Stat.News.128.final(reduced)

Stationers’Journal of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
No. 128 Patron: The Archbishop of Canterbury
March 2015 Master: Ian Locks; Upper Warden: Helen Esmonde; Under Warden: Ian Bennett
NEWS
Inside
this issue
G Packaging prognosis
G Mushroom growth
G School report: well done!
G Ski report: masterly style!
G Hanover Band: Meisterwerk!
G Young Burns Night
The Future
of Packaging

The Stationers’ Company commissions
occasional research studies into
different sectors of the Communications
and Content industries. Last time it was
the Future of Print. This time it is the
turn of Packaging. The Report is due to
be published in May 2015.
Looking at the next ten years, to
2025, the Report will attempt to answer
two broad questions:
• What will the future hold for the
packaging sector?
• What are the major challenges and
issues that the packaging sector
will face?
The study will cover the outlook for
both fibre and non-fibre-based
substrates, with the main objective
being to describe an overall vision for
the future of packaging.
These are some of the key issues
and trends that will be examined:
• Better recycling with higher use of
recycled material in new products
• Consumer and legislative pressure
requiring reduced, lighter and
simpler packaging with lower
carbon and water footprints
• Coping with increasing
manufacturing costs as a result of
higher and fluctuating prices of
raw materials and energy
• Greater requirement for smart
packaging, with the use of RFID
for electronic tagging, linking to
mobile devices and BI systems,
and the provision of printed
electronic sensors to monitor
conditions throughout the supply
chain, especially for perishable
goods
• Brand owners and retailers
requiring effective packaging for
marketing brands and selling
products, including online
• Development of new packaging
Stationers embark on a
major study to look at the
Future of Packaging
Report: Liveryman Mike Hancock
Stationers’ News • No. 128 • March 2015
Stationers’ News • Page Two
materials, for example the use of
starch and fungal forming
processes (see next page).
The study, supported by the Paper
and Board Association, is being carried
out by Poyry Management Consulting.
The final report will describe and
segment the market trends to show
what is driving the growth/decline of
packaging and of substitution. It will
include macroeconomic factors,
urbanisation, effects of advertising,
retail trends, technology and
sustainability.
Both for non-fibre and fibre-based
packaging, there will be a high level
perspective of all key characteristics
that define and describe these sectors,
including global demand and
production, technology developments
and end-use segmentation among
others.
An important aspect of the report
will be to provide an understanding of
how substitution has happened and is
expected to develop.
Also included will be a short and
high-level synopsis to understand the
financial performance of the packaging
sector in relation to other sectors in
the supply chain.
The conclusions will look at the
challenges, risks, implications and
opportunities for packaging in the
future.
TRADES OF OUR GUILD – PACKAGING
Pöyry Management Consulting, part of
Pöyry plc, have been one of the leading
international management consultancy
providers across the pulp and paper and
packaging sectors for over 50 years.
For further information visit
https://stationers.org/images/stories/do
cpdf/Stationersflyerfinal.pdf or
email Mike Hancock at m-hancock
@hotmail.co.uk.
Pricing
The report is priced at £2,800 + VAT
where applicable
‘Early bird’ rate for payment before
30 April – £2,520 + VAT
Details from Sophie Miller,
Stationers’ Company’s Office:
• E-mail: admin @stationers.org
• Telephone: +44(0)207 246 0982

This is the revolutionary new
technology, developed by two
American science graduates, that
produces a sustainable alternative to
polystyrene and other plastic forms of
packaging.
• The agricultural waste is plant-
based farm by-products, such as
corn stalks and husks.
• The mycelium is a natural growth,
a kind of resin derived from
microscopic mushroom roots,
which digests the farm waste.
• Mushroom materials are the
resulting substance, grown in
‘Mushroom Packaging’:
natural, renewable,
biodegradable
Stationers’ News • Page Three
moulds that can be trimmed to
shape as protective packaging of
all kinds.
Mushroom packaging, first
patented less than ten years ago, is
already in use by major companies
around the world.
Unlike plastic foam packaging,
which is manufactured from
unsustainable petro-chemical sources,
mushroom materials are sustainable
and eco-friendly. They come from plant
waste and they can end up in your own
garden, decomposing within a few
months and adding useful nutrients to
the soil. Polystyrene on the other hand
can take up to a million years to bio-
degrade naturally.
The two inventors, Eben Bayer and
Gavin McIntyre, developed the process
from a university project to produce a
mushroom-based form of insulation and
building materials. In 2007 they founded
Ecovative Design, a “revolutionary new
biomaterials company” in Green Island,
New York. The firm has since won
numerous awards and research grants,
as well as recognition as a ‘Technology
Pioneer’ by the World Economic Forum
in Davos.
+ = mushroom materialsfungal myceliumagricultural waste
The fibre based packaging market in
2014 was most commonly described
as ’stable’. When referring to market
demand this was quite an accurate
summary as improved inventory
controls, along with ’smarter’
forecasting and purchasing, have
helped to shorten the supply chain and
so remove some of the spikes in
demand that have been a feature of
the industry for many years.
