THE CLOTHWORKERS' COMPANY
2022
ANNUAL REVIEW
2022 ANNUAL REVIEW
THE CLOTHWORKERS' COMPANY
THE CLOTHWORKERS’ COMPANY MASTER Mr Tom Ingham Clark
CLERK TO THE COMPANY Jocelyn Stuart-Grumbar
WARDENS Mr Denis Clough The Hon Mary Ann Slim Mr David Hutchins Mr Hugo Robinson
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT AND COMPANY GRANTS OFFICER Emma Temple
COURT OF ASSISTANTS Mr John Coombe-Tennant Mrs Joanna Dodd Mr Melville Haggard Miss Katharine Hirst Mr Dan Jago Mr Michael Jarvis Mr Peter Jonas Mr James Langley Col Alastair Mathewson OBE Mr Deepak Nambison Mr Alex Nelson Mrs Susanna O’Leary Sir Jonathan Portal, Bt Mr Philip Portal Dr Lucy Rawson Dr Cordelia Rogerson Mr Andrew Strang Mr Hanif Virji Mr John Wake Mr Andrew Wates Mr Robert West Mr Timothy West Mr Andrew Yonge
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, PROPERTY AND INVESTMENTS Hamesh Patel ACTING FINANCE MANAGER Michelle Jex-Brown FOUNDATION DIRECTOR Jenny North HEAD OF COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES Jessica Collins MEMBERSHIP AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Renée LaDue BEADLE Michael Drummond STEWARD Heather Rawlins
HONORARY ASSISTANT Mr Andrew Blessley
The Clothworkers’ Company First Floor, 16 Eastcheap London EC3M 1BD +44 (0)20 7623 7041 Enquiries@Clothworkers.co.uk
www.Clothworkers.co.uk Like us on Facebook and LinkedIn! Twitter: @ClothworkersCo Instagram: Clothworkers_Co
INTRODUCTION
CONTENTS 04 – COMPANY GRANTS 06 – TEXTILES 14 – UKFT YOUNG TEXTILE TECHNICIAN FUND 1 6 – THE EXPERIMENTAL WEAVE LAB 1 8 – CHARITABLE MISSION 22 – TRUSTEESHIP 2 6 – ARCHIVES & COLLECTIONS 3 4 – MILITARY AFFILIATES
IMAGE CREDITS Cover: The Jubilee Cope, conserved for the exhibition Jubilee: St Paul's, the Monarch, and the Changing World. © Graham Westley Lacdao. Facing Page: Third-year weave students visit Stanley Mills during the Making It in Textiles conference in 2022.
MISSION, VISION & VALUES
IMPACT REPORT
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.
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. Additionally, The Company makes a significant annual donation to The Foundation. In 2022, The Foundation awarded grants in excess of £7.4 million to organisations supporting people and communities facing disadvantage and marginalisation. Exceptionally, The Company transferred £74.6 million to The Foundation (including an extraordinary gift of £71.6 million, at the end of the year).
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 founded on our VALUES, and our aspiration to be progressive, collaborative and sustainable in all that we do, internally and externally.
Additionally, The Clothworkers' Company directly awards grants in support of textiles and trusteeship across the UK, a selection of military affiliates and other charitable causes. This publication covers our key areas of grant making –which amounted, in 2022, to more than £1.6 million (not including the donation to The Foundation). Our Annual Review aims to illustrate what we have done to fulfil our mission, improve impact across our grant-making activities, and uphold our values. An annual financial summary is published in the Members' Supplement for Clothworkers. ANNUAL REVIEW 2022 3
INDUSTRY MISSION (TEXTILE GRANTS) Academic Research and Innovation University of Leeds, LITAC (£8.9m, 2021-31) ............................................................................................................ £890,000 University of Leeds (14 bursaries for BA and MSc programmes, 2023-25) .................................................... £292,500 UAL, Central Saint Martins (MA, Material Futures) .................................................................................................. £15,000 Technical Education and Vocational Support Textile Centre of Excellence, Sustainability Strategy Programme ....................................................................... £47,045 The Weavers’ Company, Entry to Work Scheme ........................................................................................................ £42,000 UKFT, Export Promotion (£170k over 2023-2025) ..................................................................................................... £27,500 Cockpit Arts, Clothworkers’ Award for Weavers (£66k over 2022-24) ............................................................... £22,000 University of Huddersfield (BA/BSc bursaries, Textiles Practice) ....................................................................... £20,000 UKFT, Data Project ('Untapped Potential') ................................................................................................................... £20,000 UKFT, Made It 2022 .............................................................................................................................................................. £20,000 UKFT, UK Careers Campaign 2022 .................................................................................................................................. £17,500 Making It in Textiles (Third-year textiles student conference and mill visits) ................................................ £15,000 UKFT, UKFT Futures web platform ................................................................................................................................ £10,000 UKFT, Young Textile Technician Fund .......................................................................................................................... £10,000 UKFT, Sustainability Conference (with the Textiles Livery Group) .................................................................... £10,000 The Experimental Weave Lab (London Craft Week sponsorship) ............................................................................ £960 Heritage and Conservation Historic Royal Palaces, Internship (2 placements, 2022-23) ................................................................................... £36,000 University of Glasgow, Textile Conservation Centre University (MPhil bursary) ........................................... £31,000 National Museums Scotland, Internship (3 placements, 2022-24) ...................................................................... £30,000 Textile Design and Craft UAL, Central Saint Martins (BA Textiles Design bursary and Materials Fund) .............................................. £20,000 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 2022, 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.
