Having dedicated half a century to serving his parish the chairman of St Keverne Parish Council has been recognised by his peers.

Russell Peters was honoured at the first meeting of the civic year, with an award by fellow long serving councillor Derek Kevern.

After seeing the council through fair weather and foul as chairman for many of those years, it seemed fitting that Mr Peters was presented with a serpentine barometer, made at The Lizard.

It was for 50 years continuous service to the council, having been first elected in 1963.

Mr Peters said: “I was absolutely flabbergasted. I didn’t expect anything like that. It was completely out of blue. I’ve never known anybody to have one before.”

One highlight of Mr Peters’ time on the council was being chairman when the parish hall was built, which he was then honoured to officially open.

One thing he never thought he would ever do was attend a protest march, but attend one he did when there were threats of closure to hospitals in Cornwall. He travelled to Hayle along with thousands of other protestors, to represent his parish, and successfully helped keep the hospitals open.

“I’ve had some very interesting experiences and done some things that would never have happened had I not been on the council,” said Mr Peters, who was born in Porthallow but now lives in St Keverne.

“I tried to do everything I could for the parishioners. It’s almost a labour of love really – there’s no financial gain and I’ve never looked at it as that.

“I’ve felt I’ve contributed something to my parish.”

His work does not end now, however, having just been re-elected to the council for another four years.