This honour will be granted by the Town Council of Hexham, Northumberland to the 39th Regiment of the Royal Artillery on the 26 June 2010. 26 June 2010 is also the day Hexham is hosting a major celebration for Armed Forces Day 2010.

The Grant of the ‘Freedom of Hexham’ is in recognition of the long standing link between the 39th Regiment of the Royal Artillery and the Town of Hexham and is the first such honour to be awarded by the Council.

The medieval term ‘freemen’ meant someone who was not the property of a feudal lord but who enjoyed privileges such as the right to earn money and own land. Town dwellers were usually protected by their town charter and often free – hence the term ‘freeman’. Today this term has no privileges but is an award to men and women who are able to work and live in the Town and it is being awarded by the Town Council to show the officers and troops of the Regiment the town’s appreciation for the bravery shown by them during their service in Afghanistan.

Some ancient privileges elsewhere said to be associated with being a freeman are amusing; for instance if you are convicted of a capital offence you can ask to be hung with a silken rope or if found to be drunk and disorderly you cannot be arrested. However neither of these ‘privileges’ is currently valid in Hexham nor anywhere else we suspect!!