At a ceremony in Devizes Town Hall on Saturday (April 6), David Scott, the new High Sheriff of Wiltshire and Swindon, was sworn in – making his official ‘Declaration’ and acceptance of the post.
Among those present were the outgoing High Sheriff, Mrs Nicky Alberry, Canon Paul Richardson, who is Mr Scott’s Chaplain for his year in office, and some twenty members of the Scott family. The ceremony was witnessed, as prescribed, by a local Justice of the Peace.
The post of High Sheriff is the oldest office in England – dating back to the Saxon era when the ‘Shire Reeve’ was the monarch’s representative in each shire – maintaining law and order and collecting taxes. Now the High Sheriff – there are 55 in England and Wales – has a number of ceremonial duties and is in attendance at Royal visits.
High Sheriffs now concentrate on giving support to the emergency services, the police and to local charities – especially those involved in crime reduction and social cohesion.
David Scott will be giving most support – and raising awareness of their work – to two charities: the SMASH youth project in Swindon and the work being done by Pause in Wiltshire.
SMASH is a what-it-says-on-the-tin acronym: Swindon Mentoring and Self Help. Their prime role is to offer a year of one-to-one mentoring to young people aged nine to nineteen who are finding it hard to make their way and stay on the rails.
David Scott sums their work up as “Helping young people achieve their full potential.” SMASH’s slogan is ‘One person can change a life’ – and by raising awareness of this work, the High Sheriff aims to bring in more volunteers to do this important mentoring.
‘Pause’ is a national charity that is contracted by Wiltshire Council to run a programme in the county. Pause works with women who have experienced, or are at risk of, repeated pregnancies that result in children that need to be removed from their care: “Through our intense, relationship-based programme, we aim to give women the chance to pause and take control of their lives”.
The scheme will help any woman who has had two or more children removed from their care – to help them get back on track. The aim is for these women to have no children for eighteen months – that’s the ‘pause’.
The scheme’s first group of women has had such successful results that the Council want to continue with it. But there is – as always – a question of funding.
David Scott’s broader aim for his year is to champion vocational training. He told marlborough.news: “Some young people get switched off by academic work. Giving young people opportunities is the important thing. I want to visit as many schools and colleges as I can – to spread my message: ‘You don’t have to be academic to be successful’.”
David Scott’s interest in vocational education comes from his long association with the Devizes-based engineering group TH White.
He joined the company once he had qualified as a chartered civil engineer, became managing director in 1984 and Chief Executive in 1989 – a role he held until he retired in 2015. And during his years with TH White he promoted apprenticeship schemes and found them very successful in building the firm’s workforce and management.
David Scott was born near Devizes – in the village of Stert – and has spent most of his life within a few miles of birthplace. He is very much a Wiltshire man.
And on a slightly more informal level, as High Sheriff he wants to raise awareness of the Great Bustard re-settlement programme that is having great success on Salisbury Plain. There are now about eighty of the giant birds – they are the world’s heaviest flying bird – in the care of the Great Bustard Group.
On Monday (April 8) he is going with the Chairman of Wiltshire Council, Councillor Allison Bucknell, to see the Great Bustards on the Plain. Extinct in Britain since 1832, it is, he says, an iconic Wiltshire bird and he is so glad to see it once again living in the Wiltshire landscape.
To support the Group’s work he has had ties made emblazoned with lots of Great Bustard images – in the plural to mark the Group’s success.
Forty-four years ago, David Scott married Letitia, they live near Devizes and have four children and six grandchildren. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the County in 2002.