A NEW High Sheriff has been appointed for Essex.

Julie Fosh, from North Fambridge, has become the 840th person to be appointed to the role.

Sadly, the traditional ceremony, which is usually held in the Essex County Council chambers with around 100 guests in attendance, was cancelled due to coronavirus.

Instead a private ceremony took place in Julie’s back garden.

She said: “We all agree that these are tricky times, but we want to ‘keep on keeping on’.

“Never before have the frontline and voluntary services been so vital, and we have a role to play in supporting them and buoying them up.

“We will need ideas about working creatively in new ways and will be making more use of social media, Skype and FaceTime.

“It will be a challenge, but I am up for it.

“Many events are currently being cancelled or postponed, but hopefully by late summer or autumn things will improve, so I expect to have a particularly busy time then.”

During her year of office, Julie wants to include a garden party at Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome, a comedy night by one of her former students and an Essex coastal path walk from Harwich to Tilbury.

Money raised from the events will go the High Sheriff’s Fund.