Estate agent Roger Darnton, above, is Guisborough's citizen of the year.

Mr Darnton whose offices are in Westgate, was presented with the award at a town council meeting. He was nominated by Mayor Bill Clarke.

Mr Darnton was born into a long-established Guisborough family, who have lived in the town since the eighteenth century and traded as butchers there for seven successive generations.

The long list of service he has given to the town includes lengthy spells as a server and sacristan at the parish church and membership of the parochial church council. He was a founder of Guisborough Museum in 1989, where he is still curator and chairman. A former governor of Kemplah Park Primary School in the Eighties, he has been a foundation governor of Prior Pursglove College since 2001.