Our Latest News

Pepys Day 2026

Friday 4th September 2026 Time: 11:00

Paternoster Square & St. Paul’s. EC4M 7DX

Cost: Free & £16.96 Walk

Pepys Day 2026 takes place on Friday, 4 September 2026. The event

features guided walking tours and historical ceremonies commemorating the

diarist’s accounts of the Great Fire of London – https://bit.ly/4opBzvS.

In September 1666 the Great Fire of London swept through the City. Man

about-town Samuel Pepys witnessed and recorded the events of that

extraordinary week. The fire started at 01.00 on 2 September and by mid

morning Pepys was writing about it in his diary. The fire was put out on 6

September.

The Lord Mayor 2023-2024 & City of London Guide Lecturers Association

began marking Pepys Day in 2024 on the Friday closest to those dates.

2024 and 2025 were enormously successful and increased from 250 to 500

participants.

Temple Bar Ceremony: Gates opened in Paternoster Square by the

Company of Pikemen and Musketeers at 11:00, and some readings from Mr

Pepys himself (free).

“To the Exchange and Beyond” Walk: Departs from the City Information

Centre in St Paul’s Churchyard at 12:00, 12:05, 12:10, 12:15, and 12:20.

Explores eastern City locations from Pepys’ life and the Great Fire. (£16.96)

“To the Wedding Cake and Beyond” Walk: Departs St Paul’s at 12:02,

12:07, 12:12, 12:17, and 12:22. Explores his baptism site, childhood area,

and social venues. (£16.96).

In conjunction with the Temple Bar event, this would make it a long lunchtime

break. The City of London Guide Lecturers Association, will, as before donate

all net proceeds to the Lady Mayors Appeal.

Tickets can be purchased directly via the link here. Please note these are not

provided by the BWC TicketTailor site on this occasion.

Tour of Old Bailey – Tuesday 14th July at 17:00 2026

Our Sheriff Keith Bottomley has invited us for a tour of the Old Bailey. Please arrive by 17:00 for the reception at 17:15 with the Sheriff and a glass of fizz. Followed by a tour at 17:45. Ends 19:15. We will send out a TicketTailor link a few weeks before. The event is free but we will be asking members to make a donation to the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s fund.

Pepys Day 2026

Friday 4th September 2026 Time: 11:00

Paternoster Square & St. Paul’s. EC4M 7DX

Cost: Free & £16.96 Walk

Pepys Day 2026 takes place on Friday, 4 September 2026. The event

features guided walking tours and historical ceremonies commemorating the

diarist’s accounts of the Great Fire of London – https://bit.ly/4opBzvS.

In September 1666 the Great Fire of London swept through the City. Man

about-town Samuel Pepys witnessed and recorded the events of that

extraordinary week. The fire started at 01.00 on 2 September and by mid

morning Pepys was writing about it in his diary. The fire was put out on 6

September.

The Lord Mayor 2023-2024 & City of London Guide Lecturers Association

began marking Pepys Day in 2024 on the Friday closest to those dates.

2024 and 2025 were enormously successful and increased from 250 to 500

participants.

Temple Bar Ceremony: Gates opened in Paternoster Square by the

Company of Pikemen and Musketeers at 11:00, and some readings from Mr

Pepys himself (free).

“To the Exchange and Beyond” Walk: Departs from the City Information

Centre in St Paul’s Churchyard at 12:00, 12:05, 12:10, 12:15, and 12:20.

Explores eastern City locations from Pepys’ life and the Great Fire. (£16.96)

“To the Wedding Cake and Beyond” Walk: Departs St Paul’s at 12:02,

12:07, 12:12, 12:17, and 12:22. Explores his baptism site, childhood area,

and social venues. (£16.96).

In conjunction with the Temple Bar event, this would make it a long lunchtime

break. The City of London Guide Lecturers Association, will, as before donate

all net proceeds to the Lady Mayors Appeal.

Tickets can be purchased directly via the link here. Please note these are not

provided by the BWC TicketTailor site on this occasion.

On the 14th July Members of the Bridge Ward Club were hosted at The Old Bailey by our Sheriff – Keith Bottomley.

We were treated to a glass or two of fizz during which The Sheriff gave a welcoming talk and filled us in on some of the history of The Old Bailey. the original building is from 1902 with a large extension in 1972.

We were then given a tour by Jay who knew the place inside out and was therefore extremely interesting . We were allowed to take photographs though not in the courtrooms or downstairs in the slightly scary cells.

Our thanks to Keith Bottomley and Jay for a most interesting and enjoyable evening.

