Freeman College students create a new Badge of Office

The College, which occupies the historic Sterling Works on Arundel Street in Sheffield, is run by Ruskin Mill Trust and provides innovative and experiential education and training for young people marginalized by disadvantage, exclusion or special learning needs. Its ethos and heritage aspects fit well with Hunter’s remit to work with the community to promote archaeology.

The project had started a year or so before, with discussions about what the Society stands for and how to represent that symbolically. After lots of ideas from the students, the final design shows a laptop computer on top of a pile of books to represent the move into the 21st century. The Badge was cast in pewter and then silver-plated; each link of the chain was made by a different student. It is proudly worn by the President on all formal Society occasions and replaces the stainless steel model made in 1985.