Give us our daily bread

Picture: Lindsay Hargreaves (right), who is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Farmers, and manager of Eleveden Farms in Suffolk, will be accompanying the LEXION 600 as it wends its way through the City of London in this Saturday's Lord Mayors Show.

Farming will be leading the way in this year's Lord Mayor's Show in the City of London on Saturday November 11th, starting at 11.02am.

Within the parade each year are displays from some of the 107 Livery Companies in the City of London, some of which date back to the 12th Century. Included within the 28 Modern City Livery Companies formed since 1926, is the Worshipful Company of Farmers, which was established in 1952 and exists to promote the importance of food and farming within the City, and to help and promote education and awareness of farming matters to both the broader public and those engaged in farming.

For this year's Show the Worshipful Company of Farmers put forward that there be a combine in the parade to symbolise the link between food, farming and the City.

Working with CLAAS UK and Farmcare, who have lent the World's highest capacity combine, a LEXION 600 for the parade, this has been converted into a mobile display that will hopefully help raise public awareness of the links between farming and the City. After the event, the combine will retain its special decals and be used by Farmcare at its schools education centre on its Stoughton Estate near Leicester.

The LEXION 600 was put forward to represent the very best of 21st technology, and this is reinforced by the message on the combine that says: 'This combine harvests enough wheat every day to produce 1 million loaves of bread'.

The institutions within the City of London drive almost everything we do, and it was felt by the Worshipful Company of Farmers that it was very appropriate to have a farming display in this year's parade, in order to make a strong statement of the importance of food and farming in feeding the people of Britain and helping the economic wellbeing of the country.

The combine will be fifth in the Parade which is three miles long, making it one of the first displays to be seen on the mile-long route that starts at the Guildhall, so is in a prime position for television coverage.

Accompanying the combine will be the recently installed Master of the Farmer's Company, Sir Graham Wilkinson Bt, whose grandfather Sir George Wilkinson was Lord Mayor from 1940-1941. He will be supported by Senior Warden, Thomas Copas, and Junior Warden, John Thorpe. In addition Liveryman Lindsay Hargreaves will be carrying the Farmers' banner, dressed in 'working attire'.

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The office of the Lord Mayor of London dates from 1189 and the first show was held in 1215. The Show was initiated under the Charter of King John, who decreed that the Lord Mayor of the City of London should 'swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown' and that he should 'show himself to the people'.

Each year the new Lord Mayor processes through the City of London, followed by his supporters, in a ceremonial carriage starting at the Guildhall, pausing at St Paul's Cathedral and the Royal Courts of Justice before returning to the Guildhall via the Mansion House.

This year's Lord Mayor elect is Alderman John Stuttard, who will be installed at the Guildhall on Friday 10th November, before showing himself to the people on Saturday, and is the 679th person to be Lord Mayor of the City of London.