The Lord Mayor’s Show will take place on Saturday 12 November. The ancient carnival – 801 years old this year - is loved the world over and regarded as a classic piece of British pageantry.

This year Andrew Parmley has been elected as the 689^th Lord Mayor of the City of London. He will serve as the figurehead of the City of London Corporation and global ambassador for the UK-based financial and professional services industry. The Lord Mayor’s Show will be his first public engagement.

Since 1215 every newly-elected Lord Mayor has been required to travel through the winding medieval streets of the City of London to Westminster to swear loyalty to the Crown. Over the centuries this journey has become a much loved fixture in the national cultural calendar, with hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets and millions more watching the 6,500-strong procession on TV.

This year’s pageant includes 180 horses, 164 vehicles, jazz bands, steam engines, fire engines, pea harvesters, sports cars, tractors, Blackpool Tower and a tank.

Beginning with a river procession and ending with a spectacular fireworks show on the River Thames, the Show involves the charities, youth associations, international organisations and businesses that capture the essence of a truly global city.

The Show’s Pageantmaster, Dominic Reid, 55, organises the procession with military precision. This year he is celebrating his 25^th consecutive Show – and his father John did the job 20 times before him - making his family the longest serving dynasty in the event’s history.

Dominic Reid, Pageantmaster of the Lord Mayor’s Show, said:

“The Lord Mayor’s Show is an amazing event and it has been a great privilege to organise it for the past 25 years. The Show is a platform for good citizenship and every one of its 6,500 participants has a great story to tell.

“This year’s Show will have more music than ever and I hope you enjoy one of London’s best days out.”

The City of London Corporation is the local authority for the Square Mile. It supports London’s communities through responsible business, charitable giving, providing education and skills for young people and by delivering affordable housing across London. It operates fourteen schools in the capital, providing a quality education to thousands of young Londoners.

The Corporation is the fourth largest funder of arts and culture in the UK after the Lottery, Government, and the BBC – and it manages key cultural institutions like Tower Bridge, The Monument, London Metropolitan Archives, Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Roman Amphitheatre, Keats House and Guildhall Library.

It’s charitable arm, City Bridge Trust, is London’s biggest independent grant giver, making grants of £20 million a year to tackle disadvantage across the capital.

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