Volunteering to be the focus for Shropshire's new High Sheriff

The Hon. Selina Graham will take over the role from Tony Morris-Eyton on April 8.

Mrs Graham will follow in the footsteps of her mother, Baroness Forester, who 25 years ago became the county's first female High Sheriff.

Mrs Graham, 53, was born and raised in the county, before attending boarding school in Oxfordshire.

After graduating from Durham University and Chester Law School she went to work as a solicitor in London.

She married her husband Ian, a farmer from Zimbabwe in 1998, and farmed ostriches and paprika in Zimbabwe, where she also set up a painting-holiday business.

Mrs Graham returned to Shropshire 20 years ago, where she has been involved with running the family estate in Willey, near Broseley.

The couple have two children, Henry, 21, who is studying engineering at Exeter University, and Emma, 20, who starts at The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in May.

Mrs Graham is involved in a number of voluntary organisations in the county, and said she wanted to make of volunteering a major focus for her term of office.

"The role is incredibly varied and far-reaching and I am looking forward to exploring the county and getting under its skin, connecting people and connecting with people, and championing volunteering in all its guises."

She said she wanted to make more people aware of the pleasure that volunteering can give, as well as the mental health benefits, the social and life skills, and career opportunities.

Mrs Graham said one of her earliest experiences of volunteering was working in a homeless shelter in Kings Cross in her early 20s.

In her 30s she sat on the Wildlife Society committee in Zimbabwe, where she also raised funds for and built a school on a farm outside Raffingora.

On her return to Shropshire, she has served as a trustee of the Lady Forester Centre in Broseley, Preston Trust Homes, and Slaneys Almshouses.

She is also a member of the Willey village hall committee, the Broseley Partnership, Zac’s Brave Battle, and county president of St John Ambulance.

Mrs Graham helped to found Barrow 1618, the only free school in Shropshire, and served as chairman of governors.

She is also a trustee of Weston Park Foundation, chairman of Shropshire Country Land and Business Association, and chairman of the Cavalier Centre which provides horse-riding for the disabled.

She has also raised more than £2 million for charity over the past 20 years.

The office of High Sheriff is the oldest in the country, apart from that of the Crown, dating back to 943AD.

Mrs Graham said she was well aware that in that historic context her term of office represented "barely the blinking of an eye", but said she was very excited to be taking on the role.

As well as her mother, she has several other ancestors who have held the post in centuries, gone by, including John Welde in 1642, Francis Forester in 1652, George Weld in 1746 and Lt Col Hon Francis Henry Cecil Weld-Forester in 1936.

She added: "Shropshire is the most wonderful county with a rich cultural history, and industrial heritage, beautiful market towns and villages and stunning countryside.

"But it is its people who are the beating heart – and its people who can make such a difference, and indeed need to make such a difference, in this post-Covid world of retrenchment, mental health issues and food and fuel poverty."

She said she would be placing particular emphasis on two charities during her term in office, the Community Foundation for Shropshire, and the High Sheriff’s Association’s own charity Crimebeat.

"Traditionally, the High Sheriff has always been involved with matters relating to the judiciary and the maintenance of law and order and this charity is all about celebrating and supporting innovative initiatives, instigated by young people for young people, which try to prevent people from turning to crime in the first place and ending up in the justice system," she said.