A FORMER Mayor of Sedgefield village and long-serving member of the town council has retired after 38 years in teaching.

A farewell party for Councillor Dudley Waters held in Sedgefield's Ceddesfeld Hall was attended by many teaching colleagues.

Coun Waters taught at Billingham Campus School for 25 years and was assistant headteacher at the time of his retirement. He started teaching in Buckinghamshire, then moved to Surrey before transferring to Billingham and settling in Sedgefield.

A council member for 16 years and mayor for two years in the early 1990s, he has always taken an active part in village life.

He was chairman of Sedgefield Community Association for a period and is now the treasurer. He has been closely associated with the village's annual medieval fair for about 14 years.