A COMMITTED district councillor for Alcester will soon be stepping down from a job he loves to work in an orphanage.

Clifford Meade, of Sherwell Drive, has been representing the town in Stratford for the past 22 years but has decided to resign from the post so he can concentrate on voluntary work in Africa.

Mr Meade (pictured) and his wife Kathy, a retired ward manager at Alcester Hospital, will soon travel to Kenya to be part of a management team of an orphanage with more than 200 children.

The couple will live in a town called Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria and hope to spend at least a year in the area.

Mr Meade, who wanted to make sure townsfolk knew the reason he was leaving the council, said: "This will be an entirely new departure, having spent so long on the council.

"The founder of the orphanage has been asking us to go and help her organisation for some time and we feel this is an appropriate moment to say yes."

The couple originally met founder Pat Botwright 15 years ago while on holiday. She has since managed to obtain funding from churches across england, Canada and the USA for a purpose-built orphanage.

"We're volunteering to go and we won't be given any pay or expenses but we will be helping her to run the orphanage," he added.

Mrs Meade is going to be using her nursing skills to work with the youngsters while Clifford will be a mentor for the older ones.

But Mr Meade has not ruled out returning to work for the council in the future.

His last engagement as a councillor took place yesterday and he and his wife jet off to Kenya next week.