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Cheshire
County News
2010/2011
I visited my local school, the Bishop Heber High School in Malpas, a few months before I took Office in April this year. When the Headmaster, David Curry, heard that I was to be High Sheriff of Cheshire in 2010 he saw it as an opportunity for some of his AS level students to help me with my fund raising activities at the same time as working towards their work experience project. The school ran a competition for the AS year asking applicants to submit a 100 word piece on how they would benefit from being in the team and how the team would benefit from their participation. Eight students were selected and they all wished to have event management as their subject for their work experience project.
 It was in this very lucky way that I acquired a team of five girls and three boys (Terri Houston, Hannah Parkinson, Emma Potts, Kitty Lee, Amy Payton-Edwards, Tom Lee, Arthur Morriss and Josh Cason) to help me during my High Sheriff year. They are a particularly bright and enthusiastic group. I had decided to raise money for Cheshire Crimebeat and Fine Cell Work. Crimebeat is very strong and well run in Cheshire, and a group from the Bishop Heber had taken part in the scheme in 2009. The Cheshire Coordinator, Frank Harding, has taken me to some inspiring projects around the county and I have found that Crimebeat is an ideal way for me, as High Sheriff, to see what is being done to involve students in their communities as well as being a perfect vehicle for raising awareness of the Office of High Sheriff in the county.
Fine Cell Work is a national charity that now works in 30 British prisons up and down the country. It was established by Lady Anne Tree in 1990. The charity encourages both independence and rehabilitation for prison inmates by teaching them to stitch needlework, tapestries and quilts in their cells. This is subsequently sold and a share of the proceeds is paid to the prisoners. I had worked as a volunteer in two Staffordshire prisons teaching tapestry to the inmates and it was a most rewarding experience. The work gives both a skill and confidence to the stitchers, some of whom have never ever been praised for their achievements. They are able to earn some money in addition to prison wages, which are minimal, which they can use to help their families or save as a nest egg for their release.
The team helped me plan a series of fund raising lectures at my house, designing the leaflets, posters and application forms. They also helped on the night in a most efficient way. The lectures were given by Nina Campbell, Lars Tharp, Director of the Foundling Museum and garden designer Xa Tollemache. Nina Campbell has designed a beautiful cushion for Fine Cell Work, an acanthus leaf on a pale aqua linen ground. Fine Cell Work had a two-day cushion sale here in Cheshire which the team helped me to organise and run in conjunction with the Nina Campbell lecture. They also assisted in the planning of a dinner to which the Governors of the three Cheshire prisons came. Katy Emck, the Chief Executive of Fine Cell Work, gave a presentation to the guests, who also included those connected or interested in the prison service. Her talk was very well received and the three governors all expressed a keen interest in having the charity active in their prisons.
For my part, I arranged team training days for the Bishop Heber Bolesworth Team through local Cheshire businesses. They went to The Success Factory in Burwardsley for a team building workshop, Global Air Training in Tattenhall (safety procedures for cabin staff and pilots), a morning at Beechdean in Tattenhall (ice cream manufacturers) and a day with celebrity Chef, Brian Mellor, baking bread and feasting on the results. They also had a session with the Cholmondeley Estate learning about their Pageant of Power and with the Bolesworth Estate, who host the Bolesworth Castle Show, Jumping Classic, both of which took place in July this summer. These workshops taught them essential skills such as time management, leadership, marketing, confidentiality, decision making and working as a team, all of which will no doubt stand them in good stead in the future. The Bishop Heber Work Related Co-ordinator, Mrs. Sue Griffith, has been immensely helpful in making all these events work in with the students' school time table, and fortunately their High Sheriff activities have not affected their AS Level results, which were excellent.
There is something very special about the energy and enthusiasm of bright young people. The team have been a huge help me to as well as being a delight to work with. They also ensured that there was plenty of laughter too.
Diana Barbour
High Sheriff of Cheshire 2010/2011
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