Caroline 'honoured' to be named High Sheriff of County Durham

A HAMSTERLEY woman has described her appointment as High Sheriff of County Durham as the greatest honour of her life.
Caroline Peacock, a former chairwoman of the Friends of The Bowes Museum, was bestowed the title this week and aims to use the position to help young people.
She was nominated for the position by Lord Barnard who served as High Sheriff four years ago. The High Sheriff is the Queen’s representative in the county relating to the courts, police and emergency services. She will also attend royal visits to the county and support the Lord-Lieutenant for County Durham.
Apart from her close association with The Bowes Museum, Mrs Peacock is renowned for her community and fundraising work, having led a campaign for Macmillan Cancer Relief to appoint the county’s first palliative care consultant.  More than £720,000 was raised against a target of £650,000 during the campaign. But she does not take credit for its success.
She said: “As far as I am concerned that reflects everything about the people of County Durham. It was extraordinary.”
Mrs Peacock came to the North East from the south to study modern languages, and has since spent about 40 years in the region.
She said: “I feel it is a huge, huge honour to be asked to represent the monarch in the county. It is the biggest honour of my life by a long way.
“I hope that I won’t be just some sort of figurehead because I hope to be able to bring something useful [to the position], like bringing people together. It is a one year responsibility and I will give it all my energy.”
During her time in the region, Mrs Peacock served as a non-executive director of the now defunct Winterton Psychiatric Hospital, an experience which she hopes to put to good use in her new role.
She added: “I think the time I spent at Winterton was very instructive. I saw a lot of young people whose lives had come off the rails due, in most cases, to drugs or alcohol, and many of them had got into difficulty with the law in one way or another.
“The whole question of young people suffering from mental health issues is a problem in society today, particularly as it relates to the law, and it is something that worries me. So I shall be doing everything I can to work to support that.”
The High Sheriff also believes that police in the county are taking an interesting approach to the problem.
Mrs Peacock said: “They are very much into restorative justice and supporting people who are trying to cope with their addictions and I think the focus will be one the trying to deal with the drug pushers, which makes a lot of sense to me so. It is a brave thing to try and nothing else seems to have worked. It will be very interesting to see what the outcome is.”
Mrs Peacock got her first taste of what the year ahead will be like on Thursday last week when she attended the annual High Sheriff Awards hosted at The Bowes Museum by the previous High Sheriff, Gerard Salvin.
The awards are a partnership between County Durham Community Foundation, the Sir James Knott Trust and Durham’s High Sheriff.