A PARISH clerk has retired on a high after completing a final job that had been bothering him for a decade.

Rob Cattle served as clerk of the Parish Meeting in the small North York Moors conservation village of Lastingham for ten years.

During that time an eyesore constantly annoyed villagers – an old concrete and post fence that was rotting and collapsing.

As a conservation village, standards of appearance in Lastingham are high – residents aren’t allowed to change the look of their houses, so the fence was a point of irritation for many.

Mr Cattle had been trying to get it fixed for the past ten years, but other more urgent jobs always took priority for funding and resources.

But with the help of County Councillor Val Arnold, he managed to oversee the work as his last job in his 10-year tenure as clerk before he retired.

Mr Cattle, aged 80, can now retire happy and said: “It was fantastic to see the railings be replaced."