The Clothworkers' Company Annual Review 2021 by The Clothworkers' Company

ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY MASTER Mr Philip Portal

CLERK TO THE COMPANY Jocelyn Stuart-Grumbar

WARDENS Mr Alex Nelson Mr Tom Ingham Clark The Hon Mary Ann Slim Mr Timothy West

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT AND COMPANY GRANTS OFFICER Emma Temple

COURT OF ASSISTANTS Mr John Coombe-Tennant Mr Denis Clough Mrs Joanna Dodd Mr Melville Haggard Miss Katharine Hirst Mr Michael Howell Mr Dan Jago Mr Michael Jarvis Mr Peter Jonas Mr Antony Jones Col Alastair Mathewson OBE Mrs Susanna O’Leary Sir Jonathan Portal, Bt Dr Lucy Rawson Dr Cordelia Rogerson Mr Andrew Strang Mr Hanif Virji Mr John Wake Mr Andrew Wates Mr Robert West Mr Andrew Yonge

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS Hamesh Patel CHIEF ACCOUNTANT Andrew Boon BEADLE / FACILITIES AND EVENTS MANAGER Michael Drummond FOUNDATION DIRECTOR Jenny North HEAD OF COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES Jessica Collins MEMBERSHIP AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Renée LaDue

HONORARY ASSISTANT Mr Andrew Blessley

The Clothworkers’ Company Clothworkers’ Hall Dunster Court, Mincing Lane London EC3R 7AH +44 (0)20 7623 7041

Enquiries@Clothworkers.co.uk www.Clothworkers.co.uk Like us on Facebook! Twitter: @ClothworkersCo Instagram: Clothworkers_Co

ABOUT THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

CONTENTS PHILANTHROPY

TEXTILES

CHARITABLE MISSION

TRUSTEESHIP

ARCHIVES & COLLECTIONS

MILITARY AFFILIATES

Facing page: The Sir William Henry Bragg Building at University of Leeds, which opened in 2021. The Bragg Centre for Materials Research is located in the new-build, low-carbon, seven-storey, glass-and-steel complex is fitted out with high-tech teaching rooms and laboratories. It has a BREAAM Excellent rating for Sustainability.

The Clothworkers’ Company is a 500-year-old philanthropic membership organisation with roots in the textile trade. Established by Royal Charter in 1528 through the merger of The Fullers’ Company and The Shearmen’s Company, we were founded to promote the craft of clothworking in the City of London. We supervised the training of apprentices and protected standards of workmanship. Today, our MISSION is to inspire and empower individuals and communities through action, partnership and financial support. We are particularly focused on UK textiles, charity governance, and philanthropy. Our VISION is to build on our history and legacy of fellowship and generosity, whilst becoming increasingly responsive, adaptive to change, outward looking and ambitious. We want our members to be proud of being a part of our livery company, and to understand their responsibility in encouraging and nurturing the next generation of Clothworkers, inspiring one another to deliver our best. This vision is premised on our VALUES, and our aspiration to be progressive, collaborative and sustainable in all that we do, internally and externally.

The Clothworkers’ charitable giving is principally channelled through our grant-making charity, The Clothworkers’ Foundation, established in 1977 with a significant endowment from The Company. Each year, The Company passes its surplus income, having met the costs of running the livery hall and our other activities, to The Foundation. In 2021, The Company transferred approximately £3 million to The Clothworkers’ Foundation, which awarded grants in excess of £7.1 million across its areas of funding.. The Clothworkers’ Company itself directly awards grants in support of textiles and trusteeship across the UK, to our military affiliates and to other selected charitable causes. The following pages of this publication cover our key areas of grant-making, which amounted, in 2021, to more than £1.5 million. Our Annual Review is directed both at the members of The Clothworkers’ Company as well as external audiences, illustrating what we have done to fulfil our mission, improve impact across our grant-making activities, and uphold our values. Clothworkers may refer to the Members’ Supplement for more detailed financial information. ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

PHILANTHROPY 2021 ≈ £4.5 MILLION* INDUSTRY MISSION (TEXTILE GRANTS) Academic Research and Innovation University of Leeds, LITAC (£8.9m committed over 2021-31) ............................................................................ £890,000 University of Huddersfield (MSc bursaries, Product Innovation in Textiles) .................................................. £20,000 UAL, Central Saint Martins (MA, Material Futures) .................................................................................................. £15,000 University of Loughborough, Diverse Voices in Textiles ............................................................................................ £3,000 Technical Education and Vocational Support Textile Centre of Excellence, Edu4Tex .......................................................................................................................... £50,000 The Weavers’ Company, Entry to Work Scheme ......................................................................................................... £22,500 Cockpit Arts, Clothworkers’ Award for Weavers (£66k committed over 2019-21) ......................................... £22,000 UKFT, Made It 2021 ................................................................................................................................................................ £16,250 UKFT, Young Technician Training Fund ........................................................................................................................ £15,000 UKFT, UK Careers Campaign 2021 .................................................................................................................................. £10,000 UKFT, Open Education Resource ..................................................................................................................................... £10,000 The Experimental Weave Lab (including use of St Olave's Parish Hall for a six-month season) ................. £5,000 Heritage and Conservation Textile Conservation Foundation (MPhil bursary) ..................................................................................................... £21,600 Textile Design University of Huddersfield (BA/BSc bursaries, Textiles Practice) ....................................................................... £20,000 UAL, Central Saint Martins (Materials Fund and Award) ........................................................................................ £10,000 Bradford Textile Society Design Competition ................................................................................................................ £5,650 New Designers (The Clothworkers’ Company Associate Prize, Printed Textile Design Award) ................ £2,200

