The year commenced with a short but much appreciated break to visit friends in Perth and Melbourne. After a wonderful time in sunny Perth with some very good friends, Maureen and I were delighted to meet up with Liveryman Brenda Upton Kemp in Melbourne, who generously invited us for dinner one evening at her beautiful condominium. Needless to say Brenda was a brilliant host, treating us to a wonderful home-made dinner with plenty of champagne and wine. We had a lovely evening catching up on what Brenda had been doing in Melbourne and planning our activities for the forthcoming year.

The first event of the year was the annual meeting of the Master, Wardens and Clerk, where important items of business planning are discussed covering the current and future years. We met at the Tappit Hen, one of the Davey's Wine Bars, where they were kind enough to let us have a private area downstairs to ourselves. We covered a large agenda of business, with twenty eight items to discuss, including the progress with planning events and venues for the next two years, the strategic review, items to discuss at the forthcoming meeting of Common Hall, the Triennial Awards, the Installation protocols, the Upper Warden's newsletter plus many more items. We had a very pleasant lunch while working through the agenda and all agreed that good progress had been made. A good start to the New Year 2020.