The recommendation to grant Honorary Freedoms of the Borough to Sir Steve Bullock and Kris Hibbert were recently approved at the following Council meeting:
http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=4707
Sir Steve was the first directly elected Mayor of Lewisham, serving for 16 years from 2002-2018. Prior to that he was elected as a councillor from 1982, where he Served as Chair of Finance, Chair of Leisure and Deputy Leader of the Council, before serving as Leader of the Council from 1988-93.
Kris served as a councillor for eight years, from 1982-90. She was a pioneer, helping set up the first local government committee on women’s issues anywhere inBritain, the Women’s Committee, which she served on from 1983-89. She also served on many of the Council’s other major committees including Police; Leisure;
and Employment and Industry, which she chaired from 1986-88.
Further info on this fantastic achievement from the Council documents:
Lewisham has awarded the Freedom just fifteen times as follows:-
- Alan Milner Smith, former Town Clerk (9 December 1971)
- Fred Winslade, CBE, the first Leader of Lewisham Council (28 November 1975)
- Daisy Hurren, long serving Councillor, (10 October 1985)
- Andy Hawkins, former Leader of the Council (30 March 1990)
- The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, former resident (4 May 1990)
- Terry Waite, CBE (16 November 1992)
- Sybil Phoenix, MBE, Community leader, (8 March 1996)
- Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of St. Christopher’s Hospice (10 March 2000)
- Les Eytle, long serving Councillor, (8 June 2007)
- Dame Doreen Lawrence, founder of the Stephen Lawrence Centre (26 June 2013)
- Dame Erica Pienaar, for services to Education in Lewisham (26 June 2013)
- Dame Joan Ruddock, MP for Deptford 1987 to 2015 (25 November 2015)
- Bridget Prentice, MP for Lewisham East 1992 to 2010 (25 November 2015)
- Sir Ian Mills (2 March 2018)
- Wozzy Brewster (23 March 2018)