Chartered Accountants’ Company

Help Musicians' Festival of St Cecilia 2025 and Lunch
2025-11-19 11:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | Westminster Abbey, 20 Deans Yard, Westminster, London, SW1P 3PA, United Kingdom
Help Musicians’ annual celebration of music

Join us for this year’s Festival of St Cecilia, a celebration that honours St Cecilia, the patroness of music, and the musicians who enrich our lives.
This year, the service will be held at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday 19 November at 11:00 am, followed by an optional lunch in the private dining room at The Ivy, Victoria.
Under the expert direction of Andrew Nethsingha, Director of Music at Westminster Abbey the combined choirs of Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, and Westminster Cathedral will reunite to perform once again. This years’ service will feature the premiere of a specially created anthem by Piers Connor Kennedy, along with a special performance to be confirmed at a later date.
Help Musicians relies on vital funds to support musicians across the UK. While tickets to the service are complimentary, we warmly encourage guests to make a donation when booking. 100% of every donation will directly support the thousands of musicians who need our help every year.
We hope you will be able to join us for this special occasion.

Date: Wednesday 19 November 2025
Service: 11am – 12noon
Lunch: 12.30pm (The Ivy, Victoria) £80
Buy Tickets HERE

Celebration Church Service before the Annual Banquet
2025-07-16 17:30 - 18:00 | St Stephen Walbrook, 39 Walbrook, London, EC4N 8BN, United Kingdom
As a Company, we always used to hold our annual service on Installation Day, but because that was already so crowded, the service had to start impractically early – typically, 3pm.
Oddly, the evening of the Annual Banquet evening is only annual occasion, when we meet together in numbers, when there is not already something else to be done before we all dine. This year, therefore, the service, at which we remember those Livery friends no longer with us, give thanks for our Livery Company and the good we can still do, and look ahead to the future, will be held just before the Banquet at the much more manageable time of 5.30pm.
Clearly, proximity to Mansion House is a consideration when selecting the church, and happily, the Master has been able to persuade the delightful Rector of St Stephen Wallbrook, the lovely Wren Church located right next to Mansion house, to let us be the first Livery to worship there after its multi-million pound restoration.
St Stephen is an amazing space architecturally, and one of those very rare churches built “in the round”. Its centre piece is a huge, circular altar carved by the word-famous sculptor, Jacob Epstein, and it holds other treasures too.
The service will last 30 minutes, and is naturally free. So come along in all your finery (The Rector is joining us at Mansion House, so he may be wearing his evening dress too!) and then we will all walk the few yards across the greet the Lord Mayor and any of our livery friends and guests who have not been able to make the service.

Help Musicians' Festival of St Cecilia 2024 and Lunch
2024-11-20 11:00 - 16:00 | St Paul’s Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8AD, United Kingdom
Help Musicians’ annual celebration of music

The Festival of St. Cecilia has been the flagship event in Help Musicians’ calendar since 1946. It is a key moment for us to come together to celebrate what music brings to all of us, and to mark the contribution that musicians make to our lives.
2024’s service will see the combined choirs of Westminster Cathedral, St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey unite to perform under the direction of Andrew Carwood MBE, Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral.
This year’s service will feature the premiere of a specially created anthem by Heloise Werner, who has been supported by Help Musicians, and we are thrilled to present a highly anticipated performance by pianist and Help Musicians Ambassadors, Isata Kanneh-Mason.

Date: Wednesday 20 November
Service: 11am – 12noon
Lunch: 12.30pm (Cote Brasserie)

Carol Service 2023
2023-12-11 18:00 - 21:00
This year’s Carol Service will be held in the beautiful chapel within Mercers’ Hall on Monday 11 December.
With music from the Bread Street Chamber Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral School, this will be a lovely event for the festive season.
Drinks and Canapes will be available following the service in the Ambulatory where there is currently an exhibition entitled Whittington’s Legacy on display.
If you wish to have a little more time in the exhibition, the Mercers’ have kindly agreed to open the Hall from 5pm to allow attendees to view the exhibition before the service begins at 6pm

