Carpenters’ Company Chronicle 2025
Election of Master and Wardens 2025-2026
MASTER CARPENTER – LAWRENCE MALLINSON
Lawrence is the founder and owner of James White Drinks Ltd. Started in 1989 as an apple juice manufacturer based in Suffolk, James White is now the UK’s leading vegetable juice manufacturer with Big Tom spicy tomato juice, the Beet It range of beetroot juice and sports nutrition products and Zingers (ginger, turmeric shots). In 2002, James White Drinks was granted a Royal Warrant by HM the Queen and in 2025 a Royal Warrant by HM the King.
Having graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge in 1978, Lawrence qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Peat Marwick (now KPMG). A brief encounter with the City at Robert Flemings was followed by a four-year stint as Chief Financial Officer of Computacenter during a period of spectacular growth. In 1987, he left to become one of the founding directors of New Covent Garden Soup Company, the pioneer of the fresh soup market in the UK.
In 2008, Lawrence co-founded HeartBeet Ltd, a patent owning company, with the medical research teams that discovered that the nitrate in beetroot juice boosts nitric oxide levels in the blood system. This discovery explains why many of world’s sporting elite now regularly take concentrated beetroot shots. In 2014, Lawrence founded RenewalsDesk Ltd, a patents renewal business, which he sold in 2020. He is Chairman of the Wadham Lodge Sports Ground Trust, a largely football-based sports centre in Walthamstow, originally founded by his grandfather.
Lawrence now lives in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, and is married to Doe (currently Chair of Britten Pears Arts) and has three children – Barnaby (who now runs James White), Mathilda a broadcaster (Media Storm and Middle East Eye) and Phoebe a musician (Samfire).
The Wardens for this year are Mr James Preston, Senior Warden; Vice Admiral Paul Bennett CB OBE RN, Middle Warden and Mr Jim Greaves, Junior Warden. The Clerk is Brigadier Tim Gregson MBE.
Carpenters’ Company Chronicle 2024
Election of Master and Wardens 2024-2025
MASTER CARPENTER – SIR LOYD GROSSMAN CBE
Loyd Grossman is Chair of the Royal Parks and Chair of the Royal Society of Arts. He was born in Boston in 1950 and graduated from Boston University (BA), the London School of Economics (MSc Econ) and Magdalene College, Cambridge (PhD, MPhil).
He began writing for various music publications- including Rolling Stone, Fusion, and Vibrations- while an undergraduate. After starting a full-time career in journalism with Harpers & Queen and the Sunday Times he was diverted into television where as a writer, presenter or deviser he was involved in a wide range of programmes including Through the Keyhole, MasterChef, Behind the Headlines, History of British Sculpture, Loyd on Location and Build Britain, He also wrote and presented a series, Composers at Home, for Radio 3.
Loyd’s knowledge of and fascination with food led him to create his own brand in 1995, which became Britain’s most successful new premium food brand.
His lifelong interest in history, the arts and heritage has involved him in a number of organisations. He is a former Commissioner of the Museums and Galleries Commission, a former Commissioner of English Heritage (where he was Chairman of the Museums Advisory Committee and the Blue Plaques Panel), a former Commissioner of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, a founding member of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, a past member of the board of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, a former Governor of Compton Verney and a past Member of the Council of the British School at Rome, past Chairman of National Museums Liverpool and of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, past Deputy Chairman of Liverpool European Capital of Culture and past President of the British Association of Friends of Museums.
Loyd was Chair of Gresham College from 2019-2024, Chairman of the Heritage Alliance from 2009-2018, Chairman of the Churches Conservation Trust from 2007-2016, Chairman of the University for the Creative Arts from 2008-2012, Deputy Chairman of The Royal Drawing School from 2014-2017, a Governor of The British Institute of Florence, a member of the Court of Governors of the LSE from 1996-2009, and is now an Emeritus Governor of the LSE. He is a trustee of Opera Holland Park
He is Master of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, an Honorary Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Loyd was appointed OBE in 2003 and was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree in 2007 by the University of Chester in recognition of his heritage work. In January 2011 the University of Lincoln awarded him an honorary Doctor of Arts degree in recognition of his contribution to the cultural heritage sector and in October 2014 the University of Essex awarded Loyd an honorary Doctor of the University in recognition of his contribution to tourism and hospitality. Following his appointment to CBE in 2015 in recognition of his services to Heritage, Loyd was appointed Knight Bachelor in December 2024.
Loyd is a keen guitarist and he and his band – The New Forbidden – made their eighth appearance at Glastonbury in June 2019. He plays with Jethro Tull in their annual Christmas cathedral concerts.
The Wardens for this year are Mr Lawrence Mallinson, Senior Warden; Mr James Preston, Middle Warden and Vice Admiral Paul Bennett CB OBE RN, Junior Warden. The Clerk is Brigadier Tim Gregson MBE.
Election of Master and Wardens 2023-24
Master of the Carpenters’ Company – August 2023 to July 2024
Dr Allen Zimbler
BA Hons (Psychology), MBA, PhD (Witwatersrand)
Allen Zimbler grew up in South Africa where, after being conscripted into the infantry, becoming an officer in the Rand Light Infantry, in 1974 he joined the staff of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, one of South Africa’s few English-speaking anti-apartheid universities at the time. He taught first for eight years in the School of Psychology and then moved for the next seven years to the University’s Graduate School of Business Administration, where he became a Full Professor teaching on MBA and executive programmes.
During this time Allen had established a strategic management and organisational development consultancy in Johannesburg, primarily helping South African organisations to deal with the process of transition taking place in the country, as well as consulting to a variety of international organisations. Some of this work involved working with interracial relations in the workplace, preparing organisations for a post-apartheid reality. In the process, his pioneering work on the development of black managers became an essential component of developing some of the country’s future managerial and leadership capability.
This consultancy ran for 25 years, whereafter Dr Zimbler moved to London in August of 1997 to help one of his client organisations, Investec Bank, initiate their international business. He had been involved with Investec from its inception and having joined full-time in 2001, retired from Investec in 2016 as a member of their Global Executive of 10 people and as an Executive Director of Investec Bank Plc. He became a British citizen in March 2007.
Dr Zimbler is a Director of the African Leadership Institute, a pan-African organisation that runs best-in-class leadership programmes for some of the most outstanding young future leaders of Africa. He also teaches on the programme.
Allen is Chairman of the Ju/‘hoansi (pronounced “JuTwansi”) Development Fund, an organisation that raises funds for and is currently building five entry-level schools for young Khoisan children in the Nyae-Nyae Conservancy of northern Namibia, providing mother-tongue education in remote villages. The first school was completed in March 2021 and the second school will complete before the end of 2023.
Allen has had a lifelong, passionate interest in the Khoisan or Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, and has developed an extensive library on this group of First People, who have some of the oldest DNA on the planet.
Dr Zimbler is Chair of Governors of Morpeth School, a high school in one of the most socio-economically depressed boroughs of London. He is also a member of the Honorary Knights of the Round Table, a charity in London providing bursaries to young people qualifying themselves in a range of arts, crafts and professions.
He has, for the last five years, been Chairman of his local amenity society, the Hyde Park Estate Association, as well as Chairman of the Hyde Park Paddington Neighbourhood Forum. These are voluntary organisations seeking to improve, protect and green local neighbourhoods in the part of Westminster in which he lives.
He is an honorary Member of Magdalene College, Cambridge University, with whom he has a close relationship and an honorary member of Wolfson College, Oxford University, on whose Finance Committee he serves.
He had an early interest in carpentry, having made some of his own furniture as a young man, and became a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters in January 2009.
A former martial artist, he is passionate about rugby, loves cricket and collects classic cars.
Allen lives in London with his wife, Dr Caryn Solomon, and has four children and nine grandchildren.
The Wardens for this year are Senior Warden – Dr Loyd Grossman CBE, Middle Warden – Mr Lawrence Mallinson and Junior Warden – Mr James Preston. The Company’s Clerk is Brigadier Tim Gregson MBE.
Carpenters’ Company Chronicle 2023
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Carpenters’ Company Chronicle 2022
Election of Master and Wardens 2022-23
Brigadier John Meardon DL, Master
John Meardon was born in Devon in 1947, raised in Sussex and then spent the next 34 years visiting many parts of the world as a Royal Marines officer. Although trained as a commando and parachutist, he also qualified as an Army helicopter pilot, flying small reconnaissance and anti-tank aircraft in every climatic condition, but especially in the Arctic. Displaying ultimate flexibility, he was staff trained by the Navy, Army and Royal Air Force before commanding a helicopter squadron and what is now 43 Commando Royal Marines, responsible for the security of the UK’s nuclear submarines and their ballistic missiles.
Retiring from the military in 1998, John was fortunate to be appointed Receiver General of Canterbury Cathedral, beginning an 18 year connection with one of England’s most wonderful buildings. His long-held interests in archaeology and historic architecture were inspired by the ability to work in such an environment and to have the care of the Cathedral and the community that lived and worked around it. The opportunity to closely examine the work of centuries in the company of leading experts was matched by the appreciation of the skills of the modern stonemasons. He helped found the Cathedrals Workshop Fellowship to raise the professional standards of young people training for careers in heritage conservation.
