A LONG-SERVING council employee has been honoured at a party to celebrate her retirement.

Olga Lambert started work as a cleaner and sheltered housing relief warden for Richmondshire District Council in 1978.

For the past 14 years, she has been a mobile warden for the Lifeline service provided by the council to elderly residents in the district.

Paying tribute to Mrs Lambert's exemplary years of service at the party in Thornborough Hall, Leyburn, the council's head of supported housing, Gavin White, said: "You can rely on her as much as you can rely on the sun rising in the morning."

Community paramedic Pete Shaw said: "Olga is a complete star. She has a wonderful personality and is great to work with. She'll never let you down."

Mrs Lambert said that she stayed at the council for so long because she loved her job and liked to help people.

She will receive the council's formal thanks today when she is awarded the chairman's purse at an official retirement ceremony in Richmond.

Although retiring from the council, Mrs Lambert will not be putting her feet up. She is planning to continue serving the community by setting up a prescriptions delivery service to remote parts of the area in conjunction with Leyburn Surgery.