David Stacey, High Sheriff of Shropshire 2015-16

Rehearsals have started and tickets are now on sale for Shropshire Drama Company’s (SDC) forthcoming production of Arthur Miller’s post WW2 classic All My Sons at Theatre Severn, which takes place from 09 to 12 November.

A Shrewsbury musician has just completed a commission from Shropshire Drama Company (SDC), to write and arrange four pieces of music for its forthcoming production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, which takes place at Theatre Severn from 28 to 31 October.

To commemorate 400 years since the passing of arguably the greatest play wright of all time, a Shrewsbury restaurant is hosting an evening of special food, drink and entertainment in honour of William Shakespeare.

Nearly 200 swimmers from across the country took part in the 12th gala organised by Shrewsbury Masters Swimming Club.   The club that I joined after the Severn Mile Swim in an attempt to prevent death by canape. There were classes for competitors of all ages – from 19-year-old Claire Beddow, who was the youngest taking […]

This was always going to be a tough one.   Telford Detachment Cadet Leader, Vicki Ridgewell, had booked me to give a talk about the role and history of the High Sheriff – not a subject that was likely to grab the average 15 year old, and certainly not for the two-and-a-half-hour time slot I was […]

David Hartington is the driving force behind Hands Together, an initiative to bring volunteers, the caring agencies, and local businesses from Ludlow together to see how they can support each other and to help avoid duplication.   Held at the Helena Community Centre there were nibbles and wine and a quiz to break the ice.

What a pleasure to be at the Age UK Christmas lunch to thank volunteers from across the county for all their support. They are an inspiring bunch!

Hope, where Annabel and I live, is part of the Hereford Diocese but being over 50 miles from Hereford we haven’t spent as much time in theCathedral as we would have done were we closer.  Being High Sheriff has created the impetus to get to Hereford more often and to support the never-ending work of […]

You may have seen them around Shrewsbury late at night with their distinctive Street Pastor uniform.   Street Pastors work with pub and club door staff, the police and the ambulance service to make communities safer at night.   We joined the Shrewsbury team, run by the super enthusiastic Steve Jones, on the night that they christened […]

In the afternoon we attended SORI, the restorative justice programme. SORI aims to encourage victim empathy in offenders and motivate them to change their offending behaviour and take responsibility for the harm they have caused. It consists of a four-day victim awareness course, and introduces the principles of restorative justice. The course includes role-plays in […]

HM Prison Featherstone is a Category C men’s prison, located in the village of Featherstone in Staffordshire, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty’s Prison Service.  Annabel and I were given an introduction to the prison and its challenges by Governor Babafemi Dada, the first black prison governor in the UK, and then given […]

The Shrewsbury Bookfest, now in its sixteenth year, brings the world of books and poetry alive for children in Shropshire.  Bookfest Remembers, an evening of readings and music, commemorated the sacrifice made by soldiers of the First World War and celebrated its literary legacy.  Shropshire composer Caz Besterman had, to great effect, set several poems […]

An evening to celebrate the achievements of young people who have worked hard to make a positive difference to the health of their peers and wider communities.  The evening was also the launch of the DiabeatIT Shuffle–the totally dench video that the Health Champions produced to help people understand Type 2 Diabetes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLF52NsYM0o

The Eid and Diwali Mela celebration at the HLC in Telford was put together by Sajid Younis the school’s Community Education Liaison Officer.  A well-supported multicultural event that explained Eid and Diwali and ended up with me learning some Asian dance moves with Police Chief Superintendent Nav Malik.   The £70m HLC opened in 2006 – it […]

Mayor Miles Kenny (aka Maverick) hosted this fund-raiser for his charity – The Shrewsbury Ark – the drop-in centre for homeless and vulnerable people. 

The AGM of a  great charity lead by the impressive Julia Baron.  

Thirty-four school children and twenty-five locals gathered around the British Legion bench by the side of the road at the remote Bentlawnt crossroads.  It was windswept and grey but this slightly eccentric setting only adds to the poignancy of the occasion.  Five children from Hope School read out the names of the dead from both […]

What an extraordinary honour to be part of the service to remember our war dead and to lay a wreath at the war memorial in the Quarry.   We processed from Shrewsbury Castle to St Chads for the service and then into the Quarry for wreath laying and the two-minute silence.  We ended with a march […]

The great thing about the legal services is that I am going to cathedrals and churches that I haven’t been to before and seeing them at their best with large congregations and, usually, choirs.   Processing is fun too.  It was a pleasure to be there to support Bill Holroyd. 

There is a bug going round, a laryngitis bug, and I had it.  Apologies to everyone there who had to listen to my rasping voice.   I am not sure I made much sense after four Lemsip Max.