CUMBRIA’S High Sheriff is on a one-woman mission to bring the county closer together.

Since taking office in March, Susan Thornely has striven to forge lasting links between Cumbrians from all corners of the county and her efforts are proving a big success.

As well as regularly attending events, she has organised trips with groups from one particular community to towns, attractions and businesses at the other side of the county.

She hopes her initiative will build friendships, reduce isolation and create a greater understanding among Cumbrians of the different people, customs and businesses within their county’s boundaries.

“I have a background in fundraising and dealing with people across the county makes you realise just how big it actually is,” said Mrs Thornely, who has lived in Windermere since 1961.

“It is the second largest county in the country and has one of the smallest populations. When you travel from Windermere to Workington, for example, you can spend as long getting there as you spend there.”

“There are strong communities here, which in many respects are self reliant,” she continued. “I thought it would be great if we could get people from these communities together.”

So far, Mrs Thornely has organised a number of successful visits, including a trip the James Cropper Paper Mill, with people from West Cumbria and the south of the county, and an excursion to Sellafield, which was attended by Ian Stephens, chief executive of Cumbria Tourism.

“Cumbria is a large County with a diverse range of industries and communities,” said Mr Stephens. “With a very busy diary it's hard find the time arrange visits and learn about all the various aspects of Cumbria, so in this respect I'm very grateful to Mrs Thornley for providing me with the opportunity to join her group visits.

"The Sellafield visit was very helpful and gave me a much better insight into the nuclear industry's activity in West Cumbria.”

Mrs Thornely is now making arrangements for a trip to Innovia, a producer of speciality films based in Wigton near Carlisle.

“It is going really well,” she enthused. “It is really nice to get to know people better and to bring groups of people together from communities and businesses who might never have met. Usually you can only take a maximum of 20 people on organised visits and I don’t have any difficulty filling the spaces.”

For more information about Mrs Thornely activities in the county visit her blog at http://cumbriahighsheriff.blogspot.com/.