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General News
Election of Master and Wardens

Following the elections by the Court of Assistants the newly elected Master and Wardens were sworn into office on 24th July 2007.  This is a two part process – in the morning they swore their declarations of office; that evening at the Election Dinner at Drapers’ Hall they were ceremonially crowned, this being one of the oldest Company ceremonies.

Mr Stephen Foakes TD DL has been elected Master for the year ensuing.  Born in 1950, Mr Foakes’s working career has been with Coutts and Company for whom, following his retirement, he is retained as a London Regional Chairman on a consultancy basis.  Between 1970 and 1999 he served in the Territorial Army retiring in the rank of Colonel from the appointment of Deputy Commander 2nd (National Communications) Signal Brigade and Cotswold Garrision.  He is now Sergeant of Pikes in the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers of the Honorable Artillery Company.  Mr Foakes is Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London, Vice-President of the NE Area of St John Ambulance, President of the Barking and Dagenham Scout District and Vice-President of Greater London North East County Scouts.  He is a Non-Executive Director of the Mid Essex NHS Hospitals Trust.

Mr Foakes’s other interests include reading, Morgan sports cars, skiing, golf, military history and his farmhouse in France.  He is married to Heather, and they have one daughter, Charlotte, and one son, Thomas, who is a Freeman of the Draper’s Company.

The four Wardens elected are: David Addis (Master Warden), Professor Graham Zellick (Second Master Warden), James Devereux (Renter Warden) and John Giffard (Junior Warden).


Drapers’ Hall, Throgmorton Avenue, by Francis Farmar
The Drapers’ Company is delighted to announce that it recently commissioned Liveryman, Francis Farmar to paint a watercolour depicting Drapers’ Hall. The resulting painting was unveiled to much acclaim at the Election Dinner in 2003.

The painting is characterised by Francis’s technique of using a bird’s-eye panorama, a technique that has a long tradition stretching back to the sixteenth century.

Limited edition glicée prints of this painting are now available for purchase. All prints are hand signed and numbered by the artist.

The Painting
With the exception of the buildings in the right hand foreground, all the buildings shown in detail in the painting comprise the island site bounded by Throgmorton Avenue, Throgmorton Street and Austin Friars that has been owned by the Drapers’ Company since 1543. The buildings include both Drapers’ Hall, with its courtyard and garden, and other late 19th century office buildings that are held as property investments.

The Artist
Francis Farmar has been a Liveryman of the Drapers’ Company since 1973. His father, Hugh Farmar, was Clerk to the Company from 1952 to 1973.

After training in Italy, then St. Martin’s College of Art London and the West of England College of Art, Francis abandoned painting for fifteen years, to work for the auctioneers Christie’s, becoming Director of the Modern British Picture department.

In 1986, Francis left London to live in Scotland and began painting again. He later moved his base to the Wiltshire/Dorset border from where he travels extensively abroad. He has had one-man exhibitions in London each year since 1992 and has also shown work at many mixed shows in the UK and abroad. Latterly many of his works have been paintings of houses and estates commissioned by private or corporate clients.

For further information about commissions and exhibitions, please refer to Francis’s website: www.francisfarmar.com

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGED

Glicée Print Details
Size:
18" x 18"
Edition Copies: 250
Format: Unmounted
Medium: Limited edition glicée on paper
Price: £95.00

60% of the profits from the sale of the prints will go to the Company’s Gift and Legacy Fund.


For further enquiries and how you can purchase please
tel
020 7588 5001 or
email mail@thedrapers.co.uk

For further information about A Valued Treasure | A Proctour for the Poore click here