ST BRIDE FOUNDATION WAYZGOOSE 27 APRIL

Our friendly neighbours and inky co-conspirators at St Bride Foundation invite us to join in their annual celebration of all things print-related!

The tradition of the wayzgoose as a key date in the printers' calendar is first mentioned in 1683. Joseph Moxon devoted a whole chapter of his Mechanick Exercises: ... Applied to the Art of Printing to the 'Customs of the Chapel', as the association of journeymen in a printing house was known.  Chief among these was the annual feast, aka wayzgoose or waygoose, given by the Master Printer to the workers, by all accounts a riotous and carnivalesque occasion. Moxon notes 'These Way-gooses, are always kept about Bartholomew-tide [24 August]. And till the Master-Printer have given this Way-goose, the Journey-men do not use to Work by Candle Light.' It's a tradition that has persisted in the printing community, with some modifications for modern sensibilities (not to mention health & safety concerns). The St Bride Foundation Wayzgoose kicks off the festive season well before St Bartholomew's Day, and promises to be an unmissable event. Check out their invitation below.