A HAND-finished ‘Freedom Certificate’ will be presented to The Rifles when the regiment marches through Wellington in a fortnight’s time on Saturday, June 17.

The certificate has been designed by local artist and former Wellington town councillor James Hunt, who runs Illuminated Designs.

Mr Hunt has hand-finished the certificate with gold leaf and it will be given by the town council to the British Army’s largest infantry regiment to seal the awarding of the Freedom of the Town.

Granting the freedom to the The Rifles gives the regiment the right to march through the town with ‘bugles sounding and bayonets fixed’.

June 17 will see riflemen from the 5th and 6th Battalions of The Rifles, based in Bulford, Wiltshire, and across the Westcountry, marching through the town centre accompanied by The Salamanca Band and Bugles, and local cadets, Reservists, and veterans.

After the parade, a reception will be held in Wellington School for local dignitaries, including the Mayor and councillors of Wellington, the Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Somerset, and representatives from The Rifles.

The Freedom of Wellington has only once before been awarded, in 2011 in recognition of the voluntary work and commitment to the community of retired teacher Richard Fox.

Wellington War Memorial, in Wellington Park, contains 49 names of Somerset Light Infantry fallen.
Wellington War Memorial, in Wellington Park, contains 49 names of Somerset Light Infantry fallen. ( )

Mr Hunt also designed and made the ‘Freedom Certificate’ which was presented to Mr Fox on that occasion.

The honour of granting a ‘Freedom’ to military regiments dates to the medieval age, when a town or city’s municipality would award it to a military unit which had earned its trust.

It allowed the units to freely parade through the streets, itself a symbol of the bond between the regiment and the citizens of the town.

Today, the significance of the honour is ceremonial, although regiments are still permitted and invited to march through the town on occasions.

The freedom of a town is traditionally granted to regiments which hold ties with a community, either through historical battles or being a location in which it gains many of its recruits.

In the case of Wellington and The Rifles, there are ties in both respects.

The historical connection dates to the Peninsular Wars and to the famous Battle of Waterloo, where Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington led antecedent Rifles units against the French forces of Napoleon.

The Somerset Light Infantry, one of the forming regiments of The Rifles, recruited from the Wellington area for many years, especially during the First and Second World Wars.

Wellington’s War Memorial, on the town’s park, bears the names of 49 infantrymen from this regiment alone, with many more casualties from other regiments which later merged to become The Rifles.