A LOCAL man was sworn in as the new High Sheriff for Lancashire on Thursday.

Thomas Geoffrey Bowring of Hawkshead Farm, Halton, will continue an office stretching back to at least the middle of the 10th Century.

The High Sheriff is appointed by Her Majesty the Queen in her right as Duke of Lancaster.

At the installation ceremony, the Queen's Commission will be read in the presence of two Commissioners, and the High Sheriff will then make a declaration to "serve the Queen's Writs and execute the good laws and statutes of the Realm".

Mr Bowring will be continuing a long family tradition.

Starting with his great-great-grandfather, Sir Thomas Storey, in 1893, and including his father, Geoffrey Bowring, in 1976, he will be the sixth member of his family to hold the office.

Born at Kirkby Lonsdale, Mr Bowring was educated at Eton and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, before becoming a chartered surveyor.

Now, with his younger brother Duncan, he owns the 770-acre Halton Park Estate and manages a further 3,000 acres in northern England and southern Scotland.

Mr Bowring, 52, and his wife, Amanda, have two daughters.

He said: "It is a great honour to have been chosen by the Queen to be High Sheriff of Lancashire.

I intend to uphold undiminished the traditions and responsibilities of this ancient office which have been part of our history for a thousand years."