We are both delighted – and disappointed – that we have reached the marking of the Firm’s 50th Anniversary on 6th July 2020. Delighted because we’ve reached a further milestone but disappointed because we had wanted to mark it with celebrations that have had to be postponed due to the current social distancing arrangements. Hopefully once things return to normal we can do something at the end of the year but probably on a less grand scale.
Nigel and I met up with Brenda Lambert at Lloyd Chapman’s funeral last year and discussed the impending anniversary. She remembered it well, “Mike called me from work and said “I’ve made a decision!” I gulped and said “about what?” “Setting up on my own” he said, “so we need to find some premises in Chelmsford. I called Tony Snow and asked if he had anything small and he showed me some upstairs room in 61 New London Road which became the first office for Michael L Lambert & Co.”
The Firm operated from these premises until the late 1990’s expanding to take on the whole of 61 and then 63 New London Road as well. In 1986 the Braintree office opened in Coggeshall Road before moving to its current site in 1991 and in 1990 the Firm merged with Bill Stichbury in Maldon to create at first Lambert Chapman Stichbury before adopting the corporate title a couple of years later.
We’ve developed a golden logo for promotional use during our 50th year and this Newswire sees its first outing. Nigel and Nick have an archive that they add to on a regular basis and we are sure that things from this will be shared during the year in a “Lambert Chapman at 50” feature in our monthly newswires.
For now, we need to think about seeing off the COVID-19 crisis, but we share a photograph (see above) of the 3 Managing Partners the Firm has had Mike Lambert, Nigel Whittle and Nick Forsyth taken in 1993 when Nick was first made a Partner of the Firm. If you saw Nigel and Nick now, their hairstyles look quite similar due to the lockdown which they both agree would have seen a rebuke from Mike about “your hair being too long for the profession” over lunch with a Bank Manager or during a client meeting!
Unfortunately both Mike and Lloyd (pictured above) are no longer with us but we know they would have been proud that the Firm has reached this anniversary and keen to celebrate the achievement. It was Mike’s initial courage to make the jump from his previous partnership in London into his own Firm and both of them to leave Alliott Peirson and create Lambert Chapman. This provided the platform for all the Partners both past and present to build the Firm and add their own personality to the proceedings which we hope will continue for another 50 years.
We thank our clients for their continued support.