*Please note that this grants report is intended to illustrate the breadth and diversity of our charitable giving in 2021, particularly within our key areas of interest. It is not a comprehensive list of our grant-making or charitable giving, which may also include commitments made in previous years or smaller donations to a variety of organisations, and it may not reflect the figures reported in financial documents due to the way commitments and liabilities may be recorded in our accounts. Clothworker members may see a financial breakdown of The Company’s income and expenditure (including ‘Mission’ costs) in the Members’ Supplement.

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

CHARITABLE MISSION (OTHER GRANTS) Trusteeship Reach Volunteering ................................................................................................................................................................ £42,600 Charity Governance Awards (14 cash prizes) ............................................................................................................... £29,000 New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) (charity sector seminars) ................................................................................... £22,500 Cause4, Trustee Leadership Programme ...................................................................................................................... £20,000 Military Affiliations No. 47 Squadron RAF, Family Welfare Programme ................................................................................................... £24,000 Scots Guards, Soldiers and Family Welfare Programme .......................................................................................... £20,000 FANY (Princess Royal’s Volunteer Corps) (Operations Officer Salary, £60k committed over three years) ............................................................................................................................... £20,000 Army Cadet Force, 41 Cadet Detachment Dagenham (£9k committed over 2021-23) ..................................... £3,000 Other Charitable Grants The Creative Dimension Trust (creative skills workshops, £60k was committed over 2019-21) .............. £30,000 Catch22, Inspiring Connections ......................................................................................................................................... £27,500 Contemporary British Silversmiths, Skills Training Programme (£50k committed over 2021-23) ............ £16,667 The Lord Mayor’s Appeal .................................................................................................................................................... £10,000 Historic Royal Palaces, Superbloom Platinum Jubilee Exhibition ........................................................................ £10,000 St Paul’s Cathedral (chorister bursary, £40k over 2019-22) ..................................................................................... £10,000 Bishopsland Educational Trust (bursaries for materials and tools, £20k committed over 2018-21) ........... £8,000 St Thomas' Eve Charity Appeal (match funding for the Salmon Youth Centre) ................................................. £7,370 Aldgate School (unrestricted) ................................................................................................................................................ £5,100 Bishopsland Educational Trust (feasibility study) ......................................................................................................... £5,000 Designer Bookbinders, Transferring Design (bespoke training masterclasses) ................................................. £3,500 The Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch ................................................................................................................................... £2,000 Broderers' Exhibition ..................................................................................................................................................................£1,500 Designer Bookbinders, DB Bookbinding Competition ................................................................................................... £750 The Clothworkers’ Foundation The Company's surplus is donated to The Clothworkers’ Foundation (including match-funding for members’ contributions to our Clothworkers’ Charity Fund) ....................................................................... £3 million

ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

TEXTILES Over the past decade or more, The Clothworkers’ Company and The Clothworkers’ Foundation have contributed in excess of £20 million towards textiles, including the investment of £8.9 million to cofund the Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour (LITAC). Aside from our recent investment into LITAC (committed in 2021), grants for Academic Research and Innovation and for Heritage and Conservation have accounted for the largest share of our distribution of funds. The Clothworkers' Company is responsible for the direct administration of its contributions and grant-making towards textiles (ie, the grant-making of The Clothworkers' Foundation is separate, and directed towards different programme areas). Our expenditure towards textiles is considered The Company's 'Industry Mission’. Ground-breaking innovation is happening in textiles, and investment in the skills that help bring this innovation to market is required. Our Textiles Sub Committee is responsible

for developing our grant-making strategically in order to champion textiles and make meaningful contributions to support the industry. TEXTILES STRATEGY The Company aims to: • •

•

prioritise British textiles; focus on cloth, rather than costume, and on the manufacture of cloth; direct our involvement in textile design towards talented students at higherrated institutions, with an interest in people who are studying or possess the ability to convert ideas into a product capable of being manufactured, as well as an understanding of textile technologies; rigorously explore the prospective usage of equipment that we fund; direct our support in heritage towards cataloguing, indexing, storing, conserving, displaying and improving access to important textile collections and archives.

