A dedicated group of volunteers, who point the way for tens of thousands of tourists who visit Durham each summer, have themselves been given a helping hand by the City’s Freemen. The work of the Durham Pointers, a sixty-strong group who provide directions and information to visitors, last year earned them a Queen’s Award for […]
A major donation from the City of Durham Freemen has enabled a groundbreaking community project to plan for the future – by stepping back in time. A £7,000 grant from the freemen has underpinned ambitious new developments at workshops run by the LionMouth Rural Centre, including the revival of the ancient woodland craft of bodging. […]
Signs, formally underlining the introduction of a total fishing ban on a stretch of the River Wear in the centre of Durham City, are now in place – offering clear warning to salmon and sea trout poachers they risk arrest by police.
A long serving freeman, whose family links to the city’s trade guilds stretch back more than 300 years, died in hospital on February 26th after a long illness. Retired police sergeant John Reginald Stout, known to his friends as Reg, was admitted into the Butchers’ Company in February 1964 and at the time of his […]
Durham’s oldest performing arts company, facing a fight for survival, has been thrown a financial lifeline by the city’s freemen. The award-winning Durham Musical Theatre Company, formed in 1908, is, staging a programme of glittering three-hour shows at the Gala Theatre in a bid to secure its future. An ambitious medley from “The best of […]
A great grandmother, who has given behind-the-scenes support to Durham’s freemen for more than quarter of a century, was honoured today (Monday, August 10th) at a unique ceremony in the city’s town hall. Seventy-five-year-old Rita Brown, was sworn into the joiners’ company as a Lady Freeman, joining her two children and five grandsons who have […]
2014 was another year which gave the Freemen of Durham an opportunity to offer financial support to local causes. In the context of our aim to have substance, relevance and purpose this is a key area for the Freemen and one to which a lot of thought is given as evidenced by the plan to […]
There has been a link between the Freemen and the Durham Mayoral Bodyguard for a number of centuries. As long ago as the 13th Century the Bodyguard gave protection to Wardens as they collected taxes and tithes around the City.
We provided funding to support the erection of a monument in tribute to the soldiers of the Durham Light Infantry which has been installed directly outside of the Guild Hall in the Market Place
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 […]