The term ’stable’ could, however,
hardly be used to describe the
increasing consolidation within the
converting industry, where the big are
getting ever bigger.
Following their acquisition of
Contego and elements of A&R in 2012,
Graphic Packaging International
acquired the Benson Group in May
2014, for a reported £99m. That GPI
will grow further through acquisition is
guaranteed, the only question is who is
next on their shopping list?
Essentra, a FTSE 250 company
headquartered in the UK, have this
year completed the acquisition of
Clondalkin Group’s Specialist
Packaging Division.
Multi Packaging Solutions merged
with Chesapeake in February 2014,
and by the end of that year had added
a further ten operations around the
world, including AGI Shorewood and
Presentation Products. With sales of
£937.5m, MPS edge ahead of DS
Smith (£929m) to take the top spot in
PrintWeek’s list of the UK’s biggest
printing companies.
Coveris, centered in North America,
acquired Paragon Print & Packaging
and St. Neots Packaging in 2014,
focusing on the ‘food on the move’
market.
It should, however, also be noted
that this increasing consolidation is
creating opportunities for smaller
independent businesses who are
benefiting from end-users who may
prefer to deal with a more local and
potentially flexible supplier.
As I write, the strength of sterling
that will increase the pleasure of a
European holiday for many is
encouraging Continental carton
makers to cross the Channel in search
of orders – just another obstacle for
the UK packaging industry to contend
with.
Note: Peter Beckwith is Managing
Director of Fiskeby Board Limited and
the Stationers’ Company ’champion’
for the packaging sector.
Packaging Sector Status Report
By Liveryman Peter Beckwith

One third of all food produced in the
world goes to waste, according to
current estimates. In the UK alone,
18 million tonnes of food end up in
landfill each year, at a cost of £12
billion.
Can more efficient packaging help
to reduce this deplorable level of
waste?
This was the topic addressed by
an expert panel at a meeting of the
Stationers’ Company’s Environment
and Sustainability Group, attended
by some 60 members and guests at
Stationers’ Hall on 19 January. The
event was sponsored by INCPEN,
the Industry Council for Research on
Packaging and the Environment.
The panel included Liveryman
Jane Bickerstaffe, Director at
INCPEN, Mark Caul, Technical
Manager of Packaging at Tesco,
Inder Poonaji, Head of Sustainable
Development at Nestlé and David
Baker from RPC – Rigid Plastic
Containers Group. The discussion
was moderated by Liveryman Peter
Day, the well-known broadcaster and
business correspondent.
The debate started from the
premise that food waste is a global
issue and an emotive subject, stirring
up strong feelings of indignation and
outrage in some quarters. Speakers
reviewed recent packaging
innovations and new technologies
that might help to minimise waste
and respond to the rapidly evolving
demands of a disposable society.
They gave insights into efforts by the
packaging community in the UK to
address the current issues and
provide workable solutions.
Inder Poonaji discussed the
psychology of ‘need and greed’
Food Waste –
does Packaging make a
Difference?
Report: Liveryman Annie Hotton
Stationers’ News • Page Four
prevalent in the world today and the
ensuing issues for manufacturers and
the supply chains. Nestlé feels one
main responsibility is to the individual
consumer to make the pack easy to
read, easy to open and easy to use.
In 2014 their designs and innovations
for the full life cycle of the packaging
saved £180 million. David Baker of
RPC demonstrated advances in the
design of rigid containers to meet
consumer trends allowing for
individual portions and longer
preservation after opening. Mark
Caul addressed the European
Commission targets of a 30%
reduction in waste by 2025. Tesco
has made a 260 tonne reduction to
date by identifying effective
packaging technologies and
investing in the cost of testing and
trials. Jane Bickerstaffe focused on
education in schools with information
on food from the point of growth to
the table. She explained that the
resources invested in growing,
making and transporting products
often amount to more than ten times
the resources used to make the
packaging to protect them.
In conclusion, questions on the
future of bio-degradable plastics and
the percentage of recyclable
packaging that is incinerated in the
UK to avoid taking to landfill
provoked some lively interaction with
the audience. The panel agreed that
a greater focus on education with
open channels of communication to
deal with misconceptions was vital.
With 470 local authorities in the UK,
many with differing policies, more
collaboration and government
support on the issues was
necessary.
Note: Annie Hotton is a PR
consultant to the printing and
communication industries.
Sponsored by
Inder Poonaji
Jane Bickerstaffe
David Baker
Mark Caul
Peter Day
Stationers’ Environment Group
Roundtable on Food waste
Does Packaging make a difference?

“Education without values, as useful
as it is, seems rather to make man a
more clever devil” – C S Lewis
As a frequent visitor to Oxford, I
have on many occasions taken refuge
in the ‘Eagle and Child’ and would sit
where Lewis and Tolkien sat, hoping
that some of their brilliance would rub
off. Sadly no such luck. Nevertheless,
the intellectual and theological premise
of their work is an inspiration so I
thought it proper to start my
‘meanderings’ with a few words about
the ‘values’ underpinning our work at
the Academy.
