AFTER 10 years and three different administrations the clerk at Bewdley Town Council has taken his final minute.

David Flack has stepped down following a decade logging the many viewpoints, complaints and exchanges between town councillors.

The 61-year-old has now moved from Bewdley to Tibberton, near Droitwich.

He said: "I've thoroughly enjoyed it, not just the job, but being involved in so much of Bewdley's life, but the time has come for a change."

He has seen the Liberal Democrats, Labour and then Health Concern run the council, which meets at monthly intervals at the Guildhall in Load Street, since 1995.

It was not just the political make-up of the council that had changed, said Mr Flack, who spent 30 years working for the Valuation Office Agency at the Inland Revenue.

He said: "There is less formality at meetings than in the past. We used to start the council meeting with a prayer from the chaplain, the mayor would make a grand entrance wearing the chain and the two Queen Anne maces would be on display.

"Now the mayor just calls for order and away we go."

Mr Flack, who was raised in Kidderminster and moved to Bewdley in 1988, said meetings had also grown longer.

He added: "In my time I reckon that I've written close to 5,000 separate minutes from all those meetings. I've tried to make them accurate but readable, with an occasional touch of humour, where I could."

Bewdley mayor, councillor Liz Davies, said Mr Flack would be given a fitting send-off with a public reception at the Guildhall next Thursday.

She explained: "David has given above and beyond the normal call of duty and he has really added to the quality of the life of the council."