Three people honoured with Freedom of the Borough
Three inspiring individuals have been given the Freedom of the Borough for their outstanding achievements.
At an Extraordinary Council Meeting earlier this year, Councillors formally approved Honorary Freeman status for volunteer and fundraiser Mrs Joan Gorton, National Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage CBE and actor, Sir Patrick Stewart OBE.
At a ceremony at Huddersfield Town Hall, Mrs Gorton and Mr Armitage CBE were presented with their scrolls by the Mayor of Kirklees Councillor Nosheen Dad. Sir Patrick joined the event by live link and will collect his scroll at a later date when in the area.
Why were the inspiring individuals given the Freedom of the Borough?
Mrs Gorton and her late husband Tony contacted the British Epilepsy Association in 1975 after their eldest child, Sarah, developed the condition and they found there was little or no support.
The couple went on to set up the Huddersfield branch of Epilepsy Action and raised thousands of pounds to support the charity’s work.
The group also sponsored nurses and other staff to go on specialist courses to learn more about epilepsy.
Simon Armitage is the current national Poet Laureate (2019-2029) and has received numerous awards for his poetry.
In 2004 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded the CBE for services to poetry in 2010.
On being awarded the freedom of the borough he said: “It’s a great honour – thank you.
W H Auden said that it was every poet’s hope to be like some valley cheese, local, but prized elsewhere. But as a poet who has stayed loyal to the area where I was born and brought up I’ve always valued the support and encouragement of my home town and region. To give it a Yorkshire context, more like a decent pie, maybe, appreciated in the wider world but recognised for its local flavours.”
Sir Patrick Stewart has been a star of the theatre, dramas and movies in a career spanning seven decades. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama in 2010.
Freedom of the Borough
The title of Honorary Freeman is the highest honour a Council of a City or Borough can award and is not given very often.
Government guidance says that this honour should only be awarded to those who have rendered eminent services to the City or Borough as Honorary Freemen.