On one level our job as teachers is
to transmit skills and knowledge to
prepare our children for the world of
work. The development of a new digital
media technology curriculum inspired
and supported by the Stationers’
Company significantly enhances this
objective. The quality of our work is
reflected in our academic standards,
which in turn reflect the quality of
teaching and learning experienced by
our children and young people. But this
is only part of our work; we also have a
duty to prepare our children to be good
citizens and to ensure that they are well
behaved, well mannered, polite, kind,
respectful, tolerant and caring.
Are these the British values we are
encouraged by Ofsted to teach? They
are, but they are also universal values
that underpin all civil societies and all
democracies. Daily news items on the
television and in our newspapers
remind us of how billions of people
across the globe struggle in societies
that are far from civil. Societies where
life itself is treated with utter contempt.
It is therefore desperately important to
appreciate how ‘lucky’ we are to live in
a democracy underpinned by
tolerance, good and decent behaviour,
care and kindness. It is also crucially
important to understand that
democracy did not just happen by
chance; it emerged over time thanks to
Stationers’ News will be featuring in each issue an article on the new Stationers’
Academy, written by its Principal, Michael Murphy. This is the first of what he calls…
Murphy’s Meanderings
Stationers’ News • Page Five
the struggle of those high minded,
good people who risked their life and
on many occasions paid the ultimate
price to achieve democracy and
keep it.
In school we transmit these values
in many ways; through our formal
curriculum, which includes citizenship,
personal, social, cultural and religious
education and through our informal
curriculum which is reflected in our
ethos and the way in which we model
good behaviour in all that we do. This
is reflected in the principles of ‘human
scale education’ which we adopted
when creating our College almost a
decade ago. We built a campus of four
small schools rather than one large one
in order to transmit more effectively
those values of care, kindness, respect
and tolerance. We created small
communities where no one felt isolated
or alienated or lost or abandoned. We
believed that in creating these small
communities ‘goodness’ would be
liberated and a sense of moral purpose
would inspire all of us to be better
people in all that we do. Crucially that
meant that our children would achieve
more with a thirst for knowledge and a
love of education.
Has it worked? Of course it has,
otherwise I wouldn’t have posed the
question! GCSE results with English
and Maths have increased by more
than a third and are ten percent higher
than the national average. I haven’t
permanently excluded (expelled) any
one for three years and fixed term
exclusions (suspensions) are a fraction
of what they were. Attendance is well
above the national average, reflecting a
desire to be in school and part of this
community. Crucially, parental
confidence has soared with over 1,300
applications for 270 places this year.
We have an Academy packed with
‘clever’ girls and boys, many of whom
didn’t realise that they were so clever.
But what I am most proud of is that our
ethos and values are helping us to
develop clever saints and not clever
devils. I am also delighted that the
Stationers’ mentoring programme,
now firmly in place, is enhancing this
objective and enriching our community.
Mr Lewis would be very pleased
with us.
STATIONERS’ CROWNWOODS ACADEMY
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It is just over 300 years since George I
arrived in England and the Hanoverians
began their long reign. The glories of
their age are still with us: not only
Handel – the German immigrant who
defined a whole epoch of English
music – but others who flourished in
the 18th century. It is fitting, therefore,
that one of the finest groups
performing this music, using authentic
instruments of the time, is called the
Hanover Band. And the Stationers’
Company was particularly lucky to
welcome their return to the Hall in
February with a superb concert of
Hanoverian splendours.
The Hall is well suited to their
music – the panelling gives a warm,
mellow tone to the strings, the
classical decoration provides the right
setting and the Caxton window,
beneath which they played, reflects the
simple elegance of the pieces they
performed.
As Past Master Noel Osborne said,
in introducing the players, the
company is fast forming a partnership
with the Band – and their concert,
appropriately, was in aid of both the
Hanover Band Foundation and of
Stationers’ Foundation.
From the start, the professionalism,
talent and dedication of the players
shone through. They stood to perform,
clustered around a harpsichord played
by the Band’s director, Mahan
Esfahani. A young Iranian, born in
Tehran and living now in the West, he
is generally acknowledged as one of
the finest harpsichordists performing
today. He showed a wonderful ease
and mastery of the instrument –
especially in the Bach Brandenburg
Concerto No. 5, with its long bravura
solo for harpsichord. Indeed, so well
did he play that – contrary to strict
concert etiquette – he got a warm
round of applause after the movement.
He is now the director of the Band, and
demonstrated his verbal as well as
musical aplomb: after taking his initial
bow, he realised he had forgotten his
music in the dressing room, and with a
witty apology returned a minute later
with the valuable score.
The programme summed up all the
Hanoverian Splendours!
By Court Assistant Michael Binyon OBE
Stationers’ News • Page Six
variety of the time. As well as J.S.
