On Monday 21st September 2026, Matthew Peppitt completed his highly successful year as Master Tax Adviser.

His successor Caroline Turnbull-Hall was duly installed as Master for the year 2026/27 at a meeting of Court held at Mercers’ Hall. Company Wardens for the year were also installed: Howard Ashmore as Upper Warden, Michael Ashdown as Middle Warden, and Lorraine Parkin as Renter Warden. Matthew Peppitt accepted Caroline’s invitation to serve as her Deputy Master, and Suzanne Peppitt invested Captain Robert Turnbull-Hall as Consort to the Master Tax Adviser for the year ahead.

The new year also sees Past Master Anthony Thomas stepping down from Court after ten years’ service, and the admission of David Massey and Dee Shah as new Court Assistants (with Glyn Fullelove elected to follow suit). Past Master Clive Tulloch stands down as Honorary Court Secretary, and is replaced by Past Master Richard Geldard.

The Master was also delighted to admit Matthew Higginbottom, Bromley Scout District’s Youth Commissioner, to become aide de camp.

Details of Court and Committee members, and other Company officers, are on our website: The Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers | City of London

The Master advanced three Freemen to the Livery and admitted five new Freemen. Photographs from Court, and from throughout the day, are available here: Gerald Sharp Photography | Tax Advisers

From Mercers’ Hall, Court members travelled to St Michael’s Church Cornhill for a Thanksgiving Service, officiated by the Honorary Chaplain, the Rev’d Marcus Walker. The Master and Immediate Past Master both delivered readings, the Chaplain his sermon, the Choir several pieces, and the congregation hearty renditions of several hymns culminating in ‘Eternal Father, strong to save’. An uplifting start to the new year.

Returning to the Hall and joined by Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia DBE CVO and other Company guests, the new Master hosted her Installation Dinner in the Livery Hall. The London Scouts, celebrating their new affiliation with the Company, provided an excellent stair guard, whose outstanding turnout and bearing were matched by their dramatic scale (of some 40 Scouts). Their bugler and saxophonist only added to the sense of occasion, with periodic fanfares and musical accompaniments.

In this wonderful setting, a splendid dinner was served, the Master took wine with new Liverymen and Freemen, Loving Cups were passed, and we were entertained by both Edward Dye on the piano and Andy and Margaret Watchorn on smallpipes and fiddle.

The Renter Warden, Lorraine Parkin, welcomed and toasted the guests, after which Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia spoke engagingly about her past career in finance and commercial banking and her current roles as non-executive director and regulator – highlighting the Master’s theme for her year: Trust in the Tax System. The Master closed the dinner by thanking all those involved in its delivery. The evening concluded with a convivial Stirrup Cup, and with shared promises to meet again at the Christmas Carol Service and Supper on Tuesday 15th December, if not before.