TWO “women of distinction” in their chosen careers have been sworn-in as freemen of their home city.

Joanne Booth and Sheila Kitson have been installed to the ranks of Durham City Freemen at its May Guild Day at the Town Hall.

Mrs Booth has risen to become a top European marketing professional and advertising campaign strategist, while Mrs Kitson has worked as a hospital sister and emergency nurse practitioner.

In the case of globe-trotting Ms Booth, it sees her follow in the footsteps of her father, John, who is chairman of the wardens of the freemen, while the installation of Mrs Kitson as a Lady Freeman is an honour made only twice in the past.

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Ms Booth, 50, has worked with five of the country’s biggest companies, including advertising giants Saatchi& Saatch, as well as with internationally branded products, among them Unilever, P&G, Philips, Samsung, Coca Cola and John West.

Her expertise has won her honours across Europe, including gold and silver “Effie Awards”, prestigious accolades recognised as a symbol of global achievement.

She said: “There are few parts of the world I have not visited and the ‘Effie’ awards are made after the evaluation and effectiveness of strategies in advertising.

“They are the equivalent of winning an Olympic medal.”

In the near future she will be one of five judges tasked with running the rule over submissions of a dozen European universities, two in the south of England, who have been commissioned by toy building brick maker Lego to focus on the creativity and effectiveness of marketing.

The winners are to be identified next week and will attend the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Before stepping into the world of advertising she read English and History at London University before going on to complete a Masters’ Degree at Warwick University on the history of the Renaissance.

She is now a freelance strategic director in marketing, living in West Yorkshire, but she still finds time to indulge her personal passion in travel and anthropology.

Last year she spent time in the Sahara Desert living with the Wodabee tribe and in 2019 she was a guest of 16 native tribes gathered in the tiny West African country of Benin for their annual Ouidah Voodoo Festival.

“It was truly fascinating, they were lovely people,” she said.

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Despite the demands on her she is a regular visitor to her dad’s home near Durham, where she happily lends a hand with the administrative chores which go with his office.

Her younger sister Rachel is an NHS matron working in Northumberland.

For Mrs Kitson, the invitation to become a Lady Freemen came, “out of the blue” and was initiated in recognition of her work in academic research with the freemen’s local history group, as well helping husband Geoff with his contributions as the freemen’s official photographer.

Although born in a maternity home in Croxdale, near Durham, her family hails from Gilesgate and her forebears, in the Arckless family, ran a painting and decorating business in the city.

Upon leaving Durham Girls Grammar School, Sheila worked first as a nursing cadet at the then Dryburn Hospital and followed with three years of formal nurse training at the Durham group of hospitals.

She retired from the now County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust at the age of 60 after completing 43 years of service.

During her career she led a North-East group of nurses in a national project for emergency nurse competencies in practice, on behalf of the Royal College of Nursing and completed a Bachelor of Science Degree at Teesside University.

Her arrival as a newly-installed freeman boosts the family’s tally of membership to eight.

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She joins husband Geoff, son Leighton, daughter Alison, son-in-law Adam, brothers-in-law Stephen Kitson and Melvin Wortley and niece Katherine Wortley.

“I was absolutely delighted when I was invited to join the freemen.

“It was not something I never expected," she said.