AMUSF news roundup THE AMUSF HAS AN ALL-NEW WEBSITE!
Wendy with Senior Warden, Jackie Smith - right - and Junior Warden, Malcolm Hopkins and - left - Beadle, Roy Theobald
WENDY HAS HER DAY Wendy Shorter, the AMUSF’s director or training, has officially been installed as the 637th Master of the Worshipful Company of Upholders and only the third Lady Master in over 650 years. The ceremony, which should originally have taken place on April 1 2020 but was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, took place on Tuesday September 15. Said Wendy, who also owns the Wendy Shorter Interiors upholstery and soft furnishings training centre: “Coronavirus interrupted everything for all of us, so my installation had to be postponed. “Anthony Demby continued as Master until my own ceremony when I was installed at a very much pared down event than would normally happen. The COVID restrictions meant we were only able to meet in small groups without any formal dining. Therefore, the ceremony took place with just 19 court members and six guests: my daughter Louise, two of our friends, Susie and Malcolm Bay, two new Liveryman: Dennis Tate and his girlfriend Molly and Stefan Koschek, as well as Master Furniture Maker David Woodward. “The ceremony was held at Saddler’s Hall in the City of London and, for the first time in our history, was also Zoomed to members of the Livery who were unable to attend in person.” Wendy was installed by the Immediate Past Master, Anthony Demby and she in turn then installed Jackie Williams as Senior Warden and Malcolm Hopkins as Junior Warden. Added Wendy: “My first task as Master was to clothe into the Livery, Lt. Dennis Tate RN, who my husband Steve and I had pleasure in proposing to the Company earlier in the year. We first met Dennis last year on a visit to the Wendy Shorter with husband Steve Blake submarine base in Plymouth. “As we were unable to dine at Saddler’s Hall due to the ‘rule of six’ COVID restrictions, we went to the Manicomio Restaurant in Gutter Lane. All in all, a very different installation, but one very much more personal to me!”.
6
Upholsterer & Soft Furnisher December/January/February 2020-21
With more and more people now visiting our website, we’ve developed an exciting and up-to-date new site – www.AMUSF.org – offering a host of new features. Said association manage Manjeet Upple: “We are hoping to have much more interaction from our members, particularly regarding the newsletter. The layout will be completely different, making it exciting to read and more visually appealing. We’d love to showcase live videos of members and their work and perhaps feature any fascinating projects they may be working on. “We also hope to give the magazine a greater online profile. Full members can now read the magazine on the website which we hope will, in turn, attract more subscribers. Our social media sites are also linked to the main website so members can see what’s happening from there, as well as on their phones.” Search engine optimisation is another area being improved to ensure the site takes a more prominent ranking, ideally ensuring when someone puts ‘upholstery’ into their web browser, the AMUSF site comes at, or near, the top of their search. But the biggest change is a new online payment system: students can now register and pay for their courses online. Said Manjeet: “This is a real step forward for us as it will automatically update our database with each student’s details. It all adds up to a lot less paperwork for us at head office.” Full members will also be able to pay online although the association plans to maintain its ‘personal touch’ by contacting everyone individually. Also offering greater functionality is the page featuring the popular fabric buying scheme. In the past, this just carried a basic list of participating companies, but members can now narrow their searches to see which company sells what. They can also click on the name of each individual fabric company and be automatically linked through to its website. Searching for members has also changed from a postcode only facility to one which can be done by town, postcode
