The Banquet is the first formal dinner in the new Master’s calendar and is always a test of nerves, with so many distinguished guests assembled in one place. However, at this recent event, I relaxed in the knowledge that there were so many capable hands on deck.

The Plaisterers’ Hall is a magnificent venue for such an occasion and we are deeply grateful to that Company for making its inner sanctum available.

Preparing a speech for such an auspicious occasion tests one’s mental processes, particularly when The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor is a guest of honour. This individual will make more speeches in his year of office than most politicians will make in their parliamentary careers! I decided to focus on those aspects that are very dear to Fruiterers - the City, mayoralty, charity and our own industry - but I anchored my address on the crisis facing the City and the need for sanity from politicians in dealing with it, rather than the populist policies we have seen so far. The Lord Mayor took a similar line, in more detail, and with vigour.

Another distinguished guest, Richard Lambert, gave a fascinating speech recording how the opening of the City to international influences after the 1688 revolution and again in the “big bang” of the 1980s created the foundation to make it the largest financial centre in the world, and how we need to retain this openness and enterprise.

Those who are Fruiterers are members, above all, of a City Livery Company, yet with a firm, enduring interest in our ancient trade. It is the two together that give us our strength and our lively spirit. I believe that it is the immediacy and urgency that surrounds the products in which we deal and trade that has made Fruiterers the decisive and good-humoured individuals we encounter in the industry. The City of London controls a flourishing fresh produce market in which fruit is wholesaled, but the business is a nationwide phenomenon of considerable proportion. I am delighted and it is a privilege to be associated with so many of the leading lights who are members of our Company.