Morning

The general public has no idea that behind the quiet façade of Gunmakers' Hall, just north-east of the City, hides the nation’s secret testing labs for all illegal and counterfeit firearms, which are seized in the UK. Unsurprisingly, this fascinating facility is never open to them, but the Gunmakers' Company, which owns and manages it on behalf of the nation, is discretely allowing up to ten of us to tour it, on condition nothing is said thereafter, and no photos are taken. We will meet outside their Hall at 10.45am, ready to go through security, at 11am. The tour itself will include not only the labs and a briefing from one of the staff, but also, oddly, a visit to see their pet snail, which is the world's largest - goodness knows how it ended up living (and apparently thriving!) at Gunmakers! Once the tour is over, we will all jump into a couple of cabs and go to our Hall, where the staff have laid on a full Christmas Lunch for us, down in the Club, with all the trimmings. For security reasons, and because the labs are a working environment in which space is limited, our numbers for this event are restricted to just 10, so Members are asked not to bring more than one guest.

Please note, this date has moved from 20 February to 7 January. The London Silver Vaults is one of those hidden gems, which came about entirely by chance, but now serves a pivotal role in its area, and if it hadn't existed, would probably have had to be invented! Many years ago a property developer acquired a plot in Chancery Lane, and due to the unstable nature of that bit of ground, was told by the planners that he had to use foundations two floors deep. Noting “the site’s proximity to the offices of all those wealthy lawyers, who infest the area” he decided to make a virtue of necessity and rather than using normal foundations, actually build in two levels of basements, and fill the lower one with a series of bank-grade vaults, which he would rent out to said lawyers. The scheme worked for a while, but slowly word spread and, little by little, leading London silver-smiths and jewellers began to rent vaults as a store for their stock. Their numbers grew, and inevitably, they began trading items, first between themselves, and then with the wider silver retail community. Today, the LSV are the nation’s leading silver wholesale market and quite a sight to see. Happily, one of the Master’s friends is Simon Surtees, son of the famous racing driver of yesteryear, John. After retiring from the track, John went into the silver business and Simon now runs the family firm, based primarily in the LSV. Simon has offered to give a dozen members and guests a private tour of the vaults, after which, our fine Clerk says that she knows a fantastic pub to which our party can repair for lunch. The Vaults building can be found at 53-64 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1QS. (The entrance to...

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