Today is Holocaust Memorial Day.
Whilst nations gathered in Poland to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz 60 years ago, there was at the same time a celebration of life held in Westminster Hall in London. Underneath the great hammer beam roof, built over 600 years ago by Hugh Herland, itself standing on top of stone walls built several hundred years earlier, we were awed by the gathering of Royalty, government, the great and the good, sportsmen and women, actors and musicians who were all humbled in the presence of those remaining 700 survivors now resident in the UK. The Holocaust was the greatest man made human tragedy and it is to our eternal shame that we allowed it to happen.
The carpenters of Farnham in Surrey who built this great roof did not know or conceive of the way in which their masterpiece would serve as an appropriate backdrop for such a commemoration but we thank them today for their work.
The greatest achievements of the Guild and its craftsmen and women are yet to be realised.
