Kids go bananas for oranges and lemons

Pictured is Oscar Melder, two, a member of the under-fives project at Stamford Hill Community Centre who helped decorate ELFA’s Lord Mayor’s Show float. Elfa provides a food co-operative outside the Centre. Photo by Jeff Moore.

Notes for Editors

For further information, please contact Lesley Mair at the City of London Corporation on 020 7332 1754 or email: lesley.mair at cityoflondon.gov.uk

The Role of the Lord Mayor

The Lord Mayor of the City of London is an international ambassador for the UK financial services industry and spends up to 80 days a year traveling to around 20 countries to promote this industry and the Square Mile as a place of excellence in which to do business.

As head of the City of London the Lord Mayor is involved with local government and London-wide issues, ranging from the City of London's work in the regeneration of neighbouring boroughs to transport and environmental issues which affect the City.

On behalf of the Sovereign and the Government, he also acts as host when the City of London provides hospitality for visiting heads of state and foreign dignitaries. In addition, the Lord Mayor provides a platform for Government Ministers to make keynote speeches. The Prime Minister attends the Lord Mayor's annual Banquet at Guildhall, whilst the Bankers' Dinner each June is the occasion for the Chancellor of the Exchequer's annual keynote speech, known as the Mansion House Speech. The Easter Banquet, also held at Mansion House, is the major annual opportunity for all London's diplomats to listen to the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. Other Cabinet members and international business figures also value these opportunities.

The Lord Mayor also presides over meetings of the Court of Common Council and Court of Aldermen, and attends Livery events and charitable projects. He receives visiting overseas ministers and senior businessmen and keeps in close contact with City institutions and firms as well as travelling to other UK financial centres to keep in touch with regional economic activity. In his year of office he will make some 600 speeches on a wide variety of subjects from City financial matters to charity and patronage.

City of London Corporation

The ancient City of London Corporation has a 21st-century role supporting the business city as the world's leading international financial and business centre. The City of London Corporation provides local government services for the City of London Square Mile at the heart of London but its responsibilities also extend far beyond the City boundaries and include paying for and running the Barbican Centre, Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath, and three wholesale food markets, as well as acting as the London Port Health Authority.

published Friday 31 October 2008

Children across Hackney are having fun learning the traditional nursery rhyme ‘oranges and lemons’ in preparation for the Lord Mayor’s Show on 8 November. East London Food Access (ELFA) has received a grant of £15,000 from the Lord Mayor of the City of London to take part in the show.

Hackney children are making colourful decorations for ELFA’s oranges-and-lemons-themed float, including a giant bell. On the day, their work will be seen by 300,000 spectators and broadcast live on the BBC. Children from Randall Cremer Primary School in Hackney will play the traditional ‘oranges and lemons’ playground game on the float as it parades through the City of London.

East London Food Access improves access to fruit and vegetables by delivering fresh produce to schools, nurseries, workplaces and community groups; and by supporting co-operative fruit and vegetable stalls. ELFA also works with children to encourage them to eat healthily. Les Moore of East London Food Access said:

The oranges and lemons game is a perfect theme for the Lord Mayor’s Show – not only does it get children interested in fruit, it gets them running around too!

The Lord Mayor’s community float scheme extends links between the Square Mile and neighbouring City fringe boroughs. Sponsorship in terms of finance and through expert workshops allows group participants to develop their talents – which are demonstrated on the day to the Show’s audience across the world.

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Facts about the Lord Mayor’s Show:

• First Lord Mayor was elected in 1215; the Show is now in its 793rd year.
• It welcomes in the 681st Lord Mayor of the City of London.
• The Show takes place annually on the second Saturday in November.
• At 5pm, the Lord Mayor will light the touch paper to the Lord Mayor’s Fireworks display on the River Thames between Blackfriars and Waterloo Bridge. A team of eight pyrotechnicians takes two days to set more than half a tonne of giant fireworks, some of which shoot more than 600ft into the air. It is the largest firework display in London.
• The word “float”, used to describe components of a parade or procession, is derived from the Lord Mayor’s Show when originally the exhibits would do just that – “float” along the Thames in barges.
• The Pageantmaster, Dominic Reid, is responsible for organising the logistics of the Show – this includes arranging for the lifting and checking of 3,500 manhole covers, installation of 4,000 grandstand seats and 6,300 galvanised crowd barriers and laying of 43 tonnes of sand.
• This year he will also be in charge of the 6,100 participants, 71 floats, 200 horses and 220 vehicles – which include a WW2 tank, a fleet of Morris Minors, several vintage buses and horse-drawn sleigh with Santa Claus!
• To enjoy the celebrations, get to the City for the morning of Saturday 8th November and nab a place on the well-marked route. The procession will weave its way from Guildhall in the heart of the City, through the historic streets of the Square Mile, passing the Mansion House and St. Paul’s Cathedral before continuing to the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand.