Each year, the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of past freemen apply to the Lord Mayor of York, through the electoral services office of City of York Council, for the chance to prove their birthright to become freemen. They then come to the Freedom Court, usually held in October, where they will swear the freeman's oath of allegiance to York and the Queen before being presented with their certificates of freedom by the Lord Mayor. With the passing of apprenticeships in crafts and trades, very few freedoms have been claimed from master freemen in recent years. But a stonemason's apprentice, Emma Dexter, did claim her freedom in this way last year. The Gild of Freemen is still very active in the city.
Membership is open to any freeman and a programme of events and activities is arranged each year.
The freemen are invited take part in many civic functions and their services are attended by the York civic party. Roger Lee has been clerk to the gild for many years. In June he will be made Master of the Gild, following in the footsteps of his late father Ron. He says it is an exclusive, but not elitist, organisation. To become a member of the gild, you simply have to be a freeman.