New High Sheriff will 'give young people a voice'

John May will be sworn in at a ceremony on Thursday

A county's new High Sheriff has said his focus for the next 12 months will be "giving a voice" to young people.

John May is the chief executive of charity Cats Protection and will be sworn in as Oxfordshire's High Sheriff at a ceremony on Thursday.

The role is the oldest secular office in the UK outside the Royal family and dates back more than 1,000 years.

Mr May, who is a former director of UNICEF, said the role was "extraordinary" and "such a strange thing".

"If anybody's ever seen the High Sheriff, it's the person who looks a bit like the pirate king in a pantomime," he told BBC Radio Oxford.

"But behind that pomp and the pageantry and the parchment is actually something really special."

He said he was "outrageously jealous" of female High Sheriff's who "get to wear the most amazing hat".

Mr May said the role was "such a strange thing"

The position was originally responsible for law enforcement and tax collection, but has evolved into a voluntary role that supports the judiciary, police, emergency services, and voluntary organisations.

Each High Sheriff defines an individual focus for their year in the role.

"What I'm choosing to do over the next 12 months is to really focus on trying to give a voice to Oxfordshire's young people, who sometimes aren't heard as loudly as they should be," Mr May said.

"I don't think we can expect young people to find their way if all they hear from society is silence.

"We've got to be brave enough to listen to them, we've got to brave enough to show up, and we've got to be brave enough to lead and really hear our young people."

Mr May will be supported in his role by his "really long suffering" husband Mark Johnson, who is taking up the role of Chamberlain to the High Sheriff.

"When you think that I not only could not have been High Sheriff in the 1960s, but I would've been locked up for being who I am, and now we're in a position where I am representing the King in this county when it comes to promoting law, order and justice," Mr May said.

"There is something really, really quite moving about that actually."