Facing page: Members of the Court and Textiles Sub-Committee on the annual visit to Leeds University (2022), and the inaugural visit to the new Leeds Institute of Textile and Colour. Master Philip Portal is in the centre, with First Warden Alex Nelson to the left, and Past Master and Textiles Sub-Committee Chair Jonathan Portal to the left of Alex.

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

TEXTILES “LITAC works collaboratively, bringing together the University's academic expertise in areas related to textiles and colour. ”

Left: Members of the Court and Textiles Sub-Committee on the annual visit to Leeds University (2022), and the inaugural visit to the new Leeds Institute of Textile and Colour. Photos are taken in the Bragg Centre for Materials Research. In the bottom left, Clothworkers bursary holder Nathaniel Crompton showcases some of his research with polyester and dyes. See page 12 for more.

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

ACADEMIC RESEARCH & INNOVATION In 2012, we helped to establish the Clothworkers’ Centre for Textile Materials Innovation for Healthcare (CCTMIH) at the University of Leeds, with a £1.75 million anchor donation. The Centre works to develop enabling technologies based on advances in textile science and engineering. From bioactive wound dressings that are capable of speeding up healing rates in the management of diabetic ulcers, to implantable devices able to promote the regeneration of bone or skin – the application of textiles in healthcare is a rapidly developing field. Working with nurses, orthopaedic, dental and cardiovascular surgeons to identify unmet needs in current clinical procedures, the CCTMIH team is developing physical prototypes that overcome the performance limitations of existing products. The Company has been a principal supporter of the Textiles and Colour Science activities at University of Leeds since they were established. In 2021, we made our largest-ever commitment to the university, investing £8.9 million (over 10 years) into the Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour (LITAC).

In addition to this capital funding, we have continued to provide bursaries for a number of postgraduate students at Leeds and beyond. Aside from our investment into LITAC, we previously funded a PhD bursary (2018-2021) for the School of Design that has led to award-winning concept and product design (see page 12). Finally, we awarded £20k towards an MSc in Product Innovation in Textiles at the University of Huddersfield and another £15,000 towards an MA Material Futures at Central Saint Martins (UAL). TECHNICAL EDUCATION & VOCATIONAL SUPPORT Breakthrough ideas in textiles – and materials more widely – must satisfy the demands of sustainability and, where possible, bring a societal benefit for future generations. For exciting innovation to make the journey from concept to commercial success, laboratory to the marketplace, it is important to nurture the technical skills that enable apprentices, students and trainees to succeed. Last year, out of more than £150,000 distributed under this area of our Textiles Strategy, more than £50,000 was directed towards UKFT, including with a number of programmes aimed at building

the international reputation of the UK textiles industry and delivering training and skills development. We funded the Made It 2021 programme (skills development and a competitive placement programme), the Young Technician Training Fund (which has helped nearly 30 young people access training), UK Careers Campaign and PopUp Factory, and the UKFT Open Education Resource. Since 2010, we have contributed almost £300k to The Weavers’ Company Entry to Work Scheme, securing placements and creating job opportunities for young people in textile manufacturing – including a further commitment for 2021-22. We have also continued to fund the Edu4Tex programme at the Textile Centre of Excellence. Our partnership with creative business incubator Cockpit Arts continues to flourish. Cockpit provides studio space and access to equipment for graduate weavers, enabling them to set up in business. Our support – repeated again in 2019 with a grant of £66,000 (over three years) – is allowing a fresh round of applicants to benefit from the facilities and business mentoring programme Cockpit offers. Peipei Wang, Fadhel Mourali, and ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

TEXTILES Ashley Jess Knight received bursaries in 2021. We were able to expand our support to Cockpit by sponsoring a booth for the 2018 and 2020 Clothworkers' bursary holders, Vicky Cowin and Millie Thomas, at the inaugural Livery Fair, which was part of the expanded programme of events for the Sheep Drive on London Bridge in September. CONSERVING THE PAST The Company has been one of the foremost supporters of textile conservation in the UK. Since the 1980s, we have made capital grants, funded research, and provided bursaries for

students at the Centre for Textile Conservation, supporting the Centre to the tune of £1.75 million when it was at the University of Southampton, and now in Glasgow. The Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) was made possible by our £1 million grant towards the Centre, established to offer students, designers, and researchers greater access to the V&A’s collection. In 2024, the Centre will move to the V&A East Storehouse site, in Stratford, and become part of the V&A East Museum cultural campus.

In 2014, the British Museum opened its World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre, supported by our £0.75 million grant towards the creation of The Clothworkers’ Organics Conservation Studio, housed within the Centre. In 2019, we awarded £45,000 to the Worthing Museum and Art Gallery, supporting the creation of a costume research centre. The facility opened to researchers in January 2022, and the museum has begun a successful programme of public workshops related to costume and textiles. That same year, we also provided a grant of £70,000 to support the Manchester Art Gallery in

“I had the chance to actually see the process of how a coat is being produced thoroughly.” Left: Merzia Qahramany, a second-year BA Fashion Design student (Bucks New University), completed an eight-week production internship at the 200-yearold Scottish outerwear company Mackintosh. Merzia's placement was part of the UKFT Made It scheme, offering fashion and textile design students opportunities to gain real-life manufacturing or sourcing experience in the UK. © UKFT, 2021.

