Our 2025 Annual Dinner was held at the Army & Navy Club in Pall Mall (affectionately known as “the RAG”) on Thursday, 19 June 2025.
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Photos by Queenie Sit
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This year our guests were Lt General (Rtd) Professor Martin CM Bricknell CB OStJ PhD DM MBA MA MedSci, Professor of Conflict, Health and Military Medicine King’s College London, who proposed the toast to The Law and The Judge Advocate General, His Honour Judge Large who proposed the toast to Medicine.
After many years of holding our meetings at Lettsom House, the Medical Society of London’s premises near Cavendish Square, we are moving to Gresham College in Barnard’s Inn. The following is an extract from the AGM address by the President, Dr Sarah Galbraith on 12th June 2025:
WHY WE ARE MOVING FROM LETTSOM HOUSE TO GRESHAM COLLEGE
Members will be aware of the technical difficulties that we have faced at Lettsom House in trying to provide a hybrid offering. This is something that has become increasingly important since Covid; well over half attendees at our lecture programme now attend remotely. The number of members outside of London has grown substantially over the last few years.
Lettsom House does not provide any hybrid facilities. The arrangement in place is a DIY arrangement with an unstable mixture of the Society’s equipment with Lettsom House’s projector. Lettsom management have been clear that their offering isn’t going to change in the short to medium term. In addition, it is very difficult for less mobile members to attend lectures in person at Lettsom House and there are no plans to improve accessibility to the first floor.
I asked Prof Rachael Mulheron, Trustee, to conduct a detailed venue review exercise. Her comprehensive report, completed in January 2025, set out a feasibility study of options. She looked at staying at Lettsom House, with independent professional AV support. Whilst this would offer marginal improvement, at substantial additional cost, we would still have to use the unstable mix of our and the building’s equipment. She looked at several alternative London venues, with professional AV support to hybrid lectures. In general, they were prohibitively expensive, well beyond the means of the MLS.
The venue we found, offering the best arrangements in central London, is the educational charity Gresham College, in Barnard’s Hall on Holborn. Although not as grand as Lettsom House, it is an old historic hall. The Hall itself, where lectures will be held, is at ground floor level, fully disabled accessible, including wheelchair accessible. Most importantly, Gresham, Barnard’s Hall, has all technology and staff to provide professionally produced hybrid lectures. For a modest sum, they will provide professional AV technicians, in person, to set everything up run, both our Council meetings and our lectures. This will include preparation of the recording for our web site.
The Trustees of the Society met in early February 2025 to discuss Prof Mulheron’s venue review report and were unanimous in recommending a move to Gresham College, Barnard’s Hall. Over 90% of Council, as a whole, were in agreement with the move.
Accordingly, the Society shall move its physical lectures to Barnard’s Hall from October 2025. Whilst the venue isn’t as beautiful as Lettsom house it is central, between Chancery Lane and Holborn, in the legal district of London. Gresham offers professional support, on site AV technicians and equipment, both for the lectures and for the Council meetings, at a modest cost. I hope that remote attendees and those who watch the lectures later will see an improvement in quality.
Sarah N Galbraith
