V-J Day – 80th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service

Suzanne and I were honoured to be at the ’80th Anniversary of Victory in Japan’ Day Service of Thanksgiving at Guildford.

It was a poignant reminder of the sacrifice made by so many in the Pacific field of combat which ultimately led to the surrender of the Japanese forces and the end of the Second World War. The service was led by The Very Reverend Bob Cooper, Dean of Guildford, who also gave a very thought-provoking sermon on both the personal sacrifices made and the necessity of the terrible decision to use atomic weapons to shorten the conflict.

The service was attended by the Lord-Lieutenant, his wife Sarah, the Vice Lord-Lieutenant and a number of Deputy Lieutenants, the deputy Mayor of Guildford, the deputy Chair of Surrey County Council and both my and the Lord-Lieutenant’s cadets. Colonel (retired) Patrick Crowley MBE DL addressed the congregation on the Victory in Japan Day 1945, and the Act of Remembrance was spoken by Brigadier Paul Evans OBE DL before the Last Post was sounded and a two minute silence observed.

Brigadier (Retired) David Neal then said the Kohima Epitaph before the National Anthem and the Blessing by The Bishop of Guildford.

Four Teams wanted for the High Sheriff Youth Awards Charity Golf Day 2025.

West Hill Golf Club in Brookwood, Woking is once again the venue for this year’s High Sheriff’s Golf Day which is set for the 4th September and there are still a few team spaces available! We would also welcome any auction prizes that would help us to continue supporting young people in Surrey.

The stunning heathland course, designed in 1909, is an impressive course, guaranteeing a memorable and challenging day! Teams will compete for the Challenge Trophy, in a four-ball betterball Stableford competition with further “on course” competitions including a Hole in One opportunity to win £10,000 to be shared equally with the charity.

The Headline Sponsor this year is last years winning team – ‘Seymours – the Award winning Estate Agents, who are pictured below receiving the trophy from HSYA Chairman Mr Richard Whittington. Seymours are a leading independent estate agents with twenty offices across Surrey and Middlesex which are owned and run by local Partners who have the community at their heart. Partner, Franco Orlando commented “We had a fantastic time last year at West Hill Golf Club and would like to thank the organisers for a most enjoyable day, all the more gratifying knowing that we were also raising funds for worthy causes.”

After breakfast, there will be a shotgun start with time to socialise after your round before a 3-course dinner, which will also involve a high-quality auction conducted to raise funds for our young people.

Last year’s event raised in excess of £23,000 for the High Sheriff Youth Awards, established in 1993 by a committee of dedicated individuals which support the young people of Surrey. The Youth Awards scheme raises around £50,000 per annum, given in grants to those young persons who have produced the best projects about Law and Order, Crime Prevention and how to combat Anti-Social behaviour – with the aim of helping young people make Surrey safer and groups that support the wellbeing of young people in the county. The focus is upon helping vulnerable, at-risk young people, whose numbers have, sadly, increased in recent years due to the pandemic and cost of living crisis.

You can find out more about the work of the High Sheriff Youth Awards at http://www.surreyhighsheriff.org

The High Sheriff of Surrey – Mr Peter Cluff adds, “I am looking forward to this event – one of the highlights in the High Sheriffs calendar. I attended the event last year which was graced with good weather – it is a little bit later this time so fingers crossed the sun will be out and it is a such a beautiful course, one of the best in the County! I also very much look forward to the auction and of course the dinner which will be excellent! There are only spaces left for four teams, so get in touch to come and enjoy a great day whilst supporting those young people who need it.”

A team of 4 players is £1,000, Non-playing dining guests are welcome at £65 each and if you would like to support the event you can sponsor the hole in one opportunity for £500, a hole at £250 or bid for one of the fabulous auction prizes. Contact julianwakeling@aol.com for more information or call him on. 07595916444.

#surreygolf #golfinsurrey #charitygolf #westhillgolfclub #woking #brookwood #Surrey #HighSheriffYouthAwards #silentauction #HighsheriffofSurrey #BBCRadioSurrey @SurreyHillsRadio #VisitSurrey #TheSurreyLieutenancy #SurreyLive #STEPSSurrey #seymoursestateagents

Photos by Andy Newbold.

Nathalie Scott – A Talented Guildford Artist’s Work Featured in the National Portrait Gallery.