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

“The residential training enabled our employees to really refine their skills on the [Picanol] looms.” Simon Hartley, Head of Textiles Production at Arville Right: Ben Freeman, Ryan Byrom and Simon Dixon from Arville Textiles in Wetherby gained in-depth weaving training on Picanol looms in Belgium to facilitate the company’s capacity expansion. Support from UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund covered 50% of costs associated with the two week residential training course for these young technicians . © UKFT, 2021.

relocating its clothing, textiles and fashion accessories from Platt Hall to its new city centre gallery; the Fashion and Textiles Gallery is due to open in October 2022. In 2020, The Company awarded £265,000 to the University of Oxford Textile Study Centre, which will form part of the university's new Collections Teaching and Research Centre. This funding will support two roles over three years during an ambitious £10 million capital project. The state-of-the-art facility will enable two of Oxford's museums, the Ashmolean Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum, to better

store, conserve, display and educate around their world-renowned textile collections (including more than 12,500 items). The pandemic delayed progress on the facility, and it is now due to open in April 2023. DESIGNS FOR THE FUTURE The Clothworkers’ Company awarded another £20k to the University of Huddersfield to support BA/BSc bursaries in Textiles Practice and renewed our annual grant to Central Saint Martins, supporting a printed textiles bursary for a third-year student and the cost of materials for up to 10 final-year students.

We continued to support New Designers and the Bradford Textile Society Design Competition, although the former was completely virtual in 2020 and 2021 and the latter was delayed due to the pandemic. For the 2021 New Designers competition, Clothworkers Cherica Haye and Emily May (herself a past New Designers award recipient) served as judges and bestowed our Printed Textile Prize upon Vicky Huang. Emily also serves as a judge for the four awards The Company sponsors in the Bradford Textile Society Design Competition. ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

LITAC SPOTLIGHT: REVOLUTIONARY DYEING PROCESS WINS CIRCULAR FUTURE FUND PRIZE The Leeds Institute of Textile and Colour (LITAC), founded in 2021, is already making a name for itself and building a reputation for ground-breaking research. This past spring, a project to develop a new polyester dyeing technology has beaten more than 245 projects in a competition to win a share of the Circular Future Fund.

the economic and environmental benefits of what has been dubbed the 'polyester-infinity loop'.

The prize will enable Leeds researchers to further explore the creation of a circular economy for polyester and the ability to recycle it, as well as assessing

A major barrier to recycling polyester fabric is the presence of dyes, which makes fibre-tofibre recycling almost impossible. Researchers at LITAC, in

Polyester is the world’s most consumed textile fibre, yet recycled polyester only contributes to 15 per cent of total production, almost all of which is made from plastic bottles.

collaboration with the Wolfson CO2 Laboratory in the School of Chemistry, are developing a solution that uses new technology to deploy carbon dioxide and separate dyes from fibre. Currently, recycled polyester (rPET) is not based on end-of-life-clothing, but on mechanically recycled polyester from plastic bottles. This new CO2 technology will facilitate fibre-to-fibre recycling, creating a truly circular process. Richard Blackburn, Professor of Sustainable Materials in the School of Design, said: 'This award from the Circular Future Fund will allow us to take a significant next step in tackling the global environmental and economic issue of polyester recycling. Polyester is the global clothing industry’s most consumed fibre, yet fibre-to-fibre recycling for the material is unfeasible because of the chemicals involved in the dyeing process. In order to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of recycling 90 per cent of PET plastic by 2030, chemical recycling – and specifically fibre-to-fibre recycling Image: Chris Rayner, Professor of Organic Chemistry (left) and Richard Blackburn, Professor of Sustainable Materials (right).

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

– is essential.' Prof Blackburn went on to say, We are very grateful to The Clothworkers' Company for the funding for the initial research.' The Company funded a PhD bursary for Nathaniel Crompton, whose postgraduate research (201821) was central to this achievement. Polyester is dyed with disperse dyes – a synthetic type of dye – and auxiliary chemicals, both of which are essential in the dyeing process. However, 10 per cent of disperse dyes applied are lost in the process. The new dyeing technology, developed by Leeds researchers, removes the polluting auxiliary

chemicals, recycles the water, and uses less energy. Furthermore, removing the dyes from the textile allows for both the dye and fibre to be recycled. The Circular Future Fund is an initiative run by John Lewis Partnership and the environmental charity Hubbub. Each year the fund awards £1 million to pioneering projects that are working to create a circular economy – one which eliminates waste and pollution, circulates products and materials, and regenerates nature. Three other projects have been

awarded a share of the £1 million prize, these include: expandable and recyclable children’s shoes, a menstrual cup use, and a 'lend and mend' scheme for household goods and clothing within Scottish libraries. The winners were chosen by an independent panel of industry experts, including senior representatives from John Lewis & Partners and with support from Hubbub. More than 245 projects applied for the fund. The four winners will be supported by Hubbub over the next year to develop and achieve their ambitions. ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