Bach, the Band played an unusual
symphony by his son, C.P.E. Bach,
which – as the excellent programme
noted – was “nervous, angular,
elliptical, full of discontinuities of
texture, sudden explosive outbursts,
strange harmonic twists and
unprepared modulations”. There
followed a little known flute concerto
by another German, C.F. Abel, who
often travelled to London and
became a firm friend of another Bach –
Johann Christian – even sharing
lodgings with his fellow countryman in
London in 1762.
The flute solo was played by
another star of the Band, Rachel
Brown, one of the most accomplished
flautists now performing. Her lyrical
mastery of the instrument, with the
most delicate of notes and modulation,
had the whole audience entranced.
And there was even more applause for
her when it was clear that she played
despite having a nasty cough, which
obliged her to pause for a glass of
water at one point.
Next came a trio by Handel –
perhaps not his best known work, and
one that seemed curiously atypical of
the prolific composer. Apparently in his
day, one danger that all composers
faced was the pirating of their works
by unscrupulous printers, who dashed
off copies of the score, deliberately
filled with changes and errors to
prevent accusations of intellectual
theft. It just goes to show how
important was the issue of copyright in
those days – and how important was
the role of the Stationers’ Company in
trying to enforce respect for the laws
of copyright.
The Brandenburg concerto ended
the concert. The sustained applause
showed that once again, the Hanover
Band had won the hearts – and ears –
of the company. This time the Band
brought copies of some of their
recordings, which amount to an
astonishing number. Altogether, the
Band has recorded 176 commercial
CDs, many of them winning individual
prizes. This must set something of a
record, in all senses.
It was an evening of sheer delight.
It is to be hoped that the Band return
next year. And Stationers would be
well advised to book seats early: there
was some spare capacity at the Hall in
February, but as the Band’s reputation
grows, the competition for tickets may
well be fiercer next time round.

The Young Stationers had haggis, and
it was offal.
At their first Burns supper, Liveryman
Haggis – and Court Assistant Michael
Binyon OBE – joined the Young
Stationers, along with the Master and the
Master’s Lady, both bedecked in tartan,
at (wherever else?) the Caledonian Club.
Michael Binyon addressed the haggis
in Russian, reprising a party piece from
his days as The Times’s Moscow
correspondent, when Red Army generals
brushed shoulders over neeps and
whisky with impeccably-besuited Brits.
The Young Stationers were able to
borrow an 1806 edition of Burns’s
poems, which lurked precariously near
the whisky during dinner, and from
which they read favourite Burns lyrics,
before their piper led them in an
enthusiastic chorus of Auld Lang Syne.
New Freemen Mahmoud Warriah
and Richard Knights attempted to
charm the lassies with toasts, and YS
chairman Paddy Belton translated
Michael’s Address into Scots from the
original Russian.
The YS Society Column
By Liveryman Pádraig Belton
Stationers’ News • Page Seven
Next, thee YS annual Oxford evening
took place on 5 February in University
College, this year jointly with the Oxford
University Society of Bibliophiles.
At the time of going to press, they
were preparing for dinner in the House
of Lords on
23 February, with longstanding former
MEP Lord Balfe as host, who will speak
about Europe, the coming General
Election, and the press.
They also were to be sighted running
laps inside Hall, preparing to take part in
the Shrove Tuesday pancake race
madness at Guildhall, with the Master
and Young Stationers’ chairman stylishly
turned out in gowns, chefs hats and
cooking gloves, racing madly down the
Yard at Guildhall, all whilst flipping
pancakes.
Other upcoming Young Stationer
frolics include a bookish group outing to
Dublin the weekend before St Patrick’s
Day. And their Annual Dinner this year
will take place on 20 July in Hall, when
they will award the second Young
Stationers’ Prize, for pre-eminent
achievement in one of the trades of the
Company, by someone under 40. (Last
year’s recipient was Katie Glass,
columnist at the Sunday Times.)
But the Burns dinner – now that may
be Haggis forming.
Just when you think you have seen the
Hall to full capacity, another Trade
Christmas Lunch comes along to prove
that you can get even more in! All credit
to Court Assistant Martin Randall, Giles
Fagan and Carl for shoehorning 296 in for
lunch and utilising some ingenious
seating ideas, to make it all happen. This
is a record for the Christmas Lunch and
certainly 53 more than last year. I wonder
where the seating will extend to next
year!
What a special day this is in the
Company calendar. The atmosphere is
always most congenial as so many from
our associated industries gather for this
annual event. A great occasion to
celebrate with your industry pals (or
commiserate!) or as I do, meet up with
The Trade Christmas Lunch – record attendance!
Stationers’ Hall, 1 December 2014
Report: Liveryman Andrew Watley
old colleagues I have worked with, or
done business with, over the years. As
usual a very splendid four-course lunch
was served accompanied by some great
wines. Turkey was nowhere to be seen
on the menu, being reserved for
Christmas Day, but the Roasted Breast
of Pheasant with a Madeira Jus went
down very well with me. A certain Past
Master may have to shout a little louder
for the Turkey to be served!
