Welcome to the High Sheriff of Surrey’s Website

This website will inform you about the High Sheriff’s work and activities during their Shrieval Year. It features the areas of life in Surrey upon which the incumbent focuses, with reports upon, and photographs of, visits made to charities, voluntary groups, agencies and organisations, and events attended. A High Sheriff is appointed personally by the Sovereign and it is an independent, non-political and unpaid office, each occupant funding what they do during their year. It is the oldest secular Office in the UK after the Crown, dating back to Saxon days, when the shire-reeve’s role was one of collecting taxes for the King and preserving the peace. The “millennium” of the Office was celebrated in 1992. Beginning in the Middle Ages, the Judges of Assize were given hospitality and security whilst visiting a county to try felonies, the most serious criminal offences. The Crown Court replaced the Assizes in 1971, and the High Sheriff’s role has since evolved under the aegis of the High Sheriff Association.

The High Sheriff of Surrey for 2025-26 is Peter Cluff – A Trustee of the Community Foundation for Surrey and Chair of Guildford Philanthropy. Peter’s focus as High Sheriff will be to shine a light on young people who are not in education, employment or training (“NEET”). He has commissioned research by the University of Surrey’s Centre for Britain and Europe to examine the different cohorts of young people that are (or who are at risk of becoming) NEET in the County, with a view to developing targeted and earlier interventions, to help ensure these young people have a better economic and social future.