101. WET 10 Lecture, 21 March 2019

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.