SUMMARY OF MY HIGH SHERIFF YEAR

I ended my year on the 7th April 2010 by handing the Office over to James Ronald Carr DL. After the Ceremony there was a lunch in the Council Chambers at Carlisle, hosted by the Chairman of the Cumbria County Council, Cllr Roger Bingham. Before lunch there were speeches and I thanked the Chairman for the luncheon we were about to eat. I thanked the two Under Sheriffs, Hugh FitzGerald and Anthony Fitch for their help during the year and also thanked Kasey Grainger, (Hugh FitzGerald's secretary). I thanked my Chaplain, The Revd James Richards, for everything he had done for me and previous High Sheriffs, Graham Lamont and Claire Hensman. I also thanked Adam Naylor for nominating me five years beforehand.

I also thanked my husband who has been the most tremendous support to me and enjoyed the Year enormously.

I also thanked Her Hon Judge Barbara Forrester and Mrs Mary McArdle for presiding at the Ceremony and His Hon Judge Paul Batty for all his kindness. I was sorry that His Hon Judge Hughes and District Judge Park and Judge Simon Smith were not there. And also Allison Robinson and various members of staff from the Court who were unable to be there.

I only had visits from two High Court Judges during the year, the Hon Mr Justice Irwin and Sir David Clarke, who presided at the Judge's Service.

I was very sorry that arrangements I had made for the Magistrates to be part of the Cathedral Service fell through in 2009, but His Hon Judge Batty has very kindly said that the Bench Chairmen will be part of the service for 2010 onwards.

the Judge's Service was very special and my thanks go to the Dean of Carlisle - The Very Reverend Mark Boyling and his staff for all their help, and Jeremy Suter for the wonderful music, and Philip Hill for his special help with music for the service.

I was very fortunate to start my year with a dinner at Lancaster University arranged by Professor Paul Wellings and his wife Annette, which lead to a special visit by Princess Alexander to Muncaster Castle to attend a gathering of people from local Charities. As with all Royal Visits, Christine Child and Sandra Peacock arranged everything to perfection.

We also had three visits from The Prince of Wales, 1 from The Princess Royal and another from The Duke of Gloucester.

I knew very little about the work of the Mayors - the 'Chain Gang' as they call themselves and was very impressed with all that they do. And it has been especially nice to work with people nearer home such as Cllr Roger Bingham, the Chairman of Cumbria County Council, John Bateson - The Major of Kendal and Jonathan Brook - The Chief Executive of South Lakeland District Council. It has been extremely interesting to learn more about my own area.

My main theme throughout the year has been to get communities together and to this end we visited HM Prison at Haverigg, Sellafield, Energus at Lillyhall, James Cropper's Mill at Burneside, The Pencil Factory at Lillyhall, BAE Systems and lastly Innovia Films Limited at Workington. These visits were not only interesting but very well received by people who visited as in most cases they had no prior knowledge of these very special Industries in Cumbria.

I would like to express my special thanks to the Cunbria Constabulary and the Fire Service at Cockermouth. Both Chief Constable Craig Mackey and Dominic Harrison the Chief Fire Officer gave me tremendous support.

I would also like to thank Bishop James, now the Bishop of Carlisle, for letting me use Rydal Hall for our two summer parties which were a great success.

Finally, I began to feel over my Year that the Office of High Sheriff would be more effective if there was greater continuity. To this end I invited James Carr to shadow me during the last few weeks of my Office. He was delighted to do so and we both believe it would be a very good thing if this was to continue.

To this end, one of the things that James is concentrating on most particularly is integrating the work of the National Crimebeat Fund with The Community Foundation. The idea to ensure continuity is to meet on an annual basis with a group consisting of past, present and future High Sheriffs and the Police and Community Safety Officer, with The Community Foundation taking on the Secretariat Role.

I would like to thank the Lord Lieutenant and Mrs Cropper for always being there for advice or help whenever it was needed.

I could go on as I met so many wonderful helpful people but they are too numerous to mention.

Lastly, I would like to mention my wonderful PA, Katy Glass, and thank her most sincerely for all her hard work and enthusiasm. I couldn't have managed without her or enjoyed everything as much as I have. We have shared a lot of laughter.