Getting Tom, wife Sheila, son Leighton, daughter Alison, son-in-law Adam and brother Steve, as well as himself into the frame, posed few problems for a man used to arranging line-ups in front of his lens. But he needed to call on time-lapse equipment to give the seconds needed to dodge from behind the camera and position himself in the limelight alongside his nearest and dearest.
Twenty-year-old Tom, currently reading astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh, is a former pupil of Framwellgate School Durham.
As well as cultivating an interest in music and photography he has also followed the family tradition of supporting Sunderland and joins his dad into the Curriers’ Company.
Tom said: “I know what it means to my granddad to have served his apprenticeship in Durham and to be a member of the freemen.
“That’s why I am proud to follow in his footsteps and those of my family in being sworn into the freemen myself.
Geoff, a retired artisan plumber, whose hand-crafted lead guttering and drainage systems grace a wide range of city buildings - including the cathedral and castle – qualified to join the Plumber’s Company on completion of his apprenticeship.
His interest in photography started at the age of eight, sparked by the Christmas gift of a camera, bought by his father in India where he had been working for a year as a National Coal Board adviser on the establishment of a coke works.
His younger brother Stephen also qualified for membership when he too completed his plumbing training, while Leighton, a journalism graduate from Teesside University, worked for the Sunderland Echo and Northern Echo before joining the staff of Durham University where he is a member of the external communications team.
Sheila, a former hospital sister and an emergency nurse practitioner in the city was installed as a Lady Freemen two years ago - recognition of her academic work with the freemen’s local history group and the support given to her husband’s extensive contribution to the freemen as official photographer.
Sheila retired after 43 years with the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust – at one point leading a regional group of colleagues in a national research project on behalf of the Royal College of Nursing. She was also awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree by Teesside University.
Geoff’s years of work as the freemen’s official photographer – have produced hundreds of images, many appearing on the organisation’s website and supporting associated literature, as well as featuring in regional and national newspapers and other publications.
Two other family members, brother-in-law Melvin Wortley and niece Katherine Wortley, extend the family’s current modern-day links to the freemen.
Additionally, Geoff’s uncle, Norman Donkin, a member of the Joiners’ Company, was honoured with a British Empire Medal in the late 1990s, a tribute to his long-standing membership of the Mayor’s Bodyguard. The official presentation was performed by the then Lord Lieutenant of Durham, Sir Paul Nicholson, who in an unrelated ceremony in 2003, was himself admitted to the Mason’s Company as a Gentleman Freemen.
In keeping with long-standing tradition, the April ceremony was presided over by the city’s mayor, County Councillor Mrs. Liz Brown.
