Retired field service engineer Barry Shotton was admitted into the Cordwainers’Company at the May Day Guild Day. Sixty-eight-year-old Barry started his working life in 1961 as an apprentice electrician with Durham Rural District Council and went on to work underground at Eppleton Colliery before joining Lansing Bagnall, where he remained until his retirement. He lives […]
We are delighted to learn that Peter will become a fully time-served Joiner late this year when the college course he has been attending comes to an end. In 2012 Durham City Freemen worked with the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral to establish the sponsorship of a craft apprentice. The Dean and Chapter selected […]
Trustees’ chairman Roger Norris, who has stepped down after 20 years at the helm, has been praised by his peers for his outstanding contribution to the modern-day “re-birth” of the city’s freemen. Roger, then deputy librarian at Durham Cathedral, was invited to become a trustee in 1988 and took over chairmanship in 1995. Numbers of […]
Teenager Beth Elliott has been sworn in as a Durham Freeman today becoming the youngest ever recipient of the title in the near 700-year history of the city’s ancient trade guilds. It is also believed that Beth’s installation into the Masons’ Company – where she joins her dad John and granddad Bob – will make […]
Our Annual Dinner was held on 4 October 2014 in the Town Hall and was another most enjoyable evening. The dinner has been organised single handedly for over 10 years by our Chairman of Trustees, Roger Norris, to whom we all owe a great debt of gratitude. This was the last Dinner that Roger will […]
With a view to providing opportunities for members of the Plumber’s Company to meet socially in a relaxing and interesting environment, Eric Bulmer, John Booth, Mel Wortley and Haydon Watson of the Plumber’s Company together with Joe McElwee (Cordwainers) and Geof Kitson (Barbers) were met by Nigel Mawson in the restaurant for coffee before embarking […]
An ancient order of freemen has appointed two new leaders. Eric Bulmer and Bob Elliott will serve as wardens of the City of Durham Freemen’s plumbers’ and mason’s companies, respectively. Mr Bulmer, of Brandon Village, follows in the footsteps of his great-great-grandfather who joined the freemen in 1851. Mr Elliott, of Gilesgate, can trace his […]
Sisters Sarah Nattrass and Vicky Heslop, Rebecca Wright and Sandra Allison are sworn in as members of the City of Durham Freemen in a ceremony at Durham Town Hall. Sisters Sarah Nattrass and Vicky Heslop, Rebecca Wright and Sandra Allison were sworn in as members of the City of Durham Freemen in a ceremony at […]
A priest who worked alongside the late Mother Theresa is one of six newly installed Freemen of Durham City. Reverend Joan Donkin, who worked alongside the famous nun on the streets of Calcutta, said: “It is wonderful that the daughters of Durham are now a part of the city’s traditions.” Among those carrying on family […]
By The Northern Echo A teaching assistant has joined the ranks of a city’s “freewomen”. Read the full article at the Northern Echo at http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10606417.Joanne_is_a__freewoman_/