Master Agnes Xavier- Phillips JP DL LLB ( Hons) SRN SCM Mediator

Dear Liverymen

As the days get shorter and the nights get longer, we know winter is upon us. The word winter comes from an old Germanic word that means “time of water” and refers to the rain and snow in winter. The definition couldn’t be more apt given Storm Darragh and the excessive rain we have had in Wales! Winter also signifies the end of a year and this Winter edition of the WLB is the last issue of our Livery news for 2024.

What a year it has been, many challenges have come my way - but they have been overshadowed by the very many successful Livery events which have promoted collegially and camaraderie amongst our Liverymen. As your Master, I have attended many events representing our unique non trade/craft/ profession specific Livery Company, although at times I had to explain that it was Wales the nation and not Whales the marine mammals!

The Mid Wales Bench where I sit as a Magistrate held their Christmas Party at the end of November and I was delighted that our Livery was well represented as SW Henry Gilbert, Liverymen Tony Ward, David Perkins and Hon. Liverymen Hywel Thomas all joined my table and the funds raised on the night went to support the Charity - Victims of Domestic Abuse.

Our last Livery event took place just over two weeks ago when we had our annual Service of Lessons, Carols and Readings and delighted to return to St. John the Baptist church and our Chaplain the Reverend Canon Sarah Jones took the Service. It was followed by Dinner at the Cardiff & County Club with a great turn out of sixty Liverymen and guests; a splendid ending to the Livery calendar 2024; full details appear later in this bulletin.

I was also delighted to attend the Annual Service for the Staff and Friends of the Central Criminal Court in the Grand Hall of the Old Bailey. The highlight of the evening was the incredible performance of the Old Bailey Choir which combined with the grand hall's magnificent acoustics and subtle lighting created a truly magical atmosphere. I was surprised to learn that the Choir is made up mainly of the Old Bailey staff and are not professional singers.

Our CA the V. Rev. Fr. Sebastian M Jones has invited me to do a reading at the Cardiff Oratory’s Christmas Carols Service on 20 December and I am looking forward to representing the Livery.

I am also delighted to update that my campaign to increase membership is on the right track. We clothed and admitted two new Liverymen two weeks ago, a Lord and a Professor -not a hereditary Lord but the Lord of Treffos. We have two more new Liverymen to be admitted and clothed in January 2025.

I have been working with The Chair of the Awards Committee SW Henry Gilbert preparing for the next big Livery event - the Awards Celebration Dinner on 12 February 2025.

Please refer to the Save the Date section in this bulletin and update your diaries so you don’t miss any of the upcoming events.

As 2024 draws to a close, I wish to thank all of you for your continued support which is truly much appreciated, and it has helped make all the Livery events sell out successes which has helped to promote education, charity and fellowship - the ethos of Livery Companies.

Finally, it just remains for me to extend Season’s Greetings to you and your loved ones and wish you a joyous Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful 2025 and a restful break over the festive period.

Agnes Xavier-Phillips JP DL
LLB (Hons) SCM SRN Mediator
Master 2024-2025
Chair of PR Committee
Worshipul Company of Wales
M: 07740924584

Dear Liverymen
Hope you have all had a very enjoyable summer and now ready to embrace Autumn!
Autumn carries a symbolic message of letting go, connected to the trees shedding their leaves and embracing change.
The Livery has not been short of changes! A couple of major changes has been the retirement of the Treasurer before I took office in March this year and the retirement of our Clerk Christopher Dale upon reaching 70 years in September. Whilst it posed a challenge to recruit not one but two senior Livery members, we have successfully recruited two excellent candidates!

Colin Morris BA (Hons) FCA CPA took office as Treasurer in August and has been kindly assisted in his induction by Liveryman Philip Kitchen the outgoing Treasurer. Our new Clerk David Sneddon MA (Hons) CA started on 1 November and will be appointed as Clerk of the Worshipful Livery Company of Wales at the forthcoming Court Meeting on 18 November 2024. In the meantime he is undergoing his induction with the help of our former Clerk, Liveryman Christopher Dale.

During recruitment and pending appointment of the new Treasurer and Clerk, our Assistant Clerk Angela Parry has been helping me out to ensure the administrative services continued. On behalf of the Company, I would like to thank Christopher Dale, Phillip
Kitchen and Angela Parry for their continuing support to me as Master and to the Company which is much appreciated.

We were able to thank Christopher in person and present him with a gift following the last Court meeting. We wish him well for the future.
My Master's theme to increase membership continues and my campaign to enlist the support of members to introduce one new member is also very much encouraged. I have introduced 3 more new members proposed by me and another new member proposed by our new Treasurer Colin Morris and are all currently awaiting Court approval.

In total since my Installation, I have introduced 10 new members and many thanks to our IPM, SW and new Treasurer for also introducing a new member each.

I attended many events since the Summer Bulletin.

I was delighted and honoured to represent the Company at various London Livery Dinners and Banquets. In particular, I was very honoured to be invited as the Guest Speaker at the Watermen and Lightermen Company's Court Luncheon. All events attended are listed below:

• National Eisteddfod Welsh Mass St Dyfrig's Church, Pontypridd
  

• Lord Mayor's Election Guildhall London
  

• The Watermen and Lightermen Company Court Luncheon, Watermen Hall
  

• The Glovers Annual Banquet Mansion House
  

• The Worshipful Company of Constructors Dinner, Grocers' Hall, London
  

• The Clothiers Banquet, Guildhall, Worcester
  

• The Worshipful Company of Engineers, Annual Livery Banquet, Mansion House
  

• The Worshipful Company of Arbitrators Dinner, Grocers Hall
  

• The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers, Austin Friars Hall
  

• The RBL Wales Festival of Remembrance, ICC
  

• The Lord Mayor's Grand Finale Ball, Guildhall, London
  

• The Silent Ceremony, Guildhall, London as guest of the Lady Mayoress Elizabeth Mainelli
  

• The Lord Mayor's Show, London
  

• The National Service of Remembrance for Wales
  

As can be seen, it has been an extremely busy time for me and all of it very enjoyable and a great way of sharing fellowship! It also helped my Master's theme to raise the profile and awareness of the WLCoW. In between, I also managed to include two of my Calendar events - the Master's weekend in N. Wales - Llandudno and the Swansea Penderyn Distillery Copperworks Tour and Luncheon. Both were very well attended and extremely successful events!

Full details of appointments and events referred to above appear later in the Bulletin.

Please refer to the Save the Date section in this Bulletin for upcoming events and I look forward to seeing you all at the Christmas Lessons and Carols on 3 December 2024 - please invite your family and guests to come along with you.
Regards / Coifon

Agnes Xavier-Phillips JP DL
LLB (Hons) SCM SRN Mediator
Master 2024-2025
Chair of PR Committee
Worshipul Company of Wales
M: 07740924584

Dear Liverymen
I hope you are all enjoying the summer - it has arrived at last after the unseasonably soggy weather! Whether basking in the hot sun abroad or at home, I hope you are spending quality time and relaxing with your families.

Many thanks for your continued support since I was installed Master on 6 April 2024. It has been an extremely busy three months! The social events in my Calendar have started off extremely well with each event being sold out due to your continued support and I hope the momentum will continue.

Through this Bulletin, I will give you an update on the social events of my Master’s Calendar,
events I have attended on behalf of the Company and progress regarding my aims for
the Company during my term of Office. Articles submitted by Liverymen and recent Company
appointments are also covered here.

Full details of some of the social events and articles reported are available on the Livery
website Homepage - News and Events - Recent Events that you can access.
Link below for ease of reference: https://liverycompanywales.cymru/news.html

The Master’s Sail Away Weekend and the Royal Charter 10th Anniversary Dinner, both sold out events were a great success and have been reported and circulated as separate newsletters.

One of my aims as you are aware is to raise awareness and the profile of our Company. My Master’s Lecture which was in collaboration with a third party, Cardiff Business Club (CBC) gave the Company exposure to over ninety attendees made up of CBC members and Liverymen. The CBC invited me to give the vote of thanks which was a further opportunity for me to introduce our Company and the excellent work we do -not known to many of the non Livery attendees.

The TV interview with BBC Wales Today featuring our Company and one of our Award Winners Caitlin Tanner was aired on BBC I Wales News on 3 July 2024.

I was also interviewed in English by BBC Radio Wales and Liveryman Dr. Claude Evans was interviewed in Welsh by BBC Radio Cymru. It was a major coup to get such a fantastic PR opportunity for our Company
and thanks to the BBC for this excellent coverage on both radio and TV.

In the meantime Media Wales interviewed me on the Company and they published it on Wales Online and in the Western Mail and reported in a North Wales publication as well.

The campaign to increase membership continues! As at 6 April there were 139 paid up members. Three months later, we have 149 members; I have introduced 8 new members all approved by Court, 3 of whom have been clothed. There are 5 new members awaiting to be clothed on 13 August and 2 others awaiting dates to be arranged. There are two other proposals in the pipeline. Thank you IPM John Charles and SW Henry Gilbert for introducing a new member each. If we keep this momentum going, I am confident we should be able to achieve a healthy membership which will enable our unique Company to flourish and continue in time.

I have been able to find a suitable candidate approved by Court for the role of Treasurer and an announcement will be made upon the formal appointment next week.

