On Monday 4th March, 10 Bearwood scholars and their Joint Heads of Sixth Form, Mrs Odenwälder (Head of History) and Mr Nash-Wortham (Head of Business Studies and Economics), visited the Mansion House. The official residence of the Right Honorable Lord Mayor of London is located within the City of London, and the group were delighted to have been invited for tea.

Roger Gifford,a merchant banker and the 865th Lord Mayor, has been in his role since November. His mission for his term in office is the successful promotion of the UK overseas.

The splendid interior of the Mansion House awed the pupils, who compared it favourably with the magnificence of Buckingham Palace. Depsite the grandeur of their surroundings the scholars were pleased to find the Lord Mayor friendly and approachable and their question and answer session with him was informally structured. Questions were asked about how the Lord Mayor showcases the City overseas, what one has to do in order to become Lord Mayor and what exactly the City of London is.

The Lord Mayor has a very busy schedule with over 800 engagements a year but the visitors were lucky enough to be given a tour of the Palladian style Mansion House by the Hall Keeper. During the tour they saw the vaults where Gold gifts are kept by the Lord Mayor, with the thickest metal doors imaginable, and the almost legendary Egyptian room where the Chancellor of the Exchequer customarily gives his "Mansion House Speech" on the state of the British economy.