THE new chairman of Studley Parish Council is certainly keeping a family tradition alive.

This year is the third time Bill McCarthy has been elected chairman of the parish council - the body which has a say on local planning issues, has lobbying powers to district and county councils and a budget for various environmental services.

But he will have to serve another year as chairman sometime in the future if he is to match the service of his grandfather, William Hall, who served as chairman an impressive four times around the 1930s.

He was also the man who amalgamated the needle industries in Studley into the famous Entaco brand.

Mr McCarthy, a retired deputy headteacher who is also a Stratford District councillor, said he was looking forward to his year in office.

He last served as chairman about six years ago but has been a parish councillor for 12 years in total.

He said: "Studley has a lot of new buildings at the moment but what I really want to concentrate on this year is environmental issues like litter and landscaping.

"We need to get people out there doing things and therefore some co-ordination between village groups is needed if they are willing.

"We need to bring people together. There is community spirit in Studley but we need to bring various groups closer together without creating friction."

This year's parish council vice-chairman is Paul Beaman.