Agenda item

The following item of urgent business was raised –

Nomination of 100 women to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage

The Chairman and a Member raised an idea to nominate 100 women connected to the City for the Freedom as part of the celebrations marking the centenary of women’s suffrage.

The Director of Communications advised that this would be reputationally positive for the City Corporation and that his team could make best use of social media impact as well as link it to other programmes.

The representative from the Chamberlain’s Court also endorsed the idea but outlined some of the logistical difficulties in organising these nominations and ceremonies.

Members of the Sub Committee were very supportive of the idea and had a few suggestions of easing the logistical burden on the Chamberlain’s Court:

·         Common Councillors could sponsor one woman each and manage the administration of that individuals Freedom;

·         Each ward could sponsor four applications;

·         Women who had already been awarded the Freedom so far this year (15 in total) could be approached and invited to an event at the end of the year celebrating that they are included in 100 women who were given the Freedom in 2018.

It was agreed that the Freedom Applications Committee should be made aware of the view of that of the Sub Committee and that this idea could progress to the next stage.