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CHARITABLE MISSION (OTHER GRANTS) Trusteeship Reach Volunteering ................................................................................................................................................................ £43,000 Charity Governance Awards (16 cash prizes) ............................................................................................................... £40,000 New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) (trustee seminars, 2022-23) ............................................................................... £37,740 Association of Chairs, Admin Overheads ...................................................................................................................... £20,000 Cause4, Trustee Leadership Programme (2022-23)................................................................................................... £20,000 Military Affiliations HMS Dauntless, Community and Wellbeing programme ....................................................................................... £30,000 Scots Guards, Soldiers and Family Welfare programme .......................................................................................... £24,550 FANY (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps), Operations Officer Salary (£60k over 2023-25) ....................... £20,000 No. 47 Squadron RAF, Family Welfare programme ................................................................................................... £20,000 Army Cadet Force, 41 Cadet Detachment Dagenham (£9k committed over 2021-23) ..................................... £3,000 Other Charitable Grants The Creative Dimension Trust (£50k over 2022-24) ................................................................................................ £25,000 St Paul's Cathedral, Jubilee Exhibition ........................................................................................................................... £20,000 Contemporary British Silversmiths, Skills Training Programme (£50k committed over 2021-23) ........... £16,667 Catch22 (Inspiring Connections) ...................................................................................................................................... £12,500 The South House Silver Workshop Trust (skills development scholarship) .................................................... £12,000 The Lord Mayor’s Appeal .................................................................................................................................................... £10,000 St Paul’s Cathedral (chorister bursary, £40k over 2019-22) ..................................................................................... £10,000 Designer Bookbinders, Licentiate Pilot Scheme ............................................................................................................ £9,500 Bishopslands Educational Trust (bursaries and materials, £24k over 2022-25) ................................................ £8,000 Support Ukraine Musicians ................................................................................................................................................... £5,000 City and Metropolitan Welfare Charity ............................................................................................................................. £3,000 College of Arms (manuscript conservation) .................................................................................................................... £2,970 Pollinating London Together (The Lord Mayor's Show 2022) ................................................................................. £1,000 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* *This does not include the extraordinary donation of cash, shares and property leases at the end of the year.
TEXTILE GRANTS & CHARITABLE GIVING IN 2022 ≈ £4.6 MILLION ANNUAL REVIEW 2022 5
TEXTILES Over the past decade or more, The Clothworkers’ Company and The Clothworkers’ Foundation have contributed in excess of £20 million towards textiles, including an investment of £8.9 million to co-fund the Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour (LITAC). Aside from our 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: • •
•
•
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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 the Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour. Immediate Past Master Alex Nelson and Court Assistant Joanna Dodd explore experimental technology aimed at experiencing the 'feeling' of cloth with virtual reality.
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TEXTILES 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.
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. In 2022, we committed an additional £292,500 to fund 14 undergraduate and postgraduate student bursaries (both for
achievement and affordability) in the Fashion Design, Sustainable Fashion, and Texile Sustainability and Innovation programmes over the next three years. Finally, we awarded £15k towards bursaries for the UAL Central Saint Martins MA Material Futures programme.
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
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Above: Dr Muhammad Tausif leads Clothworkers on a tour of the LITAC Fibre and Yarn Spinning Laboratory, where researchers share their work.
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. In 2022, our grant to the Textile Centre of Excellence supported its Sustainability Strategy Programme
Above: Immediate Past Master Alex Nelson explores the LITAC Verivide Colour Laboratory, after an introduction by Dr Kaida Xioa.