Please see below more information about the exhibition:
2023 marks 600 years since the death of Mercer Richard Whittington, and the start of his remarkable philanthropic legacy. Whittington’s Legacy, an exhibition celebrating Whittington as merchant, Mercer and philanthropist ,will be on display until 15 December 2023. The exhibition commemorates both the anniversary of his death and the establishment of his charity.
Richard Whittington (c 1350-1423) was the youngest son of a minor landowner in Gloucestershire and came to London as an apprentice. He made his fortune in the Mercers’ trade and through financing the Crown. Whittington was active in civic life, serving as Lord Mayor four times, and Master of the Mercers’ Company three times. He was known for being charitable in his lifetime, as well as leaving his entire estate to charity. Whittington directed his trustees to entrust his legacy to the care of the Mercers’ Company and his substantial bequest established the Company as a manager of charities.
Works from the Company’s own archive and collection will be displayed alongside loans from private collections and institutions including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the London Metropolitan Archives and the Leathersellers’ Company. A key object on display will be the surviving wardrobe accounts from the reign of Richard II, on loan from the National Archives, in which Whittington’s name appears on multiple occasions, selling fine fabrics to the king.
The exhibition also explores Whittington’s influence on the philanthropy of subsequent Mercer benefactors, concentrating on the three centuries following Whittington’s death, up to 1750. During this period the Company was entrusted with many of the benefactions that form the core of its charitable work today. The displays will consider philanthropy in areas such as the church, education, almshouses, and helping the poor and prisoners, all of which have their roots in Whittington’s charitable activities and legacy. The exhibition will feature the Company’s recent acquisition of Corona Charitatis, a sermon preached on the death of Mercer Richard Fishborne and important loans include a magnificent portrait of John Bancks, on loan from Chequers Trust, and a full length portrait of Sir Baptist Hicks from the collection of the Middlesex Guildhall Art Trust, usually on display at the Supreme Court.
Whittington’s Legacy will highlight information about the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington today, which since 2018 has awarded 303 grants to 245 organisations totalling £20.7 million. This is a truly remarkable legacy for a man best known today as a pantomime character.
Whittington’s Legacy will be on display in the Ambulatory from 30 January 2023 to 15 December 2023.

Tickets:

Carol Service only: £20
Carol Service including Drinks and Canapes: £59
The exhibition has no charge
Please book below where possible
If you are unable to book below, then please contact Clare Ferrar on clareferrar@accountantslivery.org or 07828 554967

Clergy Support Trust Festival
2023-05-09 17:00 - 18:30 | St Paul’s Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8AD, United Kingdom
The Clergy Support Trust Festival will be held for the 368th time, starting at 5pm, Tuesday 9 May 2023.
The Service at St Paul’s Cathedral is the oldest choral festival in the world. Free and open to everyone, it brings together three of the UK’s finest cathedral choirs.
This year we welcome the choirs of Llandaff and Leicester Cathedrals to join St Paul’s Cathedral choir.
The Festival is a unique and extraordinary event. It celebrates the work of the Trust and the clergy families we serve, with our generous supporters.
The Service includes a majestic procession of the choirs, cathedral clergy, Masters of City Livery companies (including the Master Chartered Accountant!), Stewards of the Festival and other dignitaries down the central aisle of St Paul’s.
You can book tickets for the Service (free) below
If you are unable to book online, please contact Clare Ferrar on clareferrar@accountantslivery.org

Carol Service and Drinks
2022-12-06 18:00 - 22:00 | St Mary-Le-Bow, Cheapside, London, EC2V 6AU
This year’s service will be held in St Mary le Bow Church, the church of the famous Bow Bells! With the Choristers from the Bread Street Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral School, this is a lovely way to mark the Christmas Season with fellow Livery members.
The church is of Saxon origins, with a Norman crypt, that was rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666 by Sir Christopher Wren. It was badly bombed from enemy aircraft during the Blitz in 1941, and restored between 1956-1964. The sound of the bells of St Mary’s is prominent in the story of Dick Whittington in which the bells are credited with having persuaded him to turn back from Highgate and remain in London to become Lord Mayor. Traditionally, people living within earshot of Bow Bells are considered to be “Cockney”.
The church itself is beautiful inside as well as light, airy and a perfect setting for the annual Carol Service, which for many members marks the real start of the festive season.
After the service, guests will have the opportunity to enjoy drinks and canapes in the stunning, ancient crypts below the church.
A lovely opportunity to enjoy some festive music and celebrate the season with fellow Livery Company members.

