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City of Bristol
County News
2011/2012
For the past ten years the High Sheriff of Bristol has organized a concert in Bristol Cathedral, profits from which are shared between the cathedral and Bristol Youth Community Action which has essentially the same aims as Crimebeat. My planning for the year ahead started a year before I took Office; I secured the band of the Grenadier Guards for the concert and enlisted the help of Philip Wilby, Emeritus Professor of Music at Leeds University and a noted conductor and composer for brass bands. Bristol already has a city fanfare but I asked Philip to compose one for my concert, which he did using intervals of 3, 2, 5 because the Grenadier Guards were celebrating their 325th anniversary. He was so enthused that he added a fugue – and in September last year he and I went up to London to hear the band recording the fanfare for their CD. I was allowed to sit, very quietly, next to one of the French horns and it was, needless to say, a thrilling experience.
I also asked the outreach section of the Bristol Ensemble to create a short musical interlude using children from a school in a challenging area of South Bristol. Most of the children had no musical background and none had ever been to the cathedral – and they were certainly not used to seeing a man in tights walking round their school. The morning spent there, visiting every classroom, was memorable. The boys all wanted to hold the sword; at one point one was rushed out of the room, bleeding, and we could just see the headlines in the local paper … fortunately it was a nosebleed and nothing to do with me. I gave each one a medal inscribed with the date and title of the concert.
The concert was a sell-out and raised just short of £19,000. We made grants to 31 activity schemes for the summer holidays, amounting to £40,000 and Sue and I visited 22 of them during August (which we had been told was the quiet month). Again these were very rewarding occasions and we were able to talk to the children and the dedicated people who run the schemes. I’m not sure whether the children always grasped exactly who we were: Nadia, aged nine, went home and told her parents that the king and queen had popped in to see them!
The recession bites and Bristol City Council is no longer able to organize Legal Sunday so I have taken this on, writing to all the judiciary in the area, other High Sheriffs, solicitors and magistrates and trying to find funding for the various aspects like printing, the reception, the City Trumpeter and the Lord Mayor’s coach and mace-bearers. This has been extremely time-consuming and was not a task which had to be undertaken by my predecessors. All the strands will come together on 16th October, I hope.
I regard support for the police as a basic tenet of my Office. Therefore I have visited every police unit in Bristol, eight with two to go, and have been fascinated by the technological advances in detection. We took four of our grandchildren to see how they train the horses and dogs, I went out in a patrol car in the city centre on a Saturday night, up in a helicopter and went through the custody suite procedure as a prisoner. We have also enjoyed meeting and entertaining the High Court Judges and, in my case, sitting with them.
Halfway through and we are never bored.
Dr John Cottrell
High Sheriff of Bristol
Themes for the year and High Sheriff’s Fund
First, I want to get a detailed picture of the work of the police in Bristol as they are heavily engaged in youth and community projects as a major part of their strategy for crime prevention. To this end I have arranged, with the endorsement of the Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police, an extensive programme of visits to every unit in the County. Armed with a deeper understanding of their objectives and progress, I hope to be able to speak with authority to a wider audience in promoting the positive value of their work among young people.
Secondly, I want to help, where I can, with some outstanding work going on in unexpected places to introduce young children in Bristol to music-making. The importance of these projects in engaging young minds, building self-esteem, and articulating ideas and emotions that words cannot express, is immeasurable. They have a direct bearing on steering children away from ant-social and criminal behaviour, and that is a significant function of the High Sheriff.
The High Sheriff’s Fund is the principal charity which supports the work of the High Sheriff through grants particularly to activity schemes as described in the Voluntary Sector page.
Declaration
My Declaration pursuant to S.7 of the Sheriffs Act 1887 was made at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday 22nd March, 2011 before Mr. Justice Burnett QC, Queen’s Bench Division. The ceremony was preceded by breakfast on the Glass Boat. Those present included the Lord-Lieutenant, the Lord Mayor, the Dean of Bristol, the Chief Constable, our sons, daughters-in-law, other members of our family and friends. Our newest grandchild, Georgina, aged 5 months, it was noted by the judge, was probably the youngest witness ever to a Declaration.
 
Events
Since the Declaration I have attended:
• A performance of Die Fledermaus by the Welsh National Opera at the Bristol Hippodrome accompanied by Mr. Justice Burnett.
• A Gala performance of The Yeoman of the Guard as guests of the Bristol Gilbert and Sullivan Society
• Bristol Festival of School Sport and Culture as guests of the University of Bristol
• Trinity Road police station as part of my programme of police visits
• Dinner at the judges’ lodgings hosted by Mr. Justice Burnett
• The Colston Hall for “Live and Unsigned”, the final of a competition organized by Avon and Somerset Police for bands of young people with a slot at the Glastonbury Festival for the winner
• “The Walk of Fame” organized by Bristol Zoo to celebrate 40 Bristol icons e.g. SS Great Britain, Concorde, Wallace and Gromit, Cary Grant, Paul Dirac
I have also spent a day in court with Mr. Justice Burnett and visited holiday activity schemes which received grants from Bristol Youth Community Action (BYCA – see Voluntary Sector page), chaired by the High Sheriff in office.
A major forthcoming event is the High Sheriff’s Gala Concert on Friday 17th June in Bristol Cathedral with the Band of the Grenadier Guards and a young Bristol soprano, Josephine Goddard.
This programme in Filwood, south Bristol, is aimed at 8-13 year olds using sport to engage young people positively. Around 30 % of attendees will be known to local police, Social Services and other local agencies. In addition to sports coaches, the grant supports a breakfast club as many will have had nothing to eat since the previous day.
One of many activity schemes receiving grants from Bristol Youth Community Action funded by the High Sheriff's Fund.
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