(pilot). The initiative provided a road map for integrating sustainability into core purpose, strategy and operations for 10 textile companies based in and around the Yorkshire region. It helped these companies gain a competitive advantage in response to consumer, regulatory and climate drivers through a combination of online learning, company visits and bespoke support. Companies including Camira, English Fine Cottons, AW Hainsworth, Harrison Spinks, and Wooltex (to name a few) came together to share pre-competitive learning at workshops and explore circular economy opportunities. Almost half of our funding under Technical Education and Vocational Support was awarded to initiatives implemented by the UK Fashion and Textiles Association (UKFT). UKFT received £170,000 to promote British textiles and build its reputation abroad over the next three years. Other UKFT initiatives promoted opportunities within UK textiles, improved employability, supported skills development, and facilitated onthe-job training. For instance, the UKFT Young Textile Technician Fund received another grant of £10,000. The fund helps both businesses and their employees (aged 30 or under) access training ANNUAL REVIEW 2022 9
TEXTILES critical to business operations and career development (read a case study on pages 14-15). Another grant of £10,000 enabled the launch of the UKFT Futures website. This online platform showcases experts from across the industry and highlights the diverse potential of opportunities across the country. It provides information on pathways into these careers, and promotes current vacancies. Early users of the website were engaging from Edinburgh to London. Our partnership with creative incubator Cockpit Arts
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began in 2011 and continues to flourish. The Company has invested nearly £265,000 to date, including a further commitment of £66,000 (to be distributed over three years) towards weaving bursaries. With the addition of Sven Steinmetz and Lara Pain (pictured below) in 2022, we have now sponsored 35 weavers at Cockpit Arts. The Experimental Weave Lab (TEWL) – which received foundational funding from The Clothworkers', Drapers' and Weavers' Companies (among others) in 2021 – thrived in
2022. Co-created and co-curated by Clothworker Elizabeth Ashdown MA RCA and Weaver Philippa Brock MA RCA, TEWL served as an incubator, funded weaving residencies, and held a programme of events to engage public audiences with its work. Clothworkers' offered further sponsorship in 2022 by supporting TEWL's London Craft Week participation fees, use of Clothworkers' Hall for London Craft Week and London Open House, and an extension of the lease at St Olave's Parish Hall through January 2023 (read more about it on pages 16-17).
Below: A display from Dandy Style, in the new exhibition space of the Manchester Art Gallery. Photography by Michael Pollard.
“The residential training enabled our employees to really refine their skills on the [Picanol] looms.”
HERITAGE & CONSERVATION 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 museum'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 relocating its clothing, textiles and fashion accessories from Platt Hall to its new city centre gallery. The Fashion and Textiles Gallery opened in 2022 with the exhibition, Dandy Style. The new gallery will become an action research site for the London College of Fashion; the AHRC-funded project is focused on ANNUAL REVIEW 2022 11
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TEXTILES couture fashion and exploring new ways of displaying related artifacts and engaging audiences. 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 (CTRC). Our grant is supporting 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. The pandemic delayed progress on the CTRC facility, which is currently under construction and on track to open its doors in 2024. In 2021 and 2022, we focused on conservation, with a combined £97,000 directed towards supporting a further
two internship placements with Historic Royal Palaces, three new internship placements with the National Museums of Scotland, and continued funding for a bursary programme through the twoyear MPhil course via the Textile Conservation Foundation (and its centre at University of Glasgow). TEXTILE DESIGN & CRAFT The Clothworkers’ Company renewed its annual grant to Central Saint Martins (£20,000), 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. For the 2022 New Designers competition, Clothworkers Cherica HayeZimmerman and Emily May (herself a past New Designers award recipient) served as judges and bestowed our Printed Textile Design Associate Prize upon Emilie Harford.