Our new Sheriff Alderman for Bridge and Bridge Without Tim Levene has been elected as Sheriff

At Common Hall, held Wednesday 24 June in Guildhall, Alderman The Hon. Tim Levene and Alderman Prem Goyal CBE were elected and will be admitted as Sheriffs in a ceremony to be held on September 28 2026.

As we settle into 2026, please find below the link to this month’s Livery Briefing. Please do share the link with your fellow Livery and wider networks.

https://sway.cloud.microsoft/duq9ywQuKFJWuawh?ref=emailLivery Briefing – February 2026

Click Here to View the Briefing

Hannah Grace | Head of Events – Livery
Governance and Member Services Team | Town Clerk’s Department
City of London | Guildhall | London EC2V 7HH
Telephone: 07706 991820
hannah.grace@cityoflondon.gov.uk | www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

The London Bridge Museum Project is looking for new people Background For 2,000 years London Bridge has been fundamental to the development of London. The
capital’s location was defined because the Roman invading force in 43 AD chose to cross the Thames at this point.
The London Bridge Museum & Educational Trust came into being to meet the clear need to
record the history of the various bridges that have succeeded one another at this crossing point, and to tell how London Bridge made London a World City.
Initially, we hoped to establish a physical museum but this proved not to be possible, and in
light of the volume of global interest online a virtual online museum has been established.
The future
We believe that now we should
➢ develop and enhance the virtual museum, to meet both educational needs and the
passing interest of students and tourists, and
➢ explore better links with Lake Havasu City – the American home of John Rennie’s London
Bridge.
The need
We want to strengthen our team with some new and younger people who can bring the
creativity and energy needed
➢ to develop the Trustees’ thinking into an action plan,
➢ to talk to people who might help us, and
➢ to consider ways to finance these activities.
Trustees are unpaid and act on a purely voluntary basis.
If you are interested and would like to know more, please contact Andrew Dyke, ideally by
email at andrew@andrewdyke.london.

I very much enjoyed the BWC visit last evening to Charterhouse and
wanted to say thank you to the members who organised it. Obviously, I
went around with one of the two guides and cannot comment on the other
one but in my case I thought that it was very well done. It is a
fascinating institution and I found out a lot about the place from the
tour that was fresh and interesting.

I remember going with the Club some years ago on an afternoon visit and
this certainly gave a rather different experience – certainly one that I
am pleased to have the opportunity to enjoy.

So thank you to Kelly and also to her fellow organisers whose names I
haven’t to hand.

Ivan Whitting

Please pass on my thanks to the organisers. A fascinating insight into a different world. I now need to go back to see it in daylight!

Sarah EW

“Forging Kalevala in Music: Inside a Composer’s Creative Process”

Monday, 9 March 2026 at 18:00 for 18:30 (drinks and snacks from 18:00, talk begins at 18:30 – Duration: Until approximately 19:30/19:45)

Venue: Church of St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge, Lower Thames Street, EC3R 6DN (nearest Tube: Monument, London Bridge, Bank)

We are delighted that the Anglo-Finnish Society is inviting all Bridge Ward Club members to this event, which offers a rare chance to witness how music is created in real time. Composer David Pearson will share how he is approaching Finland’s famous national epic, Kalevala, as the foundation of a four‑opera cycle — a project echoing the scale and ambition of Wagner’s Ring. He will discuss the challenges and discoveries involved in:

– shaping a libretto from a vast and symbolically rich poetic source
– navigating the complexities of Kalevala Finnish
– interpreting the mythic and archetypal layers of the text
– structuring a monumental narrative into four coherent operas.

The talk will include musical illustrations and a live view of the composer’s working drafts, textual analysis and score materials.

Light nibbles will be provided, and wine will be available for a small donation.

The setting is the historic Grade I listed Church of St Magnus the Martyr, one of Wren’s finest post-fire churches. Its Nordic connections run deep – St Magnus was Earl of Orkney when the islands formed part of the Kingdom of Norway.

Arrive promptly at 18:00 to enjoy the church’s magnificent, world-famous model of medieval London Bridge (visit https://www.stmagnusmartyr.org.uk/ for more information).

Cost: Free – but please only book if you intend to come, so catering can be planned appropriately.

David’s background is in economics, corporate finance, culture change and leadership, but he has also studied music, and together with his interest in Finnish cultural history, this has inspired him to take on the task of setting Kalevala in music. He also manages to find the time to act as the BWC Treasurer.

To book your free place, please go to: Select tickets – Forging Kalevala in Music: Inside a Composer’s Creative Process – Church of St Magnus the Martyr