CHARITABLE MISSION Today, our mission is to empower individuals and communities through action, partnership and financial support. While championing textiles is a core part of that mission, we are also focused on fostering community and making a difference through broader charitable giving. The Clothworkers’ Foundation is usually the primary recipient of our philanthropic funding, including almost £3 million in 2021, as well as the vehicle through which we are able to positively impact communities across the UK. However we also support a number of other charitable initiatives every year. The latter includes grant-making for a number of charitable causes that support our communities in the Square Mile and throughout the UK, funding for our military affiliates, donations or investments that protect and promote endangered craft skills, and programmes that are aligned with our core values. Some of our ‘Charitable Mission’ grant recipients are highlighted in the following pages.

Left: Student Roshni Patel holds two pieces of artwork in front of her eyes. She is standing in front of TCDT's Fortnum & Mason window. © TCDT, 2021.

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

“[The Clothworkers'] funding has given us so much opportunity this year to complete activities that we would never have been able to afford to do! Thank you so much – from all of us.” Army Cadet Force, 41 Cadet Attachment

ARMY CADET FORCE – 41 CADET DETACHMENT In 2021, we initiated a relationship with the Army Cadet Force in Dagenham. Although this is one of the largest detachments in North East London, it was largely unsponsored and underfunded. Our three-year commitment of £9,000 has funded equipment, uniforms, and costs associated with summer camp. In 2021, cadets enjoyed a visit to the Stubbers Adventure Park for new experiences like laser tag, climbing, raft building (pictured above), canoeing, and more. CITY AND GUILDS In November 2020, The Company allocated £5k per year (2021-25) to skills-related activities at the City and Guilds London Institute, like the Intertrain course with a Track Maintenance Programme. With six participants in the first year,

four have completed the course, three have achieved their Level 2 Train Maintenance Programme, three have found employment locally with Ballycommon (a Civil Engineering Construction Rail company). One participant said, 'I am so grateful for the funding to complete this programme; I always wanted to work on the railway, and this has given me the opportunity to do that.' THE CREATIVE DIMENSION TRUST (TCDT) We initially supported The Creative Dimension Trust (TCDT) to the tune of £60k over three years (2019-21). As a result, we funded six workshops in 2021 for the charity, which produces creative skillsdevelopment courses for young people (primarily for those from disadvantaged backgrounds). The participants from these workshops collaborated with others to build a showcase of work, which was

exhibited for two weeks in a window display at Fortnum & Mason this past September. HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES In 2021, our £10k contribution to Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) – alongside donations from other livery companies and corporate sponsors – helped make the 2022 opening of 'Superbloom' at the Tower of London possible. The project opened in time for the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen. In a few more weeks, the full effect of the 20 million seeds planted throughout the Tower's 'moat' should be springing up to create a spectacular display of colour and new garden space in the Square Mile. HRP plans for many of the flowers to remain a permanent fixture within the moat, surrounding the Tower with a sea of colour every year, while improving the green space in the City and supporting the campaign to increase pollinators in London. ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

TRUSTEESHIP We have spent the past two decades or more establishing trusteeship as the modern purpose of our membership, and positioning The Clothworkers’ Company as a grant-maker and a champion for change and improvement to charity sector governance across the UK. TRUSTEESHIP AND MEMBERS Service is one of our primary objects as a company, both for members and for the organisation. Clothworkers come together in friendship, giving their time and expertise to serve others and to make a positive and sustained impact within our livery company, the City of London and beyond. They fill positions on our Court of Assistants (our governing body) and take on community roles – more than 36% have reported serving as trustees or school governors, and as volunteers. It is our aim to inspire and to nurture that spirit of service at all levels of our organisation. While the majority of Clothworkers may not be connected to the textiles industry by profession, we know they all have experience, expertise and skills that can be directed towards making a difference within our company and within their communities. Our flourishing partnership with

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

our grantee and partner Reach Volunteering provides a platform that enables us to promote trustee vacancies to Clothworkers, which we publish directly to the Members’ Area and highlight in our monthly e-newsletter. The Trustee Leadership Programme, which we co-fund with Close Brothers Asset Management, is offered free of charge to members. For those already on trustee boards, a number of seminars are offered by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), which members are invited to attend. We also encourage Clothworkers to consider other areas of service. Members interested in volunteering as a school governor are directed to opportunities through the Livery Schools Link. Clothworkers can use their experience and time to help mentor and advocate for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through the Catch22 Inspiring Connections programme, which The Company has sponsored from the founding of the programme and renewed that funding commitment in 2021. Finally, other opportunities for one-time volunteering or fundraising are also promoted to members as and when they arise. CHARITY GOVERNANCE ACROSS THE UK We are proud to sponsor and host the annual Charity Governance