Left: Kirstin Ingram, who graduated from the Textile Conservation Centre (Glasgow) and received a Clothworkers' bursary for her postgraduate studies, secured one of the internship places sponsored by The Company and became the 10th intern at our Historic Royal Palaces textiles conservation studio. She is pictured preparing 18th-century leather gloves for the Crown to Couture exhibition at Kensington Palace (running until October 2023). Image courtesy of Historic Royal Palaces / The Bute Collection at Mount Stuart. ANNUAL REVIEW 2022 13
UKFT YOUNG TEXTILE TECHNICIAN FUND: THE NATURAL FIBRE COMPANY & BLACKER YARNS Bethanie Jenkins, aged 26, is a trainee dye technician and mill operative. Emma Smith, aged 27, is a marketing support executive. They have both secured their current placements at The Natural Fibre Company mill (Launceston, Cornwall) and received in-depth dye training with support from UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund. They each completed training with a textile consultant at the mill, gaining a full overview of how to use the Roaches Pyrotec 8 – a
colour development laboratory recipe testing machine (which makes solutions and dye recipes), as well as using the dyeing tanks. Bethanie (below) had previously worked at The Natural Fibre Company, and was eager to return as trainee dye technician. It allowed her an opportunity to receive up-to-date training on the mill's in-house dyeing method, including the use of the Pyrotec 8 machine. She said she has learned to colour match, create colour
samples and dye more efficiently. 'This process for the tanks produces better colour fastness,' she explained. 'Although I had an understanding of the tanks, I feel more competent with them now. I enjoyed learning all of the new processes and seeing the results from both the bath and the tanks.' Emma (facing page) studied Textile Design at Falmouth University, specialising in woven textiles, and interned at mills in Scotland and North Devon before joining The Natural Fibre Company. She has always loved working with fibre and yarns. In her varied role, she now creates yarn ranges and colours for Blacker Yarns, along with generating social media, producing marketing materials and processing online orders. She said: 'Although I was taught dyeing at university, I did not have the technical knowledge to upscale recipes in our tanks. I now feel confident, following the inhouse training, putting together a dye bath and dyeing our beautiful yarns, with some help from my colleague, Beth.' The training, with support from
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“Training young people is essential to ensure the future of our industry – and access to this type of training is a critical way of ensuring that the UK textile sector remains competitive. It is great news that employers across the UK can now access funding to train textile technicians, [allowing] the industry to capitalise on all the opportunities that exist for further growth.” Paula Mcilwraith, Textile Membership Manger at UKFT.
UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund, has helped Emma learn to colour match samples and create unique recipes for customers, as well as for Blacker Yarns. 'Upscaling recipes and being able to replicate them in the future will benefit us as a small business,' she added. Colin Spencer Halsey, CEO, said: 'The Natural Fibre Company is a progressive business, and we proactively work with sectorspecific organisations and support agencies. When we were made aware of the Young
Textile Technician Fund, we sought guidance from our contact, Paula Mcilwraith, who has been extremely supportive throughout the process. This fund has enabled us to source a provider for dye and colour technical training, receive on-site technical training for three members of our team, and work toward our business objectives of reopening the dye house, expanding our service offering and developing new skills for our people.' The Young Textile Technician Fund covers 50% of the costs of
in-depth training for textile technicians under the age of 30. In 2022, it supported training for five technicians and provided 10 travel bursaries to facilitate participation in ITMA 2023, the world's largest international textile and garment technology exhibition. It is co-funded by The Weavers', Clothworkers' and Drapers' Companies. Read more on the YTTF from the UKFT website at: www.UKFT.org.
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THE EXPERIMENTAL WEAVE LAB The Experimental Weave Lab (TEWL) enabled 10 contempory weavers to explore their craft, push the boundaries of their own work, and engage with new public audiences. Residency stipends facilitated experimentation with hand and digital weaving techniques as well as with community and industrial approaches. Residents were able to collaborate with each other and inspire one another. They shared their work through social media, general open days for public audiences, masterclasses, workshops for young people, virtual events, and festivals (such as London Craft Week, the Sheep Drive and Livery
Fair, or Open House London). Residents Amber Roper and Sarah Ward produced three handson workshops for the 'A' Arts Education Team at The Brady Centre (Tower Hamlets). The Brady Centre outreach programme is aimed at teenagers who would not otherwise have access to creative opportunities, equipment, or knowledge of career pathways in art and design. It supports students who wish to apply for university degree courses, guiding them through the process and mentoring those accepted onto programmes. Both Amber and Sarah were alumnae of the youth outreach scheme, and were assisted by two weave students
Rag rug by Rachael Matthews.
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Photography by Antranig Basman
from Central Saint Martins who had also participated in the programme. Resident Rachael Matthews (whose likeness and work is pictured here) introduced TEWL to East London Textile Arts (ELTA). ELTA is a diverse group of textile makers (including migrants and people with diverse abilities), based in Newham. The group, which is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and the DeLazlo Foundation, holds textile-based workshops to develop a wide range of skills within the community. Among its programmes is a 'rag school', led by Rachael. She is helping participants to create rag rugs inspired by the River Roding. Rachael organised an
ELTA workshop for TEWL and its residents, bringing a selection of ELTA weavers and their work to the lab by way of the River Thames. Co-creator (and Clothworker) Elizabeth Ashdown used public open days at TEWL and festival events to introduce the endangered craft of passementerie to new audiences. The craft was once widely practiced across the City – and, in particular, in the area around Clothworkers' Hall. Two guest weavers, experts in this endangered craft, exhibited their work during London Craft Week, and Elizabeth showcased her own work and expertise during the course of the TEWL programme.
