The Freedom Parade

We've been a bit lax in posting lately, partly due to the months of January and February being the worst of the twelve for those puzzling weeks where you seem to get nothing accomplished yet have very little time left over and little to no motivation to boot. Also it's partly due to the kick-off of Visit Josh and Megan in England season. Our friends, Brad and Kimberly, came last week from Michigan, and we had a wonderful time in York and Scotland with them. We'll post some on those trips later, but this post is about last Sunday in Durham.

After heading off to church early for youth group, Josh called me about some parade or something going on downtown and that we should come check it out. I roused the jet-lagged parties, and we found our way to City Hall, right next to St Nics church on the market square. Turns out there was a parade of sorts, complete with military band, mayor in fur-lined cape, members of the royal family, and all. (Don't get too excited about the royal family... apparently it's quite a bit more extensive than this American was aware and brothers and cousins and nieces are all still royalty, even if you've never heard of them.)

Read the rest...
This event was celebrating the granting of honorary freedom of the city for a number of soldiers returning from duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. Durham has a proud history of local military service as County Durham had its own light infantry regiment for over two centuries. Although it was combined with three others in the 60's, there's now a museum just outside of town.

Coincidentally, Josh and I had learned about the freemen last week when the annual city church service (!) was held at St Nics, and our fellow parishioners took pleasure in explaining that the mayor was the one in the red cape and funny hat, his body guard had the big silver mace, that huge sword would be carried in procession, and most of the people in robes were council members or freemen.
Naturally, we had to ask about the freemen. It sounds a lot like "getting the keys to the city" in the States. The tradition goes back to "the 48th and 49th years of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria", according to Durham City Council's website and sounded to us like it had something to do with letting your sheep roam on city land or vote for Members of Parliament (the freemen, not the sheep). Members of the Durham Light Infantry had been granted freemen status after World War II and in the 60's (although I can't find them on the city's list), but never since. Thus, this was a big event.
We watched as a military band, well-endowed with bugles, led a number of different uniformed troops into the square. The mayor and a few others spoke, a silver bugle was given to someone official by someone official, people clapped, veterans marched... I think we even saw a few British flags being waved.

Our favorite part, though, was when everyone marched up to the Baily, the palace green. It must have been an important event because they took down the "stay off the grass" signs, and everyone clamored unto the fragile spring green to see what was happening. There the army band marched about in various formations before a backdrop of cathedral and castle, playing songs, and causing general confusion when abruptly changing direction to march directly into the gathering crowds. The poor woman left frantically backing up her scooter at its fastest speed to let them through was especially amusing. It was a cold, sunny, and altogether lovely way to spend our Sunday afternoon.



(And thanks to Brad and Kimberly for these photos!)