I had an wonderful outing to the National Portrait Gallery last week in the company of one of the exhibiting artists. Nathalie Scott is a Surrey based artist, many will know for her wonderful mural on a wall in Chapel Street Guildford or her marvellous series of paintings and drawings of the Faces of Guildford. 

I was fortunate enough to be one of her subjects but not fortunate enough to be the one chosen for exhibiting in the National Portrait Gallery. The attached picture was entered into the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2025 and was one of only 46 selected from 1,314 entries from 61 countries.

Nathalie is also one of the judges at the inaugural Guildford Festival of the Arts which is taking place on September 25th-28th this year. It will host art exhibitions, pop-up installations, workshops, talks and an art trail taking in 16 venues across town from G-Live to the Yvonne Arnaud. More information can be found here https://www.guildfordfestivalofthearts.co.uk

A Drawing of the High Sheriff on display in Guildford’s Jigsaw store by Nathalie Scott

Wine Walk Raised over £17k for Two Great Causes!

On June 21st I undertook, quite non-sensibly really in 30+ degree temperatures, with 14 other hardy souls, a 21 mile walk up and down the Surrey Hills connecting five vineyards:- Greyfriars, Chilworth Manor, Albury, High Clandon and Denbies (and not forgetting one brewery too – the Tillingbourne Brewery).

The intention was to both raise awareness at the start of English Wine Week of the fantastic vineyards we have in our County and also raise money for two good causes:- the High Sheriff Youth Awards and Guildford Philanthropy. I am immensely gratefully to everyone who supported us and now having counted all the donations I am delighted to announce we raised a remarkable £14,050 to split equally between the two great causes. Also, Guildford Borough Council kindly match-funds 50% all donations to Guildford Philanthropy which pushes the overall fund-raise to £17,562.

I would like to give huge thanks to Richard Game of Cressive DX (one of Guildford Philanthropy’s founding Corporate Ambassadors) and Andy Crossley (Panel Member of Guildford Philanthropy) for their support in organising the event, and Andy Newbold for the photos and protein bars on the day!

Next Steps for NEETs - August 2025 Update

Next Steps for NEETS – August 2025 Update.

As I have previously related, a High Sheriff in their Shreval year can help shine a light on a particular issue and for me it is to highlight the number of young people who reach the age of 16-18 and are not in education, employment or training (NEET). On average in Surrey over recent years some 8.4% of young people in that age group each year are NEET or their status is unknown. Whilst not as high as some other parts of the UK, it still amounts to over 1,400 young people a year. I started my year by commissioning a research report by the Centre For Britain and Europe at the University of Surrey as part of a discovery process to ascertain the different cohorts that make up this NEET population and the interwoven factors that are at play. We have since then held three conferences inviting all stakeholders in the space to share their knowledge, data, experience and ideas with a view to finding collaborative solutions through earlier or alternative intervention. Prevention is better than cure both socially and economically. I attach a link below to the latest output, again produced by the Centre for Britain and Europe (CBE), which summarises our discovery progress to data, details the discussions and outcomes from the latest conference and outlines next steps. I am extremely grateful to Professor Amelia Hadfield and her team at CBE for their continued support and diligence, and also to everyone else who has contributed to the initiative so far.

https://www.surrey.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2025-08/NEETS-Insights-to-Actions.pdf

Citizenship Ceremony in Reigate.

On August 11th I was delighted to preside over four British Citizenship Ceremonies, back to back at Surrey County Council’s offices in Reigate.

It was rather warm to be wearing three layers of velvet and black stockings but that was on the only downside of a most enjoyable day. Suzanne and I enjoyed meeting with our newest citizens and their families, hearing their many stories and joining in with their excitement.

A special mention must go to the team who put on the ceremony, ensure all the paperwork is correctly assembled and make sure everything passes off without a hitch. I am pictured here with Debbie, Jo and Matt.

An Encouraging Update from FareShare.

You may have read my blog earlier this month about our visit to the Fareshare facility in Guildford – a vital service that provides food supplies to charities in the Guildford area. They have just forwarded me their recently published impact report which contains some encouraging figures which I thought I would share with you – you can find out more about FareShare which serves three southern counties at: https://fareshare.org.uk

In Surrey last year, FareShare Sussex & Surrey served 60 different charities and community groups who received food totalling 802 tonnes, feeding 6,900 weekly beneficiaries, and saving charities £5,040,744 in food costs.

