A VICAR is set to become the next High Sheriff of Cumbria.

An ex-RAF Group Captain, the Rev Richard Lee is currently the team rector for the benefice of Egremont and Haile in the Calder Deanery.

His installation will take place at the Crown Court, Carlisle, on Wednesday, April 6 (4pm).

Born at Seaham Harbour he grew up in the North East and studied at Kings College, London before being ordained at Durham Cathedral. His first clergy appointment was at Gateshead but in 1980 he took on the role of a minister in the armed forces.

He joined the RAF and did his 14-week training at Cranwell, ultimately spending 29 years in the airforce bringing his ministry to postings in the UK and Europe, North America and the South Atlantic.

He came to the area in 2003 and was appointed team leader at Egremont in 2009. He conducted the funeral service for Bill Barker of Egremont, the police officer who was killed when a Workington bridge gave way in the 2009 floods and that of Egremont teenager Danica Maxwell.

Mr Lee also played a key part in the local community as people dealt with the aftermath of the Bird shootings in 2010. His church, St Mary's and St Michael's found itself the centre for funerals of victims, vigils and memorial services and he was called on to address the House of Commons Select Committee for Home Affairs, which met to see what lessons could be learned from the tragedy.

He was a former chaplain to exMayor of Copeland John Jackson and chaplain the the air cadets of the Cumbria and North Lancashire Wing.

Mr Lee, who succeeds Sam Rayner of the kitchenware retailer Lakeland Limited, is married to Dr Deb Lee, retired consultant paediatrician at West Cumberland Hospital.

The position of High Sheriff dates back to Saxon times when the Shire Reeve was responsible to the monarch for the maintenance of law and order within the county and for the collection of taxes for the Crown.

The role, now largely ceremonial, runS from March to March, and there is no remuneration. Previously Iona Frost Pennington of Muncaster Castle held the post, the first time for someone from Copeland since 1974.