On Tuesday I joined friends, colleagues and fellow liverymen at Fishmongers’ Hall for the presentation of the Shrieval Chain of Office and Badge to Alderman Tim Levene, Sheriff-elect. I was glad to have served on the committee that brought it together.
By custom, a Sheriff’s chain and badge are gifts from those who support them, and Alderman Levene’s will be accompanied by an album recording the name of everyone who contributed. It is a fitting way to begin a year of public service. The Sheriffs spend their year based at the Old Bailey, attending the Central Criminal Court and supporting the Lord Mayor across the City’s civic calendar.
The badge itself was designed by City goldsmith Grant Macdonald and made in his workshop on Bankside, and it tells its owner’s story in the City’s oldest visual language. Alderman Levene’s arms sit at the centre, with the fish of the Fishmongers and the cart wheel of the Carmen, his mother company, and a crest holding the Monument for his ward of Bridge and Bridge Without. Behind the arms, a Bitcoin and a circuit-board pattern mark his career in fintech, and two hexagonal shoulder badges echo the blocks of a blockchain. Around the coin runs a line from King George VI: “It is not the walls that make the City, but the people who live within them.”
My congratulations to Alderman Levene and his family on the year ahead.