This event is the academic highpoint of the Company’s year
and is eagerly awaited not only by the members of the Company but also those
Livery Companies that make up the WET 10 and by the wider Livery movement. It
also attracts regulators, consultants, media, businesses and many others who
all want to hear about the latest thinking and developments in the water, waste
and the environmental sectors.
This year’s theme centred around the harm that society’s
reliance on plastic is causing and the impact on the environment. This is
extremely topical with very high levels of interest across all sectors. We were
delighted to have two eminent speakers each taking a slightly different
approach to the subject.
Our first speaker was Professor Richard Thompson OBE,
Professor of Marine Biology at Plymouth University (see picture). His lecture
was entitled ‘Marine Litter – are there
solutions to this global challenge?’ Our second speaker was Dr Lynette
Dollar, Principle Sustainability Consultant at Stantec (see picture) and her
lecture was entitled ‘Plastic Free
Cities; Advantages and Disadvantages’. Both were extremely thought
provoking and well-constructed and led to a most interesting question and
answer session at the end. Space does not allow the full details of their
lectures but further information can be found on the Company website – www.waterconservators.org – search
for “Review of Recent Events – WET 10 Lecture”. They are both well worth
reading.
As Master it was my privilege to host the evening and guests
duly arrived at the Guildhall Club for coffee at five thirty. The lecture
stared at six o’clock sharp with very kind words of welcome from Sheriff the
Hon Liz Green who was accompanied by her Consort Peter. I then introduced our
two speakers and settled down to hear what they had to say. Fascinating stuff.
I then chaired the Q&A session and some exceptionally well-crafted
questions came from the floor, all of which were superbly answered by Richard
and Lynette. Sadly, time was our enemy and I had to draw proceedings to a close
at seven thirty. It was all too evident that we could have carried on all night
such was the passion in the room for the subject but alas, this was not
possible.
After thanking our speakers, I invited guests to a drinks
reception ably provided by the team from the Cook and the Butler. The room was
throbbing and both speakers were able to stay over a glass of wine to answer
further questions. It was very busy!
And so ended a very successful evening. My thanks go to
Richard and Lynette for their excellent presentations. Thanks also to the Clerk
and Wardens for pulling it all together and to all those at RG Jones Limited
who provided the audio / visual technology. Finally, our thanks go to the City
of London Corporation and to Stantec for their very kind sponsorship of the
evening; most generous.
It was a great privilege to lead
the evening and a fitting way of marking the eve of World Water Day.
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