Barge tradition revived in Lord Mayor's show

The new Lord Mayor of the City of London will travel along the Thames by barge on Saturday, reviving a centuries-old tradition before the annual Lord Mayor's Show, as artists put the finishing touches to the flotilla.

Lord Mayor Bronek Masojada will leave Westminster at 08:30 GMT aboard the ceremonial barge Jubilant, followed by a flotilla of livery company boats, before coming ashore at HMS President.

The barge journey echoes the route Lord Mayors once took to Westminster to swear loyalty to the Crown.

About 6,500 people, 250 horses and more than 50 floats, including a replica of Tower Bridge with rising bascules - movable sections of road - are to be involved in the event.

They will then take part in the 2.86-mile (4.6km) procession, which leaves Mansion House at 11:00 and travels to the Royal Courts of Justice and back.

About a dozen artists have been working on the bridge float at Emergency Exit Arts in Greenwich, and creative director Rachel Grunwald said it held some surprises.

"You can see the workings of the mechanism that used to open up the bridge, and you can see cats inside that used to be employed to catch the rats," she said.

"You've got a double-decker bus on the float, because of a double-decker bus that jumped the bridge in 1952. We've got an elephant because the viewing deck can take the weight of six elephants."

Amy West, one of the artists, is working on the detail around the windows inside the bridge.

"It's a very tricky interior to do because there's so many beautiful steps that go up through Tower Bridge, but we're trying to put some of the details around the windows," she said.

Grunwald added that the float had taken half a year to build.

"We've had a team on this for the last six months, and over the last couple of months in this building we've had about 10 or 12 artists bringing it together," she said.

Chris Earlie, director of Tower Bridge, said: "This is quite accurate as far as the bascules are concerned. It's even got the design, the steelwork there, and they are articulated in that they can actually raise."

Alongside the bridge in the Greenwich workshop is a towering red-and-white lighthouse representing the Honourable Company of Master Mariners.

Masojada, who came to the UK from South Africa, takes office at the Silent Ceremony on Friday. He succeeds Dame Susan Langley, the first person to hold the title of Lady Mayor, and will be London's 698th Lord Mayor.

Organisers, who expect more than 350,000 people to line the route, are urging visitors to use public transport because of widespread road closures.

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