Meet new Liveryman Sharon Pink

One of my earliest childhood memories of watching films with my father, Maurice Djanogly OBE, was “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines”, writes Liveryman Sharon Pink. As a child I wouldn’t have focused too much on what Wikipedia calls the story’s “predictable patriotic antagonisms” but just enjoyed the “international” stereotypical characters (the “intrepid birdmen”) coming together to create mayhem in the skies and on the ground.

Sharon Pink and her father Maurice Djanogly OBE (centre) welcome Air Commodore Pete Brothers CBE DSO DFC and Bar (far left) to the Foundry in mid-2005 to watch the Battle of Britain Monument take shape

I thought of that film as I stood with Dad on London’s Victoria Embankment in September 2005, for the unveiling of the beautiful Battle of Britain Monument that our bronze foundry had worked so hard to create and which Dad had done so much to fund-raise for as part of Lord Tebbit’s organising committee.

As managing director of the Morris Singer Foundry throughout the Monument development, I worked closely with the Battle of Britain Historical Society’s archivist who painstakingly collated the names of all the international air crews so they could be individually inscribed on the Monument. I was privileged to meet a number of the pilots from The Few and hear their personal stories when they came to the Foundry to watch Paul Day’s intricate Scramble sculpture being cast in bronze. These truly were the magnificent men in their flying machines.

In a long career in business and supporting charitable works, my Dad also worked on and supported the fundraising for many other public monuments, including those commemorating the Kindertransport and Raoul Wallenberg.

After Dad died four years ago, as I went through his papers, I read up more about the Coachmakers and discovered the patrimony option that would enable me to apply to join to take his place. I am delighted now to be part of this Company.