High Sheriff of Powys Declaration

Friday April 21st
To the Judge’s Lodgings in Presteigne for the Declaration of the new High Sheriff of Powys, Sue Thompson. The ceremony took place in the beautifully restored Victorian Courthouse where the Declaration in the even older Prayer Book English sounded quite at home. Fittingly, the blessing by the High Sheriff’s Chaplain was in both English and Welsh. I reflected on how the start of each county’s High Sheriff’s year is different. In Powys, the High Sheriff has to say what she intends to do in her year; with us (I am glad to say) the speech is retrospective. In Herefordshire, the Declaration takes place in the secular surroundings of a courtroom; but in Gloucestershire the Declaration happens as part of a Cathedral Service (and is combined with the Legal Service, which for us comes halfway through the year).