Peacock Wins Posthumous Freedom of the Borough — Mfc

mfc marked a posthumous tribute to Alan Peacock on 6 May, when Middlesbrough awarded him the Freedom of the Borough at Middlesbrough Town Hall. Diane Symington accepted the town’s highest civic honour on his behalf, with Harry and Luca beside her.

Peacock died in June at the age of 87, but the council’s gesture put his name back at the centre of the town he served as a player and later as a dementia campaigner. He scored 140 goals for Middlesbrough and won six caps for England, numbers that explain why his football record still carries weight.

Middlesbrough Town Hall honours Peacock

The award followed a unanimous decision by Middlesbrough Council last May, after Dr Tosh Warwick nominated Peacock for the honour. Warwick called him “Alan was a true local legend whose influence continued long after his playing career came to an end.”

That wider influence came after Peacock was diagnosed with dementia in 2018. He volunteered as an ambassador at Middlesbrough football club and worked to raise awareness of dementia as part of the club’s dementia-friendly approach.

Dementia work reached 1,000 people

The council said Peacock engaged with more than 1,000 people living with dementia during his time as an ambassador for the club, which turns his post-playing role into the sharper part of this honour. Chris Cooke said Peacock’s work after his footballing career ended “was no less important”, and added that “Alan Peacock was enormously proud of his home town and that feeling was reciprocated.”

A spokesperson said dementia-friendly training is now an annual requirement for the football club, so the work Peacock helped shape is embedded rather than symbolic. That leaves his family carrying the honour in public, while the club’s routine now includes a training obligation tied to the approach he supported.

Diane Symington said: “Dad was born and bred in Middlesbrough and he was so proud of his roots here so this would have meant the world to him.” She added: “He was such a passionate advocate for Middlesbrough and its people - I just wish he could have been here.”

The award now fixes Peacock’s place in the town’s civic record, but the unresolved question is whether Middlesbrough will build on the annual dementia-friendly training and the work he helped normalise.