St Michael’s The recently published History of St Michael’s Cornhill, the Guild church, written by Peter Hughes is available from the Guild Hon Chaplain, Rev Dr Peter Mullen, by writing to him at The Watch House, 10 Giltspur Street, London EC1A 9DE.

It will shortly also be available from the St Michael’s website www.st-michaels.org.uk

The next New Members’ Briefing is to be held on Thursday, 12 June. The objectives of the introductory briefing are to introduce new members to the Guild, to inform them of what we do and how we operate and, additionally, to try to answer any queries they may have about Livery Companies or the City in general. In outline, all new members are invited to attend a briefing at the Guild office to start at 1600. It should take about one hour. Because of the limited space available at the Guild offices, however, the number of new members that can be accommodated at the briefing is limited to about 25. If you wish to attend please notify me, preferably by e-mail, at gapan@gapan.org as soon as possible. Allocation of places will be done on a first come, first served basis.

Guild scholarships The J N Somers Scholarship will continue for another year, thanks to the generosity of Mrs Phyllis Somers. Mrs Somers instigated the award in 1999 in memory of her husband, the late J N ‘Nat’ Somers, who was a test pilot and a member of the Guild from 1946. As a fully-funded course for a complete Frozen ATPL, the scholarship is a valuable award which we are keen to publicise widely in order to reach the best candidates. In addition, the Guild is offering complete PPL’s (fixed wing), and Instructor Ratings (fixed wing and rotary) scholarships, bursaries for further instructor qualifications and Jet Orientation Courses. Application paperwork and further information on all scholarships and bursaries is available on the website www.gapan.org

Red Arrows at the London Olympics Rumours of the Red Arrows being banned from the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012 have been refuted by Lord Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG). In a letter to Freeman of the Guild, Gerald Howarth MP, Lord Coe states that ‘it is not the case’ that the Red Arrows have been banned and continues in his letter to state that ‘our (opening ceremony) celebrations will be a spectacular showcase of the best of Britain and we have no objection at all to the use of the Red Arrows – indeed they performed a spectacular fly over Trafalgar Square in London when we won the bid in July 2005’.

Paul Tacon
Learned Clerk