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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 The Clothworkers’ Foundation is usually the principal recipient of our philanthropic funding, and serves as the primary vehicle through which we are able to drive positive impact for people and communities across the UK. Our donation to The Foundation in 2022 included an extraordinary transfer of £71.6 million. This was made possible as a result of our transaction with AXA IM Alts, to whom we granted a long headlease in order to develop and move forward with the 50 Fenchurch Street scheme. Find out more about the 50 Fenchurch Street project, and its progress, on our website. We award grants and make Left: The Jubilee Cope, conserved and being installed for the Jubilee: St Paul's, the Monarch, and the Changing World exhibition. © Graham Westley Lacdao.
donations to a variety of initiatives each year. These include contributions to a number of charitable causes that support our communities in the Square Mile and throughout the UK, donations or investments that protect and promote endangered craft skills, funding for our military affiliates, and other programmes that are aligned with our core values. Some of our ‘Charitable Mission’ grant recipients are highlighted in the following pages. ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL: SILVER JUBILEE EXHIBITION The Jubilee: St Paul's, the Monarch and the Changing World exhibition opened in May 2022. Staged in the Crypt, the exhibition portrayed the various royal anniversary events that have taken place at the Cathedral over the past couple of centuries and showcased rare and stunning textiles. The exhibition was a key part of the Cathedral’s post-Covid visitor engagement strategy, helping to stimulate footfall by attracting an estimated 500,000 people. The Clothworkers’ Company contributed £20,000 to the exhibition, sponsoring the mounting and display of two historic copes, including custom cases made by the textile conservators Soteria. The Needlemakers’ Company
contributed £10,000 to conserve the copes before their display. The oldest, the 'Prussian cope', was first worn by the Bishop of London in 1897 at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. A statue of the Bishop in the cathedral depicts him wearing the cope. The event marked the re-introduction of textile embroidery and elaborate vestments into the cathedral life. The second cope was designed by ecclesiastical embroiderer Beryl Dean for the 1977 Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II; it was embroidered with the spires of 73 churches, three Royal Peculiars, and St Paul's Cathedral. Beryl Dean's cope will be displayed at Guildhall Art Gallery (29 Sep to 12 Nov 2023) as part of 'Treasures of Gold and Silver'. ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL: CHORISTER BURSARY St Paul’s Cathedral offers talented young people the unprecedented opportunity to become a chorister at the Cathedral School and to train with one of the most prestigious choirs in the world. The Cathedral is committed to ensuring that the incredible opportunity of becoming a Chorister is open to young people from a wide variety of backgrounds and not dependent on their family’s ability to be able to afford to pay the ANNUAL REVIEW 2022 19
CHARITABLE MISSION “Happy is the one who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding.” Lyrics from Wisdoms, the Silver Jubilee anthem written by Judith Weir, now Master of the King's Music (and the first woman to hold the post).
Left: Clothworker Chorister Ismael Dosoo (left) is interviewed by the BBC for its world broadcast of the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's for the Jubillee celebration.
fees. However, it costs more than £30,000 a year to train a chorister. In 2022, The Company continued to provide a bursary of £10,000 (via the St Paul's Cathedral Chorister Trust) to cover the cost of boarding for a young person that would otherwise not be able to access this opportunity. The current bursary holder is Ismael Dosoo, who gave a charming interview to the BBC (alongside then Master of the Queen's Music, Judith Weir CBE HonFRSE) preceding the Service of Thanksgiving during the 2022 Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Ismael was wearing his Clothworkers’ medal during the world broadcast, displaying his association with The Company.
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THE CREATIVE DIMENSION TRUST (TCDT) We initially supported The Creative Dimension Trust (TCDT) with a grant of £60k (over three years, 201921), and committed another £50k to support its work from 2022 to 2024. The arts-based charity continues to grow and thrive, supporting young people primarily from disadvantaged backgrounds to discover and develop their interest and talent for craft skills. Demand for places at TCDT workshops is growing faster than ever; the charity received more than 600 applications in 2022 and expanded its services to deliver 38
workshops for 323 students (a 28% increase in students from the previous year). In August 2022, The Company invited TCDT to use Clothworkers' Hall for two week-long workshops (pictured to the right): Table-Loom Weaving, led by Claire Whelan (Clothworkers' alumna), and Sewing & Dressmaking, led by José Hendo (of Bark to The Roots). In September, Fortnum & Mason allowed TCDT students to showcase their work in a ‘Wonders of the Undersea World’ window display at its flagship store in Piccadilly.
