Robin Burgess, the chief executive of newspaper publisher the CN Group, has been selected as a future High Sheriff of Cumbria.

The 52-year-old will take up the ceremonial post in March 2006 after becoming the latest addition to a list of three nominees.

Each year a new name is added to the list so there are always three people lined up for the role, and the honour will see Robin following in the footsteps of his late father, who was the county's High Sheriff in 1969/70.

Robin said: "I am very honoured and delighted to have been invited to be High Sheriff."

The CN Group publishes several regional newspapers, including the North West Evening Mail, the Carlisle-based News & Star, the Cumberland News and the Whitehaven News.

There is a High Sheriff for each county in England and Wales, and each is appointed for a year.

The position carries with it centuries of tradition and dates from Saxon times, but over time most of the responsibilities of the office have been transferred elsewhere or are obsolete.

In previous centuries, the high sheriff would raise funds for the monarch and was the principal law enforcement officer in the county, but the functions of the unpaid post are now almost entirely ceremonial or representational.

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail pastill@nep.co.uk