It, has been an honour to represent our Company at London Livery events and both my Consort Nigel and I
have received the warmest of receptions.

Also feel very privileged to be invited to attend our Affiliates’ events and present our WLCoW
Awards.

Please refer to Save the Date in this Bulletin for the forthcoming Livery events.

I look forward to seeing you at the next Livery social event in the beautiful coastal resort of Llandudno

Regards/ Cofion

Agnes Xavier-Phillips JP DL
LLB (Hons) SCM SRN Mediator
Master 2024-2025
Chair of PR Committee
Worshipul Company of Wales
M: 07740924584

Dear Liverymen
It's genuinely an honour and a privilege to have been elected as Master of The Worshipful Livery Company of Wales for 2024-2025.

My heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended and supported the Installation Banquet and hope you all had an enjoyable evening. I was overwhelmed by the support I received from my friends, contacts and colleagues representing my portfolio and London Liveries. Many letters of thanks, and how much they enjoyed the evening, are still coming in. Since my instalment as Master, I have represented the Company at the Lord Mayor of the City of London's private Lunch with the Masters of 2024-25 at the Accountants' Hall on 15 April. I also attended the Universities of Wales Air Squadron's
57th Annual Dinner at the Cardiff and County Club and presented the UWAS Livery Award on 18 April. On Wednesday 24 April, eighteen Liveryman together with our PM Liveryman Pewterer Dr. Kathy Seddon attended the Pewterers 550th Banquet at the Mansion House with the Lord Mayor and Mayoress and the Sheriffs of London also in attendance. On Thursday 24 April Court Assistants Kim Insley and Stephen Richards of the London Committee organised a superb tour of Par1iament followed by Afternoon Tea with the Baroness Findlay of Llandaff who was our 2013/14 Outstanding Achievement Winner. All these events were very well attended and added to raising the Company's profile.

As my theme for my term of office is "Legal" and "Raising Awareness" of our Company, you will be hearing more from me in the year ahead about all the important things our wonderful modem livery company does and how we celebrate our successes along the way.

I hope to achieve my aim of "Raising Awareness" and the profile of our Company through collaborations - "Stronger Together" which will also link in with the Lord Mayor of the City of London Michael Mainelli's theme "Connect to Prosper".

My Legal theme started with my Master's Lecture given by HHJ Nicholas Cooke KC on the fascinating legal topic- Does the Criminal Justice System Need a Thorough Check Up? This was held on Monday 20th May at the Parkgate Hotel.

It was great to see thirty Liverymen attend this lecture to listen to what His Hon Judge Nicholas had to say and hear the views of others and experience the first collaboration of my year as this Lecture was hosted by the Cardiff Business Club and sponsored by Knight Frank and I am very grateful to them.

I will also be introducing for the first time a Legal Award through collaborations with law firms and legal departments in educational institutions and also explore social mobility and pro bono initiatives with them. This would demonstrate the breadth of the spectrum of the support offered by the Company through it Awards Programme.

Apart from raising awareness to get more traction, I also hope this would increase the membership of our Company. This is our Company and in order for us to continue to grow, we all need to play our part! I am proposing five new members to kick start the recruitment campaign. As I have always said, if each member introduces and sponsors just one new member, we will double our membership immediately. This is a quick win and it will be a collegial effort towards the short, mid and long term strategy of our Company, so please Play Your Part - introduce a new member - it is as simple as that !
I am also delighted to say that I was interviewed by Wales Media, and it was published on Saturday 20 April on Wales Online and in the Western Mail on Monday 22 April and in other local publications. This is a fantastic start to my theme of raising awareness of the Company and it has had very positive feedback so far and hope the coverage has the desired impact!

I have planned my Master's Calendar with the demographics of our membership in mind and hopefully I can count on all of you to support the events. I have tried to retain the Welsh theme and also made it not so South East centric! My Calendar is posted on the website and for ease of reference the link to it is provided below.

https://www.liverycompanywales.cymru/downloads/master's-calendar-for-24-25.pdf

The website is the main channel of communication both internally and externally so please use it as your first point of reference for all matters relating to our Company and stay connected and updated. The Assistant Clerk will provide details on how to gain access to the Members Area if you are unsure.

I am confident we can all work inclusively for the benefit of the Company which is of paramount importance.

I am looking forward to working with our excellent Clerks, Officers, hard working Servicing Committees and everyone in the Livery.

Many thanks in advance for your support - for we are Stronger Together!

See you on the High Sees on the QM2 - Master's Sail away Outing!

Agnes Xavier-Phillips JP DL
LLB (Hons) SCM SRN Mediator
Master 2024-2025
Chair of PR Committee
Worshipul Company of Wales
M: 07740924584