Cambridge City Council awarded the Honorary Freedom of the City to HMS Protector on Armed Forces Day.

HMS Protector, a Royal Navy ice patrol ship, has been recognised with the honorary title for its ongoing contributions to researching climate change – an issue that the council is committed to tackling.

The Freedom of the City is an honour given by a local council, to either a person or military unit, in recognition of their exceptional service to the city. This recognition highlights the strong and enduring relationship between HMS Protector and Cambridge.

The Royal Navy ice patrol ship is on a continuing mission to uphold the Antarctic Treaty and to uphold the UK’s longstanding commitment to the region, which includes supporting scientific research, wildlife mapping, researching changing climate and the shifting waters of Antarctica.

This supports the work carried out by the Scott Polar Research Institute and the British Antarctic Survey – both based in Cambridge.

The Honorary Freedom was awarded on Saturday 28 June at the Cambridge Military Fair, organised by the Cambridge Veteran’s Club to mark Armed Forces Day. The event was held on Parker’s Piece.

There was a Freedom of the City parade which included servicemen and servicewomen from HMS Protector, Armed Forces veterans and cadets.

The Freedom of the City was presented by Cllr Dinah Pounds, Mayor of Cambridge to Captain Tom Weaver OBE, Commanding Officer of HMS Protector. Thirty crew members from HMS Protector were present at the event, alongside Julie Spence OBE, His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire.

The Mayor was later presented with a signed photo of HMS Protector.

Cllr Dinah Pounds said: “It is an honour to present HMS Protector with the Freedom of the City. We are very grateful for their work and contributions to tackling climate change.

“Tackling climate change is one of our key priorities as a council. We declared a climate change emergency in 2019, and lot of work has gone into making Cambridge city more climate resilient. It’s great to know that we are not alone in this fight and that across the city and across the world, even as far as Antarctica, there is fantastic work taking place, like the work carried out by HMS Protector, which supports research into climate change and its impact on us all.”

“This was a memorable and important day as we also celebrated Armed Forces Day. A big thank you to the organisers of the Armed Forces Day event. This is a wonderful way to show support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community.”

Captain Tom Weaver said, “It is a huge honour to receive the Freedom of the City of Cambridge on behalf of HMS Protector, and I’m delighted that we were able to mark the occasion on Armed Forces Day.

“Cambridge is renowned for its links to polar research and as the Royal Navy’s icebreaker we work closely with institutions based here. I look forward to strengthening the relationship between the ship and city whilst highlighting the work that we do in Antarctica in support of hydrographic survey, upholding the Antarctic Treaty and research into the impacts of climate change and human activity on this vitally important region.”

The Honorary Freedom of a city is the highest honour a council can bestow. The council last awarded an Honorary Freedom in 2011 to the city of Szeged.