Spring Dinner

Tuesday 23 April 2024
Goldsmiths’ Hall

Our annual Spring Dinner was held this year in the wonderful surroundings of the Goldsmiths’ Hall. The current Hall is the third Goldsmiths’ Hall to have occupied the site at the junction of Foster Lane and Gresham Street since 1339. It opened with a Grand Banquet in 1835, attended by the Duke of Wellington. The opening had been delayed by several months owing to complications in the manufacture of the great English glass chandeliers in the Livery Hall. Although they can now be used with electric bulbs, on the occasion of our dinner, they were shown in all their splendour with the light of a large number of candles.

The reception was held in the Drawing Room, which was re-designed after war damage, in time for the Festival of Britain. The Wilton carpet, which features the Goldsmiths’ coat of arms, survived the bombing because it was rolled up at the time. It comprises five and a half million knots and forty-six shades of wool.

The principal guest speaker was the City Remembrancer, Mr Paul Wright.

The dinner included the opportunity to unveil the goblet which had been commissioned to mark the 650th anniversary. It was designed by Clive Burr, and his design references the Company’s armorial bearings with a low relief depiction of an eagle holding a penner and ink horn (pen case and ink pot) on the stem and a quill on the lid of the cup in a pool of black enamel, giving the impression of an ink stand. The cup stands on a book-shaped plinth made in padauk wood with gold plated pages. The cup will be used at Livery Dinners for drinking toasts.