Leon and I spent Monday morning at The Guildhall, the seat of the oldest continuous democracy in the World and which was established during the reign of Elizabeth The1st.

As we waited for The Lord Mayor of London to arrive we chatted together about why the UK is so important to us and concluded that it was its general tolerance of others views, which in our estimation is a manifestation of its ingrained democratic attitude that makes the real difference.

Richard Morris the charismatic founder and CEO of Heropreneurs had emailed last week and asked if Leon and I would jointly meet, greet and then escort The Lord Mayor on her official visit to a special event at The Guildhall, which we were honoured to do.

Fiona Woolf CBE became Lord Mayor in October this year and from this initial meeting with her I concluded we have a very passionate and capable representative of what I believe is one of the Worlds most important City’s.

We took great pleasure in introducing The Lord Mayor to Peter Mountford who is Chairman of The Trustees at Heropreneurs and who made an excellent speech asking for support for a charity which so far has assisted in creating over 60 businesses.

I was astounded that it was so many but was assured that it was and listened intently to some of them recount their stories which made me regret that I had decided to resign as a Patron due to time commitments, but now it is my intention to focus on helping young disadvantaged entrepreneurs so that helps.

It was also great to catch up with Heledd Kendrick and Lucy from Recruit for Spouses who won The Big Society award which was announced by The Prime Minister in November for bridging the gap between our armed forces and business.

A superb example of how Heropreneurs is helping military families progress into business. Heledd is married to a soldier and got fed up being told by potential employers that her life was nomadic so they couldn’t employ her so she created a business designed to help spouses who were experiencing the same response.

London is a powerhouse, but we simply must recognise that it is a City for everyone, not just the rich and influential. We urgently need more housing for families on low incomes, somewhere secure that they can call home. With secure homes we get secure communities which in turn leads to a happier and more secure democracy.

Achieve that and we really will have created The Big Society.