Awards, celebrating best practice among boards and rewarding trustee leadership throughout the UK. The awards are made possible through the partnerships we have forged with NPC, Prospectus and Reach Volunteering. We are grateful to our Clothworker members for continuing to actively to participate in the Charity Governance Awards, volunteering for the first-round evaluation of submitted entries. In May 2021, the sixth annual Charity Governance Awards ceremony was held virtually on Zoom, so that we could continue to showcase exemplary leadership by charity boards and to support the sector in recovering from the extraordinary challenges of the pandemic. The ceremony included an inspiring keynote address by Ndidi Okezie OBE of UK Youth and a panel discussion among the four winning charities, facilitated by Ayesha Tariq of All Ways Network (and a grants officer at The Clothworkers' Foundation). In addition to the £5k unrestricted grants to winners, runners-up received a £1k unrestricted grant as well. The Company also sponsored a one-year membership to the Association of Chairs for chairs and vice chairs and a training opportunity with Cause4 for a new or inexperienced trustee for each shortlisted charity.

We know from our external five-year review of the awards, in 2020, that they remain a unique opportunity to celebrate the importance of good charity governance, and they are perceived as a valuable way to recognise the work of charity trustees and draw attention to important issues faced by charity boards.

yet, charity boards still struggle to develop policies or create environments where equity, diversity and inclusion thrive and to recruit the expertise, experience and talent they need to govern effectively.

However, we know that it is not enough to simply shine a spotlight on exemplary trusteeship. The Company has established itself as a significant grant-maker to support better charity governance across the UK. Working with our partners, we support efforts to increase participation of would-be trustees, to improve diversity and inclusivity on boards, and to enhance the capability of those already serving. While those serving are making a meaningful contribution, most charity boards are not reflective of the communities they serve, and more than 100,000 trustee vacancies go unfilled year on year.

Recognising these challenges, we continue Above: Tim Varney, Chair of EdUKaid, proudly shows to invest in and us his Charity Governance Awards trophy from 2021. support the Cause4 Trustee Leadership Programme and related seminars. placed. The estimated value of that Normally a five-week programme volunteer time is approximately £55 that ends in a charity-trustee million. Reach investigated whether matching event, the programme its open recruitment platform was successfully adapted to the impacting diversity on boards, constraints of the pandemic for and found that they were making online delivery this past year as progress closing gaps with ethnic, a two-day virtual seminar. Our age, and gender diversity. Public partners at New Philanthropy Health Pathways said, 'Volunteers Capital (NPC) also converted the found through Reach have charity and trustee training seminars technically, graphically, and socially we fund into virtual webinars transformed our organisation.' throughout 2021 as restrictions and caution about meeting continued. However, Reach also identified areas where it could do more to support its The Company has maintained its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion goals support of the Reach Volunteering with recruitment. Part of its solution TrusteeWorks recruitment to this was the Trustee Recruitment service. An estimated 8,970 people Cycle project – with partners at the registered on the platform as Association of Chairs, Small Charities volunteers or trustees in 2021. As Coalition and Getting on Board a result, a record-breaking 1,322 – to provide guidance, tools and trustees were appointed via Reach tips for more diverse and inclusive and another 2,637 volunteers were recruitment practices.

A charity’s service users are dependent on its trustees for the leadership required to keep the organisation capable, nimble and sustainable. This means having the right breadth of talent, lived experience and range of skills at the table. Being a trustee is hard work and challenging, but 93% of trustees say it is immensely fulfilling. And

ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

Image: A volume of Clothworkers' Court Orders being prepared for digitisation by TownsWeb Archiving.

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

ARCHIVES & COLLECTIONS We continue to preserve, make accessible and develop our unique collections of archives and works of art, whilst seeking to support talent and nurture skills across selected endangered crafts.

•

• ARCHIVES The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a third lockdown in early 2021 had a significant impact upon our Archive's enquiries and research service, with the total number of enquiries received (126) in 2021 standing at just over a half of prepandemic figures. Nevertheless, the average time the Archive team spent answering these rose as we took the decision to answer detailed research questions whilst academic visits were suspended, giving priority to those with imminent publication deadlines. We were thus pleased to see a number of new articles and books reach publication this year, which all draw (heavily) upon original material in our archives: •

•

Bendall, S. ‘Women’s Dress and the Demise of the Tailoring Monopoly: Farthingale Makers, BodyMakers and the Changing Textile Marketplace of Seventeenth Century London’ in Textile History, Jun 2021. Best, D. 700 years of Tennis

•

in London [Ronaldson Publications, Oxford: 2021] Gowing, L. Ingenious Trade, Women and Work in Seventeenth Century London [Cambridge University Press: 2021] Kilburn-Toppin, J. Crafting Identities: Artisan Culture in London, c. 1550-1640 [Manchester University Press: 2021]. Payne, A. ‘Richard Hakluyt’s Oxford Lectures’ in The Journal of the Hakluyt Society, Nov 2021. Smith, E. Merchants, The Community that Shaped England’s Trade and Empire [Yale University Press: 2021]

