Seven members of the Epping Branch visited the Guildhall, London to watch the ceremony of Cart Marking undertaken by the Lord Mayor of London. This event has been held every year since 1517 and involves the authorisation of vehicles to undertake business within the City. The vehicles covered a vast span of uses from elementary hand carts propelled by a man, through horse drawn carriages for funerals, to a range of larger and larger trucks. Once of the most powerful trucks was an eight wheeled recovery vehicle capable of towing a casualty weighing 65 tons, e.g. a Chieftain tank. Of particular interest were electrically powered buses and other load carriers which will one day replace all those driven by petrol, diesel and steam. So we were able to see the past, the present and the future with an informative briefing by the Mayor’s staff – all at no cost!
The event was arranged by Janet Wallace as was the excellent lunch held at a Balls Brothers venue nearby. An excellent day enjoyed by all.
