St Bride’s enjoys a close association with four city Livery Companies and the present Rector of St Bride’s serves as Honorary Chaplain to three of them (and will shortly serve a term as Honorary Chaplain to the fourth).
We are delighted to host special services and events for them each year, and we are always pleased to welcome Liverymen and women (of all faiths and none) to join us here.
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
St Bride’s links with the printing industry go back more than 500 years, so it is particularly appropriate that our oldest Livery association is with the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. Several members of the Guild of St Bride are also Liverymen of the Stationers’ Company. Each year we host their famous ‘Bubble Service’ service (on the theme vita humana bulla est – ‘life is a bubble’) in memory of one of the Company’s eighteenth-century benefactor, Richard Johnson. We are also delighted to participate in joint events at the splendid Stationers’ Hall, which is a short walk from St Bride’s.
Visit The Stationer’s Company websiteWorshipful Company of Turners
There are many fine examples of craftsmanship in wood within St Bride’s, and our long-standing association with the Turners’ Company is very close to our hearts. The Turners have kindly donated some superb artefacts and items of furniture that are on display, such as our offertory table and baptismal font. Every November, we host their annual Patronal Festival Service, in honour of their patron saint, Catherine of Alexandria. The present Rector is honoured to have been made a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Turners.
Visit The Worshipful Company of Turners websiteWorshipful Company of Marketors
As the church of the communications industry, there is a natural affinity between St Bride’s and the Worshipful Company of Marketors – one of the city’s modern Livery companies, dating from 1978. Since its foundation, the Marketors’ Company has held its annual Thanksgiving service at St Bride’s each May, and our relationship is both close and mutually beneficial: the Marketors have, on occasions, given us invaluable support and advice in the fast-changing world of marketing and publicity including the design and development of this website.
Visit The Worshipful Company of Marketors websiteWorshipful Company of Spectacle Makers
Our association with the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers is more recent, going back to 2010. It was in that year that, for the first time, the Spectacle Makers held their annual Thanksgiving Service here at St Bride’s – an event at which the new Master and Wardens are ceremonially installed. Since then we have continued to develop and strengthen our links with the Company, and members of its Livery often join our services and events.
Visit The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers website