Director and Co-Founder of On Tap Plumbers, Anne Timpany, has received admission to the Freedom of the City of London in The Worshipful Company of Plumbers.

The Freedom of the City of London was originally set up hundreds of years ago for liverymen and associated tradespeople, who could only work if they had the all-important Freedom of the City of London.

Anne attended a Freedom ceremony, which took place in the Chamberlain’s Court Room in the Guildhall. Anne was asked to read aloud the Declaration of a Freeman and sign the Register of Freemen, after which she received her framed Freedom certificate and a book of Rules associated with the position.

Freedom of the City of London is part of becoming a liveryman and, although Anne is already a member of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, her Freedom of the City Certificate will entitle her to progress to becoming a full liveryman.

Anne said: “This is very exciting for me. I know the Freedom of the City certificate is only symbolic but it’s keeping history and tradition alive and I feel really honoured that the Worshipful Company of Plumbers application has been successful.”

The 110 livery companies of the City of London comprise London's ancient and modern trade associations and guilds, almost all of which are styled the "Worshipful Company of..." their respective craft, trade or profession

There are a number of rights traditionally but apocryphally associated with freemen. These include: the right to drive sheep and cattle over London Bridge; a silken rope, if hanged; to carry a naked sword in public; or that if the City of London Police finds a freeman drunk and incapable, they will bundle him or her into a taxi and send them home rather than throw them into a cell.

While sheep have occasionally been driven over London Bridge on special occasions, the rest of these ‘privileges’ are now effectively symbolic.