The new High Sheriff of Suffolk has been sworn in at a ceremony as a senior judge paid tribute to the outgoing representative for her work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the socially-distanced 2021 declaration of the High Sheriff for the county, held at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday, Edward Creasy formally began his appointment.
Judge Martyn Levett welcomed Mr Creasy, who lives in Burgh, into the role as the lockdown restrictions on the country begin to be lifted.
Addressing Mr Creasy, Judge Levett said: "The world has changed and everything is about the challenges ahead and how we are to provide the communities with the support they need, and to continue with the good work which the role of High Sheriff demands.
"I am convinced your energy will enable a successful navigation out of those long, gloomy and isolated days and weeks over the last 12 months of significant restrictions on our freedoms to revitalise communities, businesses and people who are in need of help."
Judge Levett also paid tribute to the outgoing High Sheriff, Bridget McIntyre MBE, at the ceremony for finding new ways of meeting communities during the pandemic.
He said: "I thank Bridget McIntyre, the outgoing High Sheriff, who has had the most unique year, and worked in the most difficult of circumstances to achieve the continuation of the role of High Sheriff in this unprecedented atmosphere of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Bridget had to innovate new ways of working, new ways of meeting communities and new ways of fulfilling the role of High Sheriff."
Guests in person at the ceremony, which was also screened to other guests remotely, included Lady Clare, Countess of Euston, High Sheriff’s chaplain, Canon Bayman, and Suffolk magistrates' bench chair Jill Stuchfield.
Concluding the ceremony, Judge Levett spoke of the impact of the pandemic and hope for the future.
"There is everything to look forward to," he added.
"We have been given this remarkable Earth, this remarkable county and its remarkable communities and people as every High Sheriff acknowledges in the annual awards.
"There is the power inside each of us to further surprise beyond that of the present. So each day ahead is there to be lived in the present but with hope in the future."
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