Involvement with the training of future masons led to John’s introduction to the Carpenters’ Company through the Building Crafts College and he joined the Company in 2009. He was installed as Master in August 2022. Connections with stonemasonry have inspired him to take up stone and wood carving, often using stone rejected by the Cathedral masons, although a recent project resulted in the carving of a half-ton stone cross in an extremely hard Armenian stone which now sits in the Cathedral’s Memorial Garden.
John and Ann live in Canterbury and have three children and six grandchildren. He keeps bees, is involved with local choral and archaeological organisations and has been a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent since 2007.
The Wardens for this year are Senior Warden – Dr Allen Zimbler, Middle Warden – Dr Loyd Grossman CBE and Junior Warden – Mr Steve Corbett. The Company’s Clerk is Brigadier Tim Gregson MBE.
Country Life feature
This article appeared in the Country Life magazine dated 2nd March 2022, and we thank them for allowing us to place this feature on our website.
Wood Awards 2021 winners
Six structures and two product designs were announced as the Wood Awards 2021 winners at a ceremony held at The Building Centre in London on 25th November. Established in 1971, the Wood Awards is the UK’s premier competition for excellence in architecture and product design in wood. The competition is free to enter and aims to encourage and promote outstanding timber design, craftsmanship and installation. The independent judging panel visits all the shortlisted projects in person, making it a uniquely rigorous competition. The Awards are split into two main categories: Buildings and Furniture & Product. The Gold Award is given to the project that the judges deem to be the winner of winners.
The judges chose Magdalene College Library by Niall McLaughlin Architects as the Gold Award and Education & Public Sector category winner. It is an arrangement of simple brick volumes with timber windows and pitched roofs that echo the gabled architecture of the college. The interior spaces are created by a glulam and CLT structure, supported on load bearing brickwork and populated with oak shelves and tables. Liveryman Jim Greaves, chair of the buildings judging panel, comments, “Magdalene College Library is a tour de force of architectural design and achievement. The different forms of the reading rooms are beautiful and experienced sequentially as they lead one through the building. The brick, timber and stone has been designed exquisitely with a thorough understanding of their intrinsic qualities.”
The Commercial & Leisure winner was The Alice Hawthorn by De Matos Ryan. In medieval times, the village of Nun Monkton was an important river hub with many travellers staying overnight. In recent years, the village’s last remaining pub, a critical community meeting point, had come under threat. This community-led project transforms the pub’s sustainability with the addition of twelve guest bedrooms, eight of which use an entirely timber frame construction centred around a new courtyard.
The Interiors winner was St John Street by Emil Eve Architects. This large Victorian apartment was acquired as an empty shell with an industrial palette of exposed brickwork and concrete. It has been reimagined as a warm, inviting home that retains the building’s industrial character. A series of contemporary interventions are distinct from the existing fabric, with carefully crafted joinery running throughout.
The judges selected The Boathouse by Adams Collingwood Architects as the Private winner. This practical family residence respects the outstanding natural beauty of its surroundings and looks out over the Salcombe Estuary. Natural materials are at the heart of the project. Yellow cedar tiles and cladding adorn the roof and exterior, while the upstairs floor is made from Douglas fir.
Built: East Pavilion by OGU Architects + Donald McCrory Architects was the Small Project winner. With cultural identity being a divisive issue in Belfast, it was important to find cultural common ground shared across the neighbouring communities. The site has a rich industrial history, and the Belfast truss used represents the area’s history of manufacturing ingenuity.
The Structural Award winner was The Welcome Building RHS Garden Bridgewater by Hodder + Partners. Sitting within the new RHS garden on the site of 154-acre Worsley New Hall, The Welcome Building is predominantly one open space that acts as a gateway to the gardens but also contains a visitor meeting and interaction point, restaurant, gift shop, offices, and educational spaces.
Gayles Farm 5 by Wycliffe Stutchbury was the Bespoke winner. The sculptural piece has a flowing appearance, made up of thousands of small oak tiles glued to an open weave cotton twill. The wooden curtain is hung on a hinged, three panelled oak frame with hemp rope and cleats and can be height adjusted.
Iso-Lounge Chair designed by Jasper Morrison for Isokon was selected as the Production winner. The chair’s cutting-edge design started life as a single sketch, where the hand flowed from the back of the seat to the floor. Plywood was the only choice of material to follow the curve of the cantilevered design.
Further information about the Wood Awards can be found at www.woodawards.com.
