PORLOCK Parish Council gathered at the Ship Inn to toast success and say farewell to former chairman Alan Wright.
During his nine years as chairman, he was responsible for delivering the Porlock Vale Parish Plan.
One of the first to be completed in Somerset, the plan laid the foundations for providing 14 new affordable houses for young people at Chadwyck Close and to the creation of Meadowhayes and its new housing.
In summer 2011, with West Somerset Council and Somerset County Council in a frenzy of cost-cutting, he successfully led the team of councillors in the taking over of the public services deemed important to Porlock.
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The parish council is now responsible for public toilets, grass verge cutting and ground maintenance around the village.
When the county Library Service threatened to close the library, Alan and the council devised a plan to keep the library going run by 24 volunteers. Porlock is unique in that it is the only volunteer-run library in Somerset, and it is seeing an increase in use and membership.
As a parish-elected member of Exmoor National Park Authority, Alan guided the 2012 Marsh Vision with the construction of the boardwalk across the marsh to the shingle ridge beach. The marsh is now becoming recognised as an important nature reserve area alongside the South West Coastal Path.
Alan was also the inspiration for reviving the Porlock Weir oyster beds by setting up the Porlock Bay Oyster Company.
The community interest company, creating much needed local employment, is successfully growing in size and the resultant media coverage is bringing more visitors and money into the local economy.
Parish council chairman Malcolm McCoy presented Alan with a personally-composed cartoon painting by fellow councillor Terry Gable, which detailed events from his years of service to Porlock.
Alan is pictured holding the cartoon behind David Latham, seated. From the left are Roger Hall, Malcolm McCoy, Karen Mills, John Ware, parish clerk Chris Fitzgerald, Terry Gable, Alan Wright, Marilynn Russell, David Britnell, David Hancock and Malcolm Sage.