This year there were three new
companies representing the Trade –
Denmaur Independent, Greenwood
Paper and SCA. It was also good to see
Sappi back hosting tables in the Hall –
welcome to them all. Our Corporate
Members Nectere, Ricoh, UPM
Kymmene, Vasanta and Xerox all kindly
supported the occasion. Xerox, our latest
Corporate Member, filled the Ante Room
and did look very comfortable in there. A
bit more of that ingenious seating
mentioned earlier.
You can certainly say one thing about
the members of our industries – they are
very generous. The charities chosen to
benefit from the raffle this year were
Children in Need and our own
Foundation. An eye watering £13,000
plus was raised at the event and goes to
underpin just how fortunate we are to
have attendees prepared to support in
this magnificent way.
I’m looking forward to next year’s
Christmas Lunch already (Monday
7 December – make a note in your
diaries).
Chairman Belton (L) approving Michael
Binyon’s Address to a Haggis (in Russian)

Review of
a review –
“very
positive”
By Professor Tim Connell,
Court Assistant and Chair
of the Livery Committee
Fellow Stationers who have invested in
their two-volume copy of Peter W M
Blayney’s monumental work, “The
Stationers’ Company and the
Printers of London 1501-1557”
(Cambridge University Press 2013), will
be encouraged to see the very positive
review that has appeared in the
December 2014 edition of The Library
(7.15.4), the journal of the
Bibliographical Society.
The reviewer (from far-off
Tallahassee) comments on the
exhaustive and detailed research that
has been
carried out,
in particular
to fill in gaps
and correct
errors in
earlier works.
The complex
political
environment
of the period
(especially
for those involved in printing and
publishing) is clearly recorded. The
lives of individual Stationers come to
the fore, ranging from John Rastell (Sir
Thomas More’s son-in-law) who was
the first printer to produce music
scores from a single impression, to the
less known James Holyland (an
original member of the Company), and
his legal tussles with Elizabeth Knight
for breach of promise, having pledged
“faith and trouth unfaynedly”.
Blayney’s narrative is described as
“masterful”. The details (down to the
smallest footnotes) are meticulous and
readers are assured that the book will
be an essential work of reference for
years to come.
Stationers’ News • Page Eight
Before taking up the
rewarding role of
Honorary Almoner, 18
months ago, I had no
idea how many
Stationers needed
friendship and support. I have a better
idea now, enough to know that I need
the help of fellow Stationers.
I hope that I will be able to involve
you in liaising with, and perhaps helping,
the less able members of our Company,
particularly those living further from
London.
Would you be prepared to visit
another Stationer in your vicinity? This
might be every few months, and perhaps
a phone call now and then?
Additionally if you know of a
Stationer who is unwell, or has other
significant problems which may be
unknown to me, please do contact
myself or Deborah Rea in the Company
Office. These people can only be helped
if we know about their issues.
Please do take this request seriously.
Do extend your hand in friendship to a
Stationer in need. If you would like to
help then please just drop me a line or
give me or Deborah a call. I do hope that
as a Stationer, you will assist others in
our wonderful Company.
Any help you can offer would be
much appreciated by everyone.
With many thanks in advance,
Robert Sanger, Honorary Almoner
Telephone: 020 8451 2025
email: robert@rasanger.co.uk
On 9 February, Royal Marine cadets paraded in Stationers’ Hall during the New
Members’ Evening (see above). Captain Peter Hames, Royal Navy, Liveryman and
former Clerk, read out the citations for the Royal Marine Cadet Awards, including the
most successful detachment in the London and Essex area and the most
outstanding individual cadet, and the Master presented them.
Three days later, the Master, accompanied by the Upper and Under Wardens and
the Clerk, travelled to Wandsworth Officers’ Mess to present the Stationers’ Dagger
for the most outstanding new recruit to the Royal Marine Reserves and the Voluntary
Service Medal. As a signal honour, the Master was invited to become the first
registered honorary member of the Officers’ Mess.
Meet the Marines
Multiple contact between the Stationers’ Company and the Royal Marines was
signalled in January and February, reinforcing a relationship that dates back
some 66 years.
The Master, Ian Locks, and the Master’s Lady started the New Year by spending two
“illuminating and inspiring” days at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines
Lympstone to witness the Passing Out ceremony of 31 of the King’s Squad cadets.
A Request for your Help!
From Liveryman Robert Sanger
Stationers’
Photo:SophiaPanteli

At a Service of Thanksgiving for Past
Master Bob Russell, Andrew
Farncombe, a close friend, paid tribute
to a man who served his community –
and the Stationers’ Company –
tirelessly and selflessly.
In all, I had probably known Bob
for only about ten years, but like
all good friendships, it seemed for
ever…
As regards fellowship, Bob was a
warm, kind, intelligent, thoughtful,
reasoned and unassuming man who
brought to our gatherings an elderly
statesmanlike perspective, with a self-
deprecating sense of humour, but
showing the wisdom of his years…
Bob gave his services tirelessly and
selflessly to the community in which he
lived…
His approach to ethical
considerations and indeed life in
general focused on the practical side –
making a difference by what one does
and how one acts…
He had so much to offer and share
with us: his life experiences, his time
spent in Africa, the various business
positions he held and the companies
he worked for, his interest in golf and,
of course, his family…
We also remember with great
fondness his passion for imparting his
encyclopaedic knowledge of the City
of London in general, and the
Stationers’ Company in particular. He
instituted something he called ‘The
Blackfriars Walks’, which were
originally conducted in the early
evening for small groups of fellow
Stationers followed by supper… there
would [also] be visits to Stationers’
Stationers’ News • Page Nine
Hall which would include the archive,
and sight of an original Tyndale Bible.
