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David Brewer’s election as Lord Mayor was the occasion for another Company float, organised under the watchful eye of John Coleman, the Head of Design Technology. The float was based on a shallop – a form of boat – that acknowledged the original processions, which were in fact pageants along the River Thames. The earliest record of a river pageant for the election of a new Lord Mayor though dates back to 1422. At the time it was recorded that “William Walderne was chosen as Mayor of St Edmund’s Day, when it was ordered that the Aldermen and Craft should go to Westminster with him to take his charge, in barges without minstrels”. The shallop of 2005 referenced this design and contained a mixture of staff and boys. The procession was recorded on film and can be seen here. The shallop was borrowed from another Livery Company and was mounted on a trailer,

Concordia Winter 2022

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disguised by boards painted to look like waves. Members of staff including Messrs Coleman, Crowe and Kyriacou were the oarsmen and were put through their paces by a chief oarsman who drilled them in ceremonial oar presentation. This included shouting “hip hip huzzah” at key moments. All was going well until the Merchant Taylors’ Company dignitaries climbed into the stern of the boat which led to it tipping up and the need to remove some of the boarding which was scraping along the ground. Tom Garvey (Class of 2006) recalls: “I remember the Lord Mayor Sir David Brewer absolutely beaming with joy and cheering as we paraded past Mansion House.” Jonny Taylor Registrar & History Master