A CHARITY champion has been bestowed with a historic honour giving him the right to drive sheep over London Bridge.

Dave Bagley, chief executive and founder of homelessness charity Urban Outreach, has been given the Freedom of the City of London, which would traditionally entitle him to a range of privileges also including the right to be drunk in public and go about the city with a drawn sword.

The honour, which Mr Bagley hopes to travel to London to collect before Christmas, came after he was also made a member of the Goldsmiths Company, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies and where an ancestor of his was a jeweller.

Although many of the rights associated with the freedom of the city no longer apply, it is still an annual custom in the Capital for freemen to herd sheep back and forth over the bridge.

Mr Bagley hopes his new status will be of benefit to the people of Bolton, as it opens up new networking opportunities.

He said: “I have an ancestor who was a jeweller in the Goldsmiths Company and, a couple of years ago, I was contacted by them and asked if I wanted to become a member.

“I went along with it because they have a big charitable arm that I thought it would be good to be connected with.

“Then I was told that I could also be put forward for the Freedom of the City of London.

“It entitles you to all sorts of weird and wonderful things, including taking sheep over London Bridge once a year.

“For me, it is more about the networking opportunities it can provide.

“Everything is still very London-centric, even with devolution, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to open some new doors for us.

“It is an opportunity to take Bolton to London and keep telling everyone what a top town we have here.”

Urban Outreach, which is well known in Bolton for its packed lunches scheme for youngsters as well as its work with vulnerable adults and the homeless, was given the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service earlier this year.

The charity was also recently awarded £490,000 from the Big Lottery’s Help Through Crisis fund to assist the continuation of its work.

Mr Bagley added: “I’m not entirely sure why I have been chosen for these honours, whether it is something to do with what I have done with Urban Outreach and they have seen what I could offer to the City of London.

“What I can bring to them will hopefully benefit a lot of people.

“There is a lot that goes on in London that we miss out on, so I hope I can help connect some of that to Bolton. You don’t know what kind of new doors this could open, there is a lot of potential.”

The Freedom of London was first awarded in 1237 and remains closely tied with membership of the City Livery Companies, London’s ancient and modern trade associations and guilds.