By Isle of Wight Observer
Just one month in, and this extraordinary job is an utter privilege and has exceeded any expectations I may have had. It also continues to surprise me. Plenty of people gave me advice, but the most useful was probably from my predecessor, who said that everyone does things slightly differently and you have to embrace that.
The speed with which the job takes over your life is extraordinary, the complexity for me of managing to organise my diary, my outfit for many different occasions and the right approach for every different facet of this wonderful challenge is both daunting and exciting. I should probably apologise right now for the times I’m sure I will get things wrong but not mean it!
One minute you can be chatting to a primary school assembly, as they celebrate creating amazing designs for mugs that will commemorate VE Day 80, the next laying a wreath to mark the defence of Cowes and East Cowes by Polish destroyer, ORP Błyskawica, an event which claimed the lives of 70 townspeople from the two towns in May 1942. Attended by representatives of the Polish attaché to London, as well as officers on the current ship, I listened to the sounds of the Medina Brass Band playing national anthems and was so very moved by the service.
This week I joined the 1st Brighstone Sea Scouts, who created Morse Code machines, decoy paratroopers and even constructed a replica Anderson Shelter in cardboard. I also met Alec Penstone, who lives down the road from me and is a mere 100 years young. He fought a very hard war, but spoke only of lost comrades at D-Day and on the Artic Convoys, an unimaginably tough call. Last week saw a range of animal charity events, with some – Ability Dogs 4 Young People – raising impossible sums to change the lives of young Islanders. Elsewhere, I took the family cockapoo Humphrey to join fifty other pooches of every conceivable shape and size, on an RSPCA guided walk that started and ended at the Steam Railway. Utterly bonkers idea, but it worked and we all had a wonderful time practising for Walk the Wight this weekend. A chance to celebrate the sums given by the masonic lodges across the Island and then an exhibition opened at the Mountbatten Hospice, where staff make magic every day, exploring how to make the most of life and face death with kindness and understanding.
As I write, tomorrow (Thursday) is due to be a full day of events for VE Day 80, and I suspect our local reporters and photographers will be exhausted by supper, as so many things are planned across the Isle of Wight. I can’t wait to get a lift on a jeep travelling around Sandown and Shanklin, remembering and marking a series of sacrifices made for us, before joining friends at Sight for Wight as they have a party for members. Then, finally, a service of thanksgiving at Newport Minster.
Whether it’s a small museum, a community group, or hospice, it is humbling to meet all the different staff and volunteers giving time, by which of course I mean blood, sweat and many tears, to help make a difference in this small and yet mighty community, and raising so much money to support their work. I am so immensely proud of just how much we do as an Island.
My parents were involved in charity work their whole lives, and my mother loved a motto from one: ‘Adopt, adapt and improve’. She said it was a great guide to life and I find myself thinking about how, as High Sheriff, I can continue to try to do the same for the next eleven months!