Biography: The Sheriff's Consort
Geoff Cossins is the current Sheriff of York; Stuart Jarman is the Sheriff’s Consort for the civic year 2026 to 2027, and has prepared the following summary of his life and career to date.
I am a proud Yorkshire man; born in West Yorkshire I moved to the magnificent city of York 23 years ago to study at York St John University. This city has been my home ever since, residing here with my partner.
In my career my current role is Managing Director for a local magical drinks and attraction company with several outlets in York and across the UK. I am very lucky to have managed some of the great visitor attractions in the city.
My career in tourism began back in 2007 at Jorvik Viking Centre, where I spent 9 years working for York Archaeology with my final role as Deputy Director of the Attractions, departing in 2016.
My journey in tourism then continued working for Merlin Entertainments managing many attractions over the next 6 years, including York and Edinburgh Dungeon, Sealife Manchester and Blackpool, Legoland Manchester, and Madame Tussauds Blackpool, whilst having times away from York for work I always returned home whenever I could.
Supporting the York Civic Party is something I have done for several years intermittently, dating back to 2015 as Chair of the fundraising committee helping to raise thousands of pounds for several fantastic charities in the city. I have also most recently been a trustee of York Pride for 3 years and held the role of governor at 2 local schools. Giving back to community of this great city is very important to me and something I definitely advocate.
I am both very excited and honoured to be the Sheriff’s consort this year and want to continue to bring the fun and humility of the role that both David Smith and Geoff Cossins delivered in their Civic years. The Sheriff of York, Geoff Cossins has been a close friend for nearly 20 years so I know we will have lots of great times over the year and The Lord Mayor of York, Cllr Margaret Wells and her consort, Trevor Gant were inspirational and humble in their previous civic year so I know that I am in safe hands.
The Lord Mayor has also chosen a fantastic charity in York Cares and I am keen to get to work celebrating their great mission and helping to showcase their achievements, which is also being supported by a fantastic community group Shared York.
Also see
The Civic Office
Civic Services