POLLINATING LONDON TOGETHER (PLT) The Company is able to make a number of relatively small grants in support of important community initiatives across the Square Mile. For example, Pollinating London Together (PLT) received £3k to sponsor its float in The Lord Mayor’s Show 2022. PLT celebrated The Lord Mayor Nicholas Lyons while raising awareness of its core purpose: to protect pollinators by creating and preserving biodiversity corridors across the City of London.
Volunteers wore pollinator wings designed by artist Alex Hirtzel, who also created the 'Beetrice Bee' float centerpiece. The float contained a mobile meadow, sponsored by Joseph Rochford Gardens Ltd. CITY & METROPOLITAN WELFARE CHARITY The City & Metropolitan Welfare Charity was born out of an inter-livery initiative. Today, it distributes small grants to charities supporting ex-offenders and their families. The Clothworkers' Company donation of £3k joined similar
contributions from livery companies like The Grocers', Haberdashers' and Mercers' Companies – enabling the charity to distribute £31,000 in 2022. One grant recipient, Trailblazors Mentoring, works one-on-one with young offenders (aged 18-25) to reduce re-offending through weekly one-hour sessions. Mentoring takes place both in prison as well as 'through the gate' upon the prisoner's release. The charity helps approximately 150 new mentees annually, and has reduced its mentee re-offending rate to 18% (compared to the national average of 56%).
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TRUSTEESHIP For more than two decades, we have been establishing trusteeship as a core 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 37% 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 The Company and within their communities. Our flourishing collaboration with 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, along with occasional trustee vacancies shared by grant recipients of The Clothworkers' Foundation. The Trustee Leadership Programme, which we co-fund with Close Brothers Asset Management, is offered free of charge to members interested in trusteeship who need a foundation before they join a board. For those already experienced as trustees, a number of seminars are offered by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), which members are encouraged to attend whenever possible. 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 since its pilot programme and continued to fund in 2022. Finally, other opportunities for one-time volunteering or fundraising are also promoted to members as and when they arise. ANNUAL REVIEW 2022 23
TRUSTEESHIP 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 participate in the Charity Governance Awards, volunteering for the first-round evaluation of submitted entries.
16 charities shortlisted for the awards covered a diverse range of activities, including employment for refugees, housing and assistance for people with mental health needs, education and support for disadvantaged children in the UK and abroad, help for female sex workers, and a women's theatre group working with prisons and the community. The six organisations that took home top prizes included: •
• In June 2022, the seventh annual Charity Governance Awards ceremony was held at Clothworkers' Hall. The
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•
Board Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Manchester Action on Street Health & Your Voice Counts ( joint winners) Transforming With Digital: Missing People Improving Impact in Small Charities: Raising Futures Kenya (0-3 paid staff ) and The
•
Cowshed (4-30 paid staff ) COVID-19 Response: I Choose Freedom
In addition to the £5k prize (as an unrestricted grant) bestowed upon winners, runners-up received a £1k prize. The Company also continued to offer all shortlisted charities a one-year membership of the Association of Chairs for chairs and vice chairs, and a training opportunity with Cause4 for a new or inexperienced trustee. The ceremony included an inspiring keynote address by Sufina Ahmad MBE (Director of the John Ellerman Foundation) and a panel discussion facilitated by Saeed Atcha MBE DL with
representatives from past winners PIRC (Elly Baker), TLC (Adiba Sultan), and EdUKAid (Tim Varney). 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. GRANTS FOR GOVERNANCE Beyond promoting and amplifying stories of exemplary trusteeship, The Company has established itself as a significant grant
maker to support better charity governance. Working with our partners, we sponsor organisations and initiatives aimed at enhancing the capability of those already serving, increasing participation of would-be trustees, and improving diversity and inclusivity on boards. 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. With that in mind, The Company awarded the Association of Chairs a grant of £20,000 in 2022, covering core costs related to supporting the chairs and vice chairs of today and training the
trustee leaders of tomorrow. Being a trustee is hard work and challenging, but 93% of trustees say it is immensely fulfilling. And 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. Recognising these challenges, we continue to invest in and support the Cause4 Trustee Leadership Programme. Cause4 continues to deliver an in-person, five-week programme that ends in a charity-trustee matching event each year. Since the pandemic, Cause4 has also developed an alternative virtual, two-day leadership course. In addition, we continue to fund free, online trustee seminars through our partners at New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), which include relevant topics and expert panels. Finally, The Company has maintained its support of the Reach Volunteering TrusteeWorks recruitment service. Despite predictions that the cost of living crisis would reduce volunteering, Reach helped fill nearly 1,200 trustee vacancies and placed another 2,397 volunteers in 2022. The estimated value of that volunteer expertise and time for the year is approximately £50 million. ANNUAL REVIEW 2022 25
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 In 2022, we witnessed a relative return to normality with the number of enquiries, visitors and researchers using the archives growing for the first time since the pandemic. The archive team was also bolstered by the arrival of a newly qualified Assistant Archivist, Laura Noble, who has made significant headway in cataloguing projects and our fledgling digital preservation activities (to preserve, for posterity, digitised and borndigital records in addition to our physical archive). We also surveyed
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our users’ needs and were delighted with the unanimously positive feedback on the quality of our service, the archive and our online catalogue, Calmview. During the year, we redesigned and revamped the catalogue, adding in excess of 7,000 new records and 800 new images. Detailed cataloguing of the Treswell Plan Book (1612), one of our greatest archival treasures, was also undertaken. Learn more about our archives, catalogue and digitised collections online. Despite all these activities, the year was marked by preparations for the Hall redevelopment. Our archive and collections needed to be prepared for the move into offsite storage, to facilities outside London,
Guests inspect a display of The Clothworkers' Company silver collection during the Bishopsland Educational Trust exhibition and sale at Clothworkers' Hall.