You may have gathered from this
that Bob was a Liveryman of the
Worshipful Company of Stationers and
Newspaper Makers, or put simply a
Stationer, and his fellow Stationers
have fond and moving memories of
him. In writing this, I have condensed
their many heart-warming tributes.
One says of him that Bob was the
person with the greatest depth of
knowledge of the Stationers’ Company
of anyone he had ever known.
Others informed me that he joined
the Livery Company in 1982, soon
becoming treasurer of the Livery
Committee and in no time (only six
years later), was elected to the Court
and was Honorary Treasurer from 1991
to 97. He then rose even higher to
become Under Warden, then Upper
Warden and in 2001, Master…
He had a particular interest in the
archive and saw to it that a computer
replaced the old
typewriter…
Liveryman Robin Myers, the
Company’s archivist from 1978 to 2008,
records her own memories of
Bob Russell through
archival eyes
Bob brought a breath of fresh air
into the Company when he joined
the Livery in 1982, light-hearted
bonhomie masking serious dedication.
He was one of the first ‘merit’ elections
to Court – he was a chartered
accountant who was running a medium
sized printing house – who bypassed
seniority because of special skills. He
was elected Treasurer (1991-98); he
took the office – but never himself –
seriously, achieving much.
A staunch supporter of the
Company’s history and archive, they
were halcyon days with Bob at the
helm. He cut through hierarchy and red
tape with good humour and ensured the
definitive History of the Later Years did
not stall for lack of funding – authorising
good fees for the contributors and
payment for a trainee archivist as
research assistant. Few Liverymen
found their way up the attic stairs to the
muniment room, but Bob did, his
booming laugh heralding his approach;
he would join in with stuffing envelopes
or humping oversized registers, making
drudgery fun. Nor did he desert the
archive cause when he was elected
Under Warden, then Upper Warden and
in 2001, Master, nor yet when he
became chairman of the Hall and
Heritage Committee.
There were social times too – Bob
and Gillian’s ruby wedding breakfast in
the Court Room; a visit to their
hospitable Beaconsfield home with its
spectacular hillside garden; the private
launch of the history in my Cambridge
home; Michael Pelham’s continental
wine-tasting tours for the Court and a
few friends, enlivened by his and Gillian’s
convivial company, and that of (the late
Past Master) Jonathan
and Jeannie Straker.
IN MEMORIAM
Past Master
Robert Johnston (Bob) Russell
23 October 1933 – 6 November 2014
“…making a difference by what one does and how one acts”
‘‘ ‘‘
’’ ’’
Stationers’ News is grateful for
permission to publish extracts from the
eulogy delivered by Andrew Farncombe
after the family funeral at St Mary & All
Saints Church, Windsor End,
Beaconsfield, on 21 November 2014.

Congratulations!
…and welcome to the Reverend Canan
Dr Alison Joyce, Rector of St Bride’s, who
has accepted the Master’s invitation to
become Honorary Chaplain to the Stationers’
Company, in succession to the Venerable David
Meara, Liveryman.
…to Freeman Simon Greaves, Financial Times journalist,
who bid for and won – in aid of St Bride’s Inspire! Appeal – a
specially-bound copy of David Meara’s Book of Amazing
Graces, published by the Stationers’ Company.
…to Stationers’ Crown Woods Academy for winning a
£5,000 Pupil Premium Award from the Minister of State for
Schools, David Laws. This recognises the Academy as one
of the most improved schools in the country in terms of “the
attainment and value added progress of pupils through its
inclusion hub”.
Cloathed in
the Livery
3 FEBRUARY 2015
PETER ALLAN
Retired from paper and
board making.
LT. COL.