Whilst Company events were also in hiatus for the greater part of the year, staff from other departments continued to assist us with other longer-term projects including cataloguing boxes of modern photos, scrapbooks, menus and staff memos; making improvements to our collections management database; reviewing our digital photo assets and indexing committee minutes. It was also a team effort to facilitate a full valuation of the Hall contents and works of art and archives by external valuers for the first time since 2015. The effective closure of the Archive afforded us rare time to ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

ARCHIVES & COLLECTIONS make further headway cataloguing modern property records and our historic series of Wardens' chits (18th century invoices and receipts), conduct research and implement best practice regarding digital preservation – a growing area of importance for archive professionals and accelerated by pandemic working practices. Moreover, we digitised the first 12 volumes of our early Court Orders, documenting all The Company’s decision making and activities over its first 200 years of history. The pandemic has been a time of unprecedented disruption, and we are keen to reflect and learn from what we’ve done over the last couple of years and to consider how we can develop and improve our service going forward. This will feed into the development of a long-term

strategy for the Archive, with a particular focus on the future delivery of digital access to our collections, alongside physical access. To assist us in developing a strategy aligned to our users’ needs we would be most grateful if you could take five minutes to complete a short online survey: www.SurveyMonkey.co.uk/r/ Clothworkers_Archives_2022 A link to this will also be included in the next e-newsletter. Thank you! COMMISSIONING BOOKBINDINGS The Company has been a champion of bookbinding, an endangered craft, for more than 14 years. We are slowly building up a collection of designer bookbindings, commissioning

on average two new bindings per year, and these are on permanent display in our Entrance Hall. In 2021, we initiated a new commission with Nicky Oliver of Edward Bawden’s London [London, V&A publishing, 2011], received completed bindings by Annette Friedrich of Anni Albers’ love-letter to her craft, On Weaving (featured in the recent Clothworker magazine), and Jeanette Koch of The Lord Mayor’s Show: 800 Years, 1215-2015 by Hannah Bowen [London, 2015]. Jeanette’s hand-dyed goatskin binding conveys the pageantry and iconic buildings of the City of London during the mayoral show in an atmospheric and painterly scene. The covers are enlivened by glimpses of colour and fore-edges painted in sprinkled blue and brown gouache, along with three types of gold. SUPPORTING TALENT Complementing our commissioning activity, we also give important financial assistance towards the transfer of craft skills in both bookbinding and silver, another endangered craft. Since 2007, we have funded prizes at Designer

Left: Jeanette Koch's designer bookbinding.

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

Bookbinders’ now Biennial Competition and were delighted to be involved in the judging of the two Clothworker prizes in the Open Choice category – where binders choose their own book to bind – for the first time in April 2021. Previously featured in last year’s Members’ Supplement, first prize went to Thomas Hosking for his stunning binding of Mort by Terry Pratchett. We were also pleased to see entries by a number of new names in the craft and delighted that two former apprentices from the Queen’s Bindery Apprenticeship Scheme (QBAS), of which we were a founding partner, won prizes. Ted Bennett was awarded Best Newcomer for his binding of the set book, Of Mice and Men and Andreus Maroulis the Elizabeth Greenhill prize for best tooling, also for a binding of the set book. During 2021, we provided topup funding of £3,500 to Designer Bookbinders to re-invigorate Transferring Design, its initiative to deliver introductory and bespoke bookbinding training to students on allied courses in UK art colleges and universities, both as a means of skills

Right (top to bottom): Bookbindings by Thomas Hosking, Ted Bennett, and Andreas Maroulis.

ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

ARCHIVES & COLLECTIONS

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

Students on Designer Bookbinders' Transferring Design course (funded by The Clothworkers' Company) in bookbinding box making at Central Saint Martins. Images courtesy of Kate Holland.

ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

ARCHIVES & COLLECTIONS transfer and in order to encourage new talent to consider entering the craft. The scheme was adversely affected by the pandemic, with much training in educational settings moving online. However, courses went ahead as planned at West Dean last October and at Central St Martins this March (having been postponed); Tom McEwan delivered bespoke oneto-one training for a Transferring Design student in December. In silversmithing, we provided funding of £6,000 towards Rod Kelly’s South House Silver Workshop Trust graduate silversmith scholarship programme, which commenced in early 2021. Jessica Jue and Ellys May Woods were the successful applicants, spending two months’ each in Rod Kelly's workshop in Shetland and with Brett Payne in Sheffield, providing invaluable one-to-one tuition from makers with a total of 80 years’ working experience between them. Four additional one-month scholarships were also offered, in recognition of the importance of the scheme in passing on skills and nurturing talent. Ellys wrote: 'It has been such an amazing experience working in Sheffield with Brett. I feel I have filled gaps in my silversmithing