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ARCHIVES & COLLECTIONS with a capsule collection of silver chosen for transfer to Drapers’ Hall – enabling us to share familiar pieces with members attending events there for the next five years or more. We temporarily suspended our enquiries and research service whilst the Hall decant was underway, until we could settle into our temporary offices in summer 2023. A small archive room and adjacent researchers’ area at the
new office location will enable us to continue our important outreach activities, with the ability to recall archival material, upon request, for researchers. For most of 2022 (and the first part of 2023), the team was heavily involved in plans for the move, including an extensive review of the complete
contents and fixtures of the Hall, deciding which items from our sixth Hall would be taken with us both for the short and long term. Historically significant, meaningful, and valuable artworks, architectural decorations, furnishings and more were identified for storage, pending future decisions on the decoration and finishing of our seventh home. COMMISSIONING The Company has been a champion of bookbinding, an endangered craft, for more than 14 years. We are slowly growing a collection of designer bookbindings, commissioning on average two new bindings per year, for permanent display in our Hall. During 2022, we initiated a new commission with the renowned bookbinder Kate Holland, who is binding The Art of the Bookbinder and Gilder, by M. Dudin – essential reading for all bibliophiles and bookbinders! We also took delivery of an understated, but beautifully conceived, design by Lori Sauer of John Tallis’ Street Views of London (London Topographical
Images this page and facing page: Sauer's designer bookbinding of Street Views of London.
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Society, 2002). Lori’s stone veneerand-vellum binding with fishskin headbands brings to mind distressed, aged stone architecture. The subtle geometric, grid-like pattern on the cover mirrors the orderliness of Tallis’ street drawings within.
in both bookbinding and silver. Since 2007, we have supported Designer Bookbinders, one of the foremost societies devoted to the craft of contemporary bookbinding, principally through the provision of bursaries and competition prizes.
Our other core collection is contemporary silver, and during the year we initiated a silver commission for a centrepiece bowl by Ryan McClean. Based at the new Marchmont Silversmithing Workshop in the Scottish Borders, where he is mentoring young makers, Ryan is inspired by mathematical patterns in nature. He is also particularly innovative in his work – using 3D printers to make models for his commissions.
In May 2022, we agreed funding of £9,500 towards a Licentiate Pilot Scheme, newly developed to meet a need to mentor and upskill a new wave of licentiates within the society. Each receives an annual bursary that, with their mentors' input, is used to fund training opportunities tailored to individual development needs. Licentiates can use their bursaries to arrange and attend workshops, bespoke one-to-one training, and DB meetings and events.
SUPPORTING CRAFT SKILLS Complementing our commissioning activity, we also give important financial assistance towards the transfer of craft skills
The scheme is intended to identify and address skills gaps within the craft and expedite the path to fellowship of these individuals, who will very
likely become DB educators and trainers in the future. All five new Licentiates, including Ted Bennett (formerly of QBAS), were very proactive in organising and undertaking funded training. On undertaking a short course in gold tooling run by renowned bookbinder and gold tooler Tracey Rowledge, one Licentiate wrote: '…A well respected teacher, this course is a rare chance to learn the loose and fluid gold tooling from someone who specialises in this technique ... I’ve yet to learn gold tooling in a way that I feel can allow me to make the sort of marks that I want to, and this course will open up doors for me. Genuine gold tooling is something that I have never been shown how to do, and have only learned through books, phone calls and a recorded video. My lack of skill in this area is something that I am aware of, and which holds me back in my development as a designer bookbinder.'