LEONA BARR-JONES
MD, Barr-Jones Associates Ltd
MICHAEL BETTINSON
Partner, Cole and Company,
Chartered Accountants
PETER PICKERING
Chairman, PPA Group
2 DECEMBER 2014
WILLIAM FISHER
Partner, Head of Media &
Entertainment, Ernst & Young
LLP
MARK WINSTANLEY
Proprietor, The Wyvern Bindery
Admitted to the
Freedom
9 FEBRUARY 2015
ANDREW BROWNSWORD
CBE DL
Retired greetings card
publisher
DAVID WILSON
Revise Sub-Editor at The Times
PAUL PEET
Bursary Recipient,
Pearson Education,
Digital Producer
PETER MCKAY
Chief Executive, Publishing
Training Centre
12 JANUARY 2015
CLAIRE BUFFONI
Account Executive, MSL Group
HUGH COMERFORD
MD, The Stage Media
Company Ltd
EDWARD CLARK
Sales Manager Pulp,
Paper and Board,
International Forest Products
DOMINIC GRAHAM
Senior Marketing Manager,
Deloitte
EDWARD HOARE
Partner, Goodman Derrick LLP
SOPHIE MOBBS
Senior Lecturer,
Middlesex University
PAUL PHELAN
MD, Pilot Pen UK
10 NOVEMBER 2014
ALISON BAVERSTOCK
Associate Professor,
Kingston University
GRAHAM FINCH
Retired from
stationery manufacturing
RICHARD KNIGHTS
MBA student
RUSSELL MELLOR
Director,
Russell Mellor & Co Ltd
IJEOMA OKOLI
Director, Lloyds Banking Group
MICHAEL WATERSON
Chairman, World Advertising
Research Centre
Company news
Stationers’ News • Page Ten
In Memoriam
PAST MASTER
VERNON SULLIVAN:
24/09/1930 – 24/12/2014
Cloathing: 05/04/1960
Master 1998-1999
(An obituary will follow in the
next issue of Stationers’ News)
Future events
The Stationers’ Company Annual Lecture promises a stirring
story this year – ‘The rise and fall of one of Britain’s best ever
media companies, EMAP’ by Sir David Arculus, on 9 March.
Looking ahead to the Stationers’ Innovation Excellence
Awards on 29 June 2015, contenders are reminded that the
deadline for entries is 31 March. Entries are encouraged from
all parts of the communications and content industry including
publishing, packaging, printing machinery, printing, paper,
office and graphics supplies, copyright licensing and design
and advertising sectors.
MARCH
09 Annual Lecture and Dinner
17 DMG Roundtable
(Facebook)
20 United Guilds’ Service
and Lunch
APRIL
13 DMG Roundtable (Amazon)
28 Livery Golf Day
MAY
05 Copyright Roundtable
(IPso FACTo)
MAY
06 Charter Dinner
18 Archive Evening
JUNE
02 Richard Johnson Service
and Members’ Lunch
08 Packaging Report
Seminar and Lunch
19 Waterloo Ball
24 Election of Sheriffs
and Lunch
29 Innovation Excellence
Awards & Lunch
Bravo for
the winners!
November 2014
Paul Thornton, David Hobbs, Ralph Batchelor
Noel Osborne, Rita Wade
December 2014
Philip Ellaway, Giles Fagan
Cicely Spence
Patricia Barnes-Harman
Elizabeth Thornton
January 2015
Frank Rice-Oxley
Ray Tindle
Sophie Creswell
David Hobbs, Jean Behn
“Hubris, nemesis and catharsis!” – the Master’s comment as
he was helicoptered off the ski slopes after tearing a calf
muscle (see report opposite)

The first news item from the ski slopes
this year was the loss of the Master,
Ian Locks, before the competition
even began: he pulled a leg muscle on
a practice red run on the Swiss side.
Fortunately he was able to continue
to the bottom and then take a chairlift
back up to the French border. From
there he was loaded onto a ‘blood
wagon’ (ski jargon for a stretcher
pulled at high speed on the snow by
first aiders) and then whizzed away in
the front seat of a helicopter to the
medical centre in Les Gets. Luckily
there was no serious damage but no
one was surprised to see him hobbling
around over the following few weeks,
coping with his masterly duties back at
Stationers’ Hall and around the City.
Heroic stuff!
So that left five of us to compete in
the inter-livery ski competition – Court
Assistant Trevor Fenwick, Court
Assistant Martin Woodhead (team
captain), Liverymen Rodney
Mountford and Oliver Gadsby, and
Freeman Bob Findlay. The first race
was the slalom, which was quite
difficult with two runs down the same
icy course. With a record number of
160 entrants it took a lot longer than
usual to complete. But we had no falls,
unlike many other teams, perhaps due
to Trevor Fenwick’s hip flask which
kept us both warm inside and relaxed.
Then it was off to the Hotel L’Equipe
for drinks before heading to our
favourite restaurant, La Chamade, for a
truly sumptuous meal.
Saturday’s grand slalom was held
on the Pleney slope above Morzine
and consisted of two runs in sunshine
on good snow: great fun. Then another
favourite mountain hut beckoned,
Nanon, where we celebrated our
survival with an excellent lunch
followed by some gentle afternoon
skiing.
Despite our best efforts, the
Saturday evening’s gala awards
ceremony and dinner produced little in
the way of trophies for the Stationers.
Even Lucky, the Stationers’ prize
teddy bear for the fastest team of three
Inter-Livery Ski Competition – Morzine – 23-24 January 2015
We have lost the Master!
Report: Court Assistant Martin Woodhead
Stationers’ News • Page Eleven
skiers whose total ages exceed 200,
escaped our clutches. Lucky was not
even present to watch the
proceedings: he was retained by the
Vintners, the Leathersellers being
second and the Shipwrights third. The
overall winning company was once
again the Vintners.