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

knowledge and gained so many valuable new skills – from hot forging to raising. Without the South House Trust Scholarship, I would not have had the opportunity to be taught one-to-one like this in such a great environment. I can’t thank Rod, Brett and the support of the Trust enough for this experience!' We also continue to make an annual grant to Bishopsland Educational Trust; our funding enables students to purchase raw materials and essential tools. Bishopsland is a unique one-year residential workshop for emerging silversmiths and jewellers, providing masterclasses in craft techniques coupled with essential training in marketing and business skills. Prominent alumni include Rod Kelly, Jane Short, Theresa Nguyen, Angela Cork and Miriam Hanid, all

of whom feature in our growing plate collection. In 2021, the 'gang' (as they are fondly referred to) used our bursaries to buy materials to make tools including tongs, scorers and gravers; purchased precious metals and gems for exhibition pieces and acquired materials for masterclasses – including copper sheets for chasing and repoussé work. Having had to cancel our usual public events, we were delighted to host Bishopsland at Clothworkers’ Hall in November. This one-day event comprised VIP tours of the plate vault for guests; an evening lecture delivered by Kirstin Kennedy, Curator of Metalwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum; and an exhibition that generated significant sales for Bishopsland, with nine of the current cohort selling pieces and three commissioned for future work. One of the students commented: 'As well as the chasing class, my favourite moment at Bishopsland was the exhibition at Clothworkers' Hall in London: This was my first major exhibition, and the experience of meeting fellow makers and selling my work was absolutely incredible'. Such was its success, a repeat event has been scheduled for Monday, 21 November 2022 – save the date!

“I feel I have filled gaps in my silversmithing knowledge and gained so many valuable new skills – from hot forging to raising. Without the South House Silver Workshop Trust Scholarship, I would not have had the opportunity to be taught one-to-one like this in such a great environment. I can’t thank Rod, Brett and the support of the Trust enough for this experience!” Ellys May Woods, South House Silver Workshop Trust scholarship recipient

Ellys May Woods practicing her chasing skills in copper (left) and with a nearly finished vase (right).

ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

SUPPORT FOR OUR MILITARY AFFILIATES We are proud to support affiliations with HMS Dauntless, the Scots Guards, No. 47 Squadron RAF and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal’s Volunteer Corps) – also known as the ‘FANY’. Our financial support primarily assists with a range of welfare activities for the service men and women, and their families, as well as grants for special projects. The HMS Dauntless (and her crew) were inactive whilst the ship was under repair, and there were no visits or opportunities to meet the crew in 2021. However, we we

THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY

did make contact with the Weapon Engineer Officer, who helped plan a visit to the ship for 2022. Meanwhile, we awarded £24,000 to the Scots Guards Soldiers and Family Welfare Programme. The Battalion relocated from Aldershot to Catterick, which took considerable time and effort - although a few members of the battalion did have a chance to sneak away for a day to challenge our Clothworkers Golf team to a match! Captain Ross McCrindle, the Unit Welfare Officer updated us on the impact of our funding throughout

the year. Soldiers and their families enjoyed a family 'Welcome to Catterick' event to help them adjust to the move. The Battalion was able to trial (successfully) a welfare event for single soldiers, giving them a space to socialise outside of duties. Soldiers and their spouses enjoyed a Bingo Night, accommodating the schedules of families who cannot normally attend daytime activities, and weekly coffee mornings for spouses were reinstated as regular clinics. The Clothworkers' grant also funded direct interventions to provide support to individuals experiencing hardship; in one case

this resulted in a life-saving mental health care plan. We also contributed £24,000 to No. 47 Squadron RAF, as our annual welfare grant, which helped the Squadron resume family welfare activities after the pandemic, and offer some much-needed recovery and relaxtion after its participation in the evacuation of Afghanistan. A friendly cricket match, with Clothworkers joining in, took place in August (see the image below, on the left), and a family day was held in September. Our Clothworkers' shooting team met the Squadron

for the annual competition at Bisley and succeeded in winning the cup (Owen Turgoose presented it to the Master at a dinner this past spring, pictured in the middle). We were honoured to host the Squadron at the Hall in the autumn for the inaugural Community Awards (First Warden Alex Nelson can be seen presenting the awards below, on the right). The FANY’s year has been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as they have been part of a nationwide response team, helping our communities

through the pandemic. In 2019, The Company committed to supporting the salary costs of the Operations Officer for a further three years, which provides essential coordination for the volunteer group as they respond to ongoing and new crises in London and across the country. FANY were recognised for their ongoing work with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in June 2021 and formally received Privileged Status of the City of London (which had been bestowed in 2020, but the ceremony had been delayed due to Covid restrictions).

ANNUAL REVIEW 2021

The Clothworkers' Company Annual Review 2021

Articles inside

TEXTILES

CHARITABLE MISSION

TRUSTEESHIP

MILITARY AFFILIATES