16. Sheep driving

Coming from Wiltshire, I reckoned there wasn’t much I wanted to know about driving sheep. Having avoided the privilege of driving sheep over London Bridge for several years (as a Freeman’s right to avoid taxes on livestock), I succumbed on 27 September. Dress code was open, so I wore my gardening kit. Plenty of other Masters dressed up with gowns and jewellery. And so I adopted a low profile but I managed my sheep rather well, with a some help from genuine shepherds and docile sheep.

In reserve were half a dozen sheepdogs, sitting, well behaved, and licking their chops(!). Having saved myself sheep tax, I had to pay for the privilege. The drive was organised by the Woolmen, assisted by the Society of Young Freemen and the Mamont Foundation. My thanks go to them for a busy afternoon. It’s a strange thing to want to do but, in reality, very enjoyable. Some people even brought their own sheep (the Master Plumber, for example).
Being properly dressed is everything. Here I am (in the raincoat and explorer’s hat) giving advice about the best way to shift them over the Bridge.

It ended well, and raised a lot of money for the Lord Mayor’s Charity Appeal and the Woolmen’s Charitable Trust. It was reported that over 800 Freemen of the City exercised their rights, including Barbara Windsor.