Tickets
£59 including drinks and canapés
£20 just the service,
Tickets include a donation to our affiliated choir, The Bread Street Choir
Book below
or contact Clare Ferrar on clareferrar@accountantslivery.org
or 07828 554967

Festival of St. Cecilia Service and Lunch
2022-11-23 11:00 - 16:00 | Westminster Abbey, 20 Deans Yard, Westminster, London, SW1P 3PA, United Kingdom
Join together at Westminster Abbey to celebrate the value of music.
The Festival of St. Cecilia has been the flagship event in Help Musicians’ calendar since 1946. It is a key moment for us to come together to celebrate what music brings to all of us, and to mark the contribution that musicians make to our lives.
This year, the combined choirs of Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and St Paul’s Cathedral will unite to perform under the direction of James O’Donnell, the Abbey’s Organist and Master of Choristers.
The service will premiere a specially created anthem by composer, Nico Muhly, and we are privileged to welcome Help Musicians Ambassador Lesley Garrett CBE and Musicians Company Master Jeff Kelly for spoken contributions. The service will also include music from clarinettist Josh Pyman, who the charity has supported.
The service will be held at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday 23 November 2022, starting at 11am, and will be followed by an optional lunch.

More details of how to book coming soon.

United Guilds Service
2022-04-01 11:30 - 15:30 | St Paul’s Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8AD, United Kingdom
SORRY: This event sold out in just four days!
At a meeting of the City’s Livery Companies in 1943, it was decided to hold a Service in St Paul’s Cathedral, to lift the spirits of the City after the Blitz, which had only recently ended, having wrought such devastation on the capital in particular. This has now become an annual event, held in the presence of the Bishop of London, the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs and Aldermen, and is one of the few occasions where the Liveries and Guilds all worship together.
Admission is by ticket only. We always take a party to the service, usually using our full allocation of places. The service starts at 11.30am (though we have to be seated before then) and after it ends at about 12.30pm, we and lots of other Liveries and Guilds walk the short distance to the lovely Plaisterers’ Hall for a drinks reception followed by what is always a pretty lively, three-course Lunch.
We are usually allocated 23 places, but I haven’t been told this year’s number. Members can bring one guest, and bookings will be honoured on a first-come-first-served basis.
The UGS is naturally free (The Company makes a donation centrally, and there is the usual collection during the service.), and places at the lunch afterwards cost £89 each, inc Vat.
SORRY: This event sold out in just four days!

Carol Service and Supper
2021-12-10 18:00 - 21:30 | St Margaret, Lothbury, Lothbury, London, EC2R 7HH, United Kingdom
Our Master is delighted to be holding our annual Carol Service and supper at St Margaret (on Lothbury, EC2R 7HH, just behind the Bank of England), which is not only a beautiful and historic, 12th century City church, but also that of our Institute (plus five Liveries and two Wards!). The Rector there is our good friend, The Reverend Prebendary Jeremy Crossley.
The church is Grade 1 listed and has exceptionally fine 17th Century woodwork, thought to be by Grinling Gibbons. St Margaret is a fine setting for this important occasion in our Livery year, which for many of us marks the start of the Christmas season.
After the service the Master has arranged for a delicious buffet supper to be served in the church hall. There will be a feast of Christmas food and drink, with mince pies and other festive goodies much in evidence, along with plenty of nice wines and other temptations!
Consorts and guests are obviously extremely welcome. Dress is smart business wear and (plus warm overcoats for all!). Tickets are £49 each and will be invoiced after booking. Please book by Monday, 6th December.
The Church’s website is here. Direction and a map are here.
