Photos from The Lord Mayor's Lunch

The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress celebrated St George's Day with lunch at St Paul's. It was a great lunch for the club with a full table and members and guests having a highly enjoyable time. Here are just a few of the photos from the day. Prizes are available for the best comments.

In the final photo, you may be wondering what Mr Timothy Cuthbertson was doing with the Lady Mayoress. Well, he was posing for a "selfie" minus the camera!

American President and First Lady in the Jewellery Quarter

The last year has seen many changes at St. Paul’s Club.  Set in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter, this traditional business club first opened its doors in 1859.  But the club has made many far-reaching changes over the past 12 months ushering in a new era for both its members and the local community.

These changes were all facilitated by Bart Dalton and the new membership committee.  Bart became the Vice-President of the Club in 2012 and President in 2013 with Sarah Whitticase becoming the first woman to join the committee. 

At the AGM on Friday 25^th April, Sarah became the First Lady to assume the post of Vice President at St Paul’s Club.  This is a major change for St Paul’s which was a Gentlemen’s Club and only allowed women to become members in their own right a few short years ago. 

Over the last year, the club relaxed its dress code and started to run regular networking events that are open to the local business community.  These lunches are always well attended and receive good feedback.

The club has also seen expansion in its facilities with Wi-Fi now being available throughout and seating for an extra 40 people.  Members have likewise seen an increase in benefits with reduced rate stays at local hotels and a concierge service being made available to them.

The reach of St. Paul’s has increased with more active engagement within the Jewellery Quarter and reciprocal arrangements with clubs in London, Manchester and across the UK.

In the last few months, St Paul’s has launched Club 34 for potential members under the age of 34.  This allows them to join the club at a reduced rate and enjoy all the privileges of membership.

Finally, the club is upgrading the old billiard room into a business lounge which is ideal for people who want to drop in and grab a hot desk or people who want to hire the room for meetings, seminars or workshops.  All told these changes have helped to increase the membership of the club to 170.

“Birmingham is fighting to solidify its foot hold as England’s second city and I believe that St Paul’s Club’s legacy is a corner stone in embedding this title. I am excited to continue our efforts to keep Birmingham’s only private member’s club as the foundation for these efforts and helping to drive ‘Forward’ as our city crest demands.” said Bart Dalton.

St Paul’s Club is moving forward with Philip Barnett as the new President ably supported by Sarah Whitticase as the new Vice President.  Under their combined leadership, the Club will move into the future while keeping touch with its great traditions.

One thing new for this year is the change in new members joining.  To ensure we keep our foundation solid, we will only be allowing 4 new members to join a month.  However, our doors always remain open to the local community.