carnival costumes into their A-Level Design and Technology course.
• These A-levels got several Bexley Grammar School students into art college.
• One Bexley Grammar School pupil used his photography project of the Show towards winning a place on a photography course at college.
• Bexley School, Bexley created instruments in DIY to use in the Show, which have continued to be used in the school in concerts as a resource.

2000

• The Woolwich worked alongside Bexley Education Business Partnership with Bexley Grammar School in Welling and Erith School in Bexley. Work on the Lord Mayor’s Show floats meets several of the GNVQ key skills including 1. Application of Number, 2. Communication, 3. Improving Own Learning, 4. Problem Solving, 5. Working With Others.
• Part of the project enabled children to pass modules for which the school had no provision in the curriculum.
• Six pupils from Bexley Grammar School, Welling and Erith School, Bexley got places at Ravensbourne School for Art and London College of Fashion.
• One pupil from Erith School, Bexley was set up with an apprenticeship at a prop makers through Lord Mayor’s Show organisers for six months as a result of his enjoyment in preparation of the Lord Mayor’s Show.
• Charles Stanley Stockbrokers ran a geography, arts and sculpture project with Sir John Cass Primary School, City of London where stockbrokers visited the school to explain the principles of share dealing and commodities to 10 year olds who then researched world trading. The children sculpted costumes of means of transportation to wear in the Show and attended music workshops for the day.

1998

• The Woolwich sponsored 165 school children for the task of creating their float. This preparation involved the children being taught music, prop making, mask making, scene painting, costumer making and sculpture to use towards their curriculum and also encourage them towards vocations which they would not otherwise have considered.
• One pupil from Erith School, Bexley used her work to get into the London College of Fashion, the first person from her school ever to get into art college.

The unifying work of the project leaders from the City of London Corporation encourages lasting relationships between these community groups and city businesses – either through sponsorship, volunteering or workshops. In return, many participants proclaim that the Show truly changes their lives.

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