►
|
Home (main)
Warwickshire
Home
County News
Voluntary
Sector Support
High Sheriffs Awards
County History
Links
|
Warwickshire
County News
2009/2010
 “I am the High Sheriff of Warwickshire – please will you give me a lift!”
Within a week of my Declaration I was stuck in traffic on my way to one of Warwickshire’s largest celebrations - Shakespeare’s Birthday and procession. My husband had nobly done a U-turn and sped home to find the hat, leaving me to plead with the rather surprised driver of the car behind. The hat arrived just in time for the procession, with a husband near to having a coronary, after abandoning the car in traffic and running the last half-mile in top hat and tails, clutching my hat.
The year settled down after that and we both found the Shrieval experience deeply interesting and rewarding, as neither of us had had any previous involvement with the organisations that occupy so much of a High Sheriff’s time. It is the perfect role for acquainting oneself with an almost limitless variety of occupations.
I was delighted to have three High Court Judges to entertain. I was also able to sit in on a number of cases including murder, rape and incest trials. I sat with circuit judges, magistrates and attended the coroner’s court. After the latter, we decided we should also attend a post-mortem. We were both so impressed by the professionalism of the remarkably youthful mortuary staff. I suspect the ‘patient’, a suspected suicide, received more care and attention in death than she did in life. I visited three prisons and all the emergency services and in particular spent a fair amount of time with the police. Highlights included two Friday night patrols in Nuneaton, and we now have such respect for how the police deal with all the things that blight today’s society such as drunkenness and loutish behaviour or domestic violence. An afternoon with the traffic police had my heart in my mouth several times, but we came away with great admiration for the professionalism of our hosts.
There have been a number of welcome home parades for the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and the Royal Hussars. It is so heart-warming to see the welcome they receive, with crowded streets of well-wishers. It was, however, on the first occasion rather a shock to be asked to inspect the troops without any warning. Sadly, two of our Warwickshire fusiliers lost their lives in 2009.
 Warwickshire has a very active Crimebeat programme and, as well as fundraising, I have visited a number of the projects and given out over 40 Awards to last year’s winners.
I have had an interesting time visiting the schools and charities involved with children and adults with learning difficulties. There is some really innovative work going on, and it was so moving to see how much progress is being made in this particular area. A charity which stole my heart was The Side by Side Theatre which is now in its 23rd year and has a cast of 80 plus, of whom over forty adults have moderate to severe learning difficulties. Last November they put on a show which was truly remarkable reducing the audience to tears of laughter and joy, sadness and pride.
We have travelled the length and breadth of the County visiting factories, attending Royal visits and supporting the civics wherever we could. As well as my own Legal Service we have much enjoyed attending others and making so many friends amongst other High Sheriffs. Particular points that stand out from the year are: the versatility of all the emergency services - they do so much more than put out fires, chase criminals and rush the sick and injured to hospital; the dedication of so many people in voluntary organisations to filling in the many parts of life that are neglected by others; the appalling number of young people whose upbringing and education has left them so ill equipped to become productive, law-abiding citizens.
In a nutshell: the best year of our lives.
The Lady Kilmaine
High Sheriff of Warwickshire 2009/2010
|