Across the three counties, FareShare Sussex & Surrey served 248 different charities and community groups who received food totalling 2,651 tonnes!. This equates to 6.26 million meals which fed 28,520 weekly beneficiaries, saving charities £16,537,824 in food costs

2,422 tonnes of Co2 were also saved and 728 different volunteers donated a total of 32,963 hours!

I think you will agree that FareShare are doing an incredible job and not only helping to eradicate hunger in the UK. They are also doing more than their bit to help the environment. A big thank you must go to the volunteers too. 

If you would like to help – please donate at; https://fareshare.givingpage.org/fuller-lives

A Change of Scene for Young People who Struggle to Cope in a School Environment.

What a lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon, petting alpacas, black-faced sheep and goats. Not to mention giant tortoises and a lovely pig called Truffle!. Suzanne and I were being shown around Change of Scene’s assisted outdoor learning facility near Farnham by their CEO, Pam Robinson. They have been based here for 17 years working with young people who struggle to cope in a school environment. Working 1-2-1 with a key worker, learning to care for the 16 species of animals helps them gain the skills and confidence necessary to return to sustainable education and break the cycle of exclusion. For the last couple of years there has been a growing seem of concern as there is a need to depart form their current location in the next few months and despite a number of near misses an alternative location appeared to be beyond their reach. But fortunately, following publicity gained from a BBC a new home will shortly be unveiled, bringing a huge sense of relief to the team at Change of Scene and the 165 young people past and present who have benefitted from spending time with them.

Positive Prisoner Rehabilitation in Kent – The Glasshouse.

Suzanne and I were delighted to be invited by The High Sheriff of Kent, Jonathan Neame, and his wife Lucie to accompany them on a visit to The Glasshouse; a charity that grows and nurtures extraordinary plants with women serving in UK prisons providing horticultural training and employment support with the aim to reduce reoffending and support second chances. We had the opportunity to meet Katie, the CEO, and with women who were on a programme devised by The Glasshouse. They work four days a week on release from HMP East Sutton Park, returning to the prison each evening. They learn transferrable skills working in the plant shop in Cranbrook, the nearby warehouse, which stores the plants short term before delivering to either online clients or  one of their 34 office clients up in London, or they travel up to London to carry out plant maintenance services on the plants bought by their office clients. 

At any one time The Glasshouse will have 5 or 6 female prisoners going through their programme and the intention is to have a job available for them on their release. To date they have helped 30 women and none have reoffended. One lady who now works for them explained how her life was turned around by the skills taught whilst in prison and the offer a job on release.

The Glasshouse in 2024 and 2025 exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show each time winning a gold medal with the staff and prisoners working side by side. This year they worked with Jo Thompson, one of the UK’s celebrated garden designers, who created The Glasshouse Garden, incorporating some of the features the women said they missed in prison including running water, fragrant smells and the beauty of nature. The installation has now been mover and installed at HMP Down View in Surrey where it can be enjoyed in the open part of the prison.

A Visit to an Open Prison in Kent

Suzanne and I have visited three prisons already in Surrey during my Shrieval year so far but on Friday July 25th we were invited by the High Sheriff of Kent, Jonathan Neame, and his wife Lucie to accompany them on a visit to HMP East Sutton Park an open prison near Maidstone in Kent. It is housed in over 80 acres including a Jacobean manor house and has no walls or fences. Women at East Sutton Park generally have three years or less to serve on their sentence and they are given the opportunity to work on the farm at the prison or to go out on day release with local employers; giving them more freedom and interaction with people ahead of leaving prison. Currently there are 80 women at East Sutton Park and over 60 are participating in ROTL (Release on Temporary Licence) schemes. The women are released four days a week returning each evening to the prison. 

The prison governor, Amy Dixon, is also the prison governor of HMP Downview in Surrey and The Glasshouse charity (which we had visited earlier in the day) has been involved with both prisons. They work with some of the women at East Sutton Park who are allowed out on ROTL, teaching them employability skills and helping to prepare them for life after release. The Glasshouse teaches horticulture skills to 5 or 6 women at a time and offers them permanent employment on their release. They are looking to expand their operations to other women’s prisons where ROTL schemes operate and hopefully this will include HMP Downview.

https://www.prisonadvice.org.uk/prisons/hmp-east-sutton-park