Alternative Images has been commissioned to attend the Gala Dinner for the annual summer assembly for the European Federation of Bottled Water hosted by the UK office BSDA, the British Soft Drinks Association. The venue this year was the historic buildings of Lincoln’s Inn with the famous Great Hall an Old Hall that houses many events during the year. The start of the evening was a guided tour for the guest group around the Old Hall where the guide gave a detailed history account of the years gone by of the famous building. Then the group were taken over to the chappell to explore more facts of British history. They were impressed with the fantastic stained glass windows of the chappell that stood tall at both end of the building. The Chapel was erected in 1623 and, at the end of the seventeenth century, chambers were erected in New Square, which had formerly been an open space contiguous with Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
The exact origins of Lincoln’s Inn, and indeed of the other three Inns of Court, are not fully known. The extant records of Lincoln’s Inn open in 1422, the earliest of any of the Inns of Court; but a society of lawyers by that name was then already in existence. It is likely that it evolved during the late part of the fourteenth century. In contrast to many of the colleges of Oxford or Cambridge, which it resembles, there was no conscious founding or dated charter.
The weather for June was not at its best for the European group but after the short tour of 45 mins they gathered for a relaxed photograph outside with the Great Hall in the background. There followed a drinks reception held in the Crypt that is beneath the Old Hall for the group accompanied by the sounds of flute and harp players before they were called for the more formal Gala Dinner situated above within in the Old Hall. The Old Hall is the finest building in the Inn and, indeed, is one of the finest buildings in London. It is small but beautifully proportioned and executed.
EFBW Lincoln’s Inn
