The Master Cutler

Gordon Bridge, Chief Executive of AESSEAL ®, was installed as Master Cutler on 2nd October in Sheffield, England. The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire was established by an Act of Parliament in 1624 to ensure high standards of workmanship in the Cutlery Industry, which dominated manufacturing in the Sheffield region at that time. It also monitored training standards and conditions of work for apprentices and registered Trade Marks. Hallamshire was on the boundary of the ancient Anglo-Saxon shires of Northumbria and Mercia. It is broadly the same territory that today we know as South Yorkshire.

The purpose of the Cutler’s Company, which now embraces all manufacturing industry, is “To support and promote manufacturing industry through the public platform occupied by the Master Cutler”.

The Company has magnificent headquarters, The Cutlers’ Hall, in the centre of Sheffield. Its main hall, the best outside London, seats 400 people and is the location for the Cutlers’ Feast, which dignitaries and industrialists from around the UK attend. It is the main annual event at the Cutlers’ Company and the principal guests of the 2007/8 year will be The Rt. Hon William Hague M.P. and Lord Coe. The Company has around 400 Freemen from which 33 members are appointed. The members form the Governing Body of the Company from which the Master Cutler is elected.

Throughout his year of office, each Master Cutler seeks to champion the manufacturing industries of Hallamshire, both locally and nationally and chooses specific charities to work with. This year’s Master Cutler, Gordon Bridge, has chosen to support the fantastic work done by the staff and associates of St Luke’s Hospice in Sheffield and Rotherham Hospice.

Find out more about the Master Cutler and the Cutlers' Company on the website.