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ARCHIVES & COLLECTIONS
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Left: Participants at a bookbinding workshop at West Dean College, Chichester. Right: Amy Kitcherside inspects samples of dyed leather during training at Black Fox Bindery (funded by the Licentiate scheme.
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“I learned so much during my time with Rod [Kelly] and am proud to have created complicated curved shapes in the beakers I made ... These beakers are going to be chased in my signature style and will make their debut at the Goldsmiths' Fair.” Alice Fry, South House Silver Workshop Trust scholarship recipient
Left: Alice Fry practices buffing with the South House Silver Workshop Trust. Right: Silversmith residents from the Bishopsland Educational Trust during the exhibition and sale at Clothworkers' Hall.
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ARCHIVES & COLLECTIONS In silversmithing, we provided £12,000 for a reprisal and extension of Rod Kelly’s South House Silver Workshop Trust graduate silversmith scholarship programme, after a successful pilot in 2021. Sheng Zhang, Alice Fry and Karen Westland were appointed to the scholarships in the autumn – both Alice and Karen are Bishopsland alumnae. Each were allocated time with Rod in Shetland and with notable makers Brett Payne, Angus McFadyen and Chris Perry, to hone their craft skills and learn from the combined century-worth of experience shared between their mentors. Karen wrote to thank The Company for enabling this incredible
opportunity: 'I'm not halfway through the training yet, and have learnt far more than I'd imagined already!’ We also continue to make an annual grant to Bishopsland Educational Trust, enabling students to purchase raw materials and essential tools. Bishopsland is an unique oneyear long residential workshop for emerging silversmiths and jewellers, providing masterclasses in craft techniques coupled with essential training in marketing and business skills. Prominent alumni include the abovementioned Rod Kelly and also Jane Short, Theresa Nguyen, Angela Cork and Miriam Hanid –
all of whom feature in our growing plate collection. We were delighted to hold a second ‘Bishopsland at Clothworkers’ Hall’ event in November 2022. This evening comprised guest lectures by renowned curators and writers on silver – Dora Thornton and Tessa Murdoch – in tandem with drinks, canapés and a selling exhibition in our reception room. It provided a great opportunity for makers, curators, collectors and funders in the world of silver to network. Both speakers featured examples from The Company's collection in their talks, and many favourable comments were received on the pieces we had showcased during the evening.
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MILITARY AFFILIATES We are proud to support affiliations with HMS Dauntless, the Scots Guards, No. 47 Squadron RAF, the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) Princess Royal’s Volunteer Corps, and the Army Cadet Force (41 Cadet Detachment Dagenham). 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.
Programme. The battalion continued with its innovative monthly welfare evenings for single soldiers, giving them a space to socialise outside of duties, as well as weekly coffee mornings and a summer bingo night for soldiers' spouses. Funds were also directed towards a Christmas gift programme for more than 350 children, as a gift was given to every child with a parent serving in the battalion.
HMS Dauntless and her crew were reunited as the ship prepared to return to sea with a renewed propulsion system and a fully regenerated weapon and sensor outfit. While the ship was refitted in Portsmouth, its crew was able to spend time together socially and see their families more regularly. The grant provided by The Company has funded team-building activities such as go-karting and wake boarding. It also enabled a family day on the ship, helping the crew's families to understand the ship and the work of the crew better.
The Company's grant to the Operational Welfare Fund for No. 47 Squadron RAF was used throughout the year to support those individuals who were separated from their families for extended periods, deployed
In May 2022, we hosted the Scots Guards for the Community Awards ceremony and luncheon, which we sponsored again. We also awarded a grant to support the Soldiers and Family Welfare
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for operations in a number of locations worldwide. More than 200 squadron personnel benefited directly from the use of the Operational Welfare Fund, whether through the provision of team events while deployed or through subsidising events at their UK air base – such as the squadron's Families' Day in September. Past Master Sir Jonathan Portal, Bt (Court) and his son, William Portal (Livery) attended the latter, and enjoyed a day with the squadron families full of food, flying, and family-friendly entertainments Like the Scots Guards, 47 Squadron returned to Clothworkers' Hall for their own Community Awards ceremony and luncheon in September.
This page: The Scots Guard arrive at Clothworkers' Hall for The Clothworkers' Company Scots Guards Community Awards luncheon. Facing page: 47 Squadron RAF Flight Sergeant Dale Johnson is presented the Officer Commanding's Award by Past Master Alex Nelson at Clothworkers' Hall.
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