As consolation during dinner, we
awarded special prizes to ourselves
such as the Goofy Award, won jointly
by Trevor and Bob for sliding so
gracefully off a chair lift on the first
day. And despite several nominations
guess who won the Prang of the Week
award? The overall winner of the new
Stationers’ awards was Bob Findlay
who skied with great style and also
wore a smart new jacket that was the
envy of us all.
Within our team, it was again a
battle between Trevor Fenwick and
Oliver Gadsby as to who was the
faster – and Trevor emerged out front
when the results came in!
Note: Please contact
Martin Woodhead, martin.woodhead1
@btinternet.com, if you would be
interested in taking part in 2016.
Team photo – from the left, wearing smart Stationers’ helmet covers, Trevor Fenwick,
Martin Woodhead, Oliver Gadsby, Rodney Mountford, Bob Findlay
The Master, looking cheerful and about to be
transported by blood wagon to the helicopter
Trevor Fenwick in deep powder
off piste
Results
Slalom Grand slalom Total Position
(secs) (secs) (secs)
Trevor Fenwick
21.39 59.39 1.20.78 1
Oliver Gadsby
24.78 58.77 1.23.55 2
Martin Woodhead
25.18 1.05.77 1.30.95 3
Rodney Mountford
26.23 1.09.13 1.35.36 4
Bob Findlay
28.13 1.08.58 1.36.71 5

Stationers’ News • Page Twelve
Honorary Editor: Stephen Somerville
Website: www.stationers.org • email: admin@stationers.org • tel: 020 7248 2934
Published by the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Stationers’ Hall, Ave Maria Lane, London EC4M 7DD
The Company thanks: Tim Friend for his valuable design and production services.
All the scribes for their valued contributions.
All photographers, including Robert Findlay, Oliver Gadsby and Sophia Panteli.
Printed by:
Acculith 76 Limited
Brake Shear House
164 High Street
Barnet, Hertfordshire EN5 5XP
Letters and contributions for publication will be welcomed by
the Honorary Editor at Stationers’ Hall. The opinions and
articles published in Stationers’ News do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Stationers’ Company or the Editor.
Stationers’ News
It sounds like a Newspaper Maker’s
dream: a magazine increasing its
circulation by more than 100 times
from one week to the next. A
dream? No, a nightmare, the direct
result of horrific violence. This was
how Charlie Hebdo, the French
satirical weekly, reacted to the
terrorist attack that virtually wiped
out its newsroom in Paris in
January. The survivors decided to
increase their print run for the
following week from 60,000 to
seven million copies. The issue
sold out, with a provocative picture
of the Prophet on its front page.
Is there a lesson here for own
Newspaper Makers?
Probably not,
fortunately. Whatever
our turbulent past, the
UK media of today do
not engage in
blasphemous satire.
Even our political satire
is relatively benign.
Private Eye may
infuriate its targets, but
it does not provoke
them to murder. British
editors, like politicians,
have expressed
solidarity with Charlie
Hebdo and its right to
freedom of speech. But
no editor here has felt a
need to commission
offensive cartoons
about the Prophet, or
reproduce those from
France or Denmark.
Bad news sells
everywhere, but we
would hope never to
see such a circulation surge fuelled
by blood on the streets.
Our own dear Stationers’ News
may be far removed from the
frontlines of campaigning
journalism, but this Editor believes
that our Company – with its own
history of policing the limits of
political correctness – should mark
the tragedy of Charlie Hebdo with
this black banner of mourning for
the victims. We may not share the
anarchic views of the editors and
cartoonists who died, but we
should respect their right to
freedom of expression, within the
law. We should also respect the
feelings, up to a point, of those
who resent being mocked.
To paraphrase Pope Francis, if
someone insults your beliefs, you
may punch him. But you do not
kill him.
Stephen Somerville
EXTREME PREJUDICE
The Story
Even in France Charlie Hebdo is a
special case. It is a blunt
instrument, far more savage (and
vulgar) than the leading satirical
French weekly, Le Canard Enchaîné
(founded in 1915; circulation
700,000). Charlie Hebdo, avowedly
atheist, is not just against
fundamentalist Islam. It lashes out
in all directions. Its other main
targets include Catholicism and
Judaism, as well as racism and
right-wing politics. At its best, it
campaigns against extremism and
excessive authority, as well as
corruption and duplicity of all kinds.
At worst, very often, it revels in
smutty schoolboy humour.
The magazine started life in
1960 as a monthly called Hara-Kiri.
The French Government closed it
down in 1970, after it mocked the
death of former President de
Gaulle. The editorial team re-
launched it as Charlie Hebdo
(weekly), named after their cartoon
hero, Charlie Brown of the
American Peanuts strip. It went out
of publication for ten years, from
1981 to 1991, but then re-emerged
as ferocious as ever, on the
offensive against militant Islam and
all its other bêtes noires. In 2011,
after the paper carried cartoons of
the Prophet, its Paris office was
firebombed.A front page from 1998,
lampooning the Catholic Church

Stat.News.128.final(reduced)

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