Keswick’s town clerk Lynda Walker was showered with praise as she attended her final council meeting after 13 years’ service.
Lynda, 66, is retiring but she modestly cast aside all the kind comments from councillors and joked that she had, at times, felt like the “Vicar of Dibley”!
Keswick mayor Paul Titley led the tributes via Zoom during the last virtual town council meeting, saying she had kept councillors “on the straight and narrow.”
His deputy, David Burn, who has been mayor during Lynda’s time in office, told her he had always valued her “wise counsel.”
He added: “She has always been a calming presence during turbulent times – and there have been plenty of those.”
Further praise came from Keswick’s county councillor Tony Lywood, who saluted her ability to strike the balance between “preventing councillors going haywire”, while still allowing issues to be debated.
Lynda, who overcame breast cancer six years ago, admitted that the tributes had brought her close to tears, adding that it had been a wonderful council to work for.
“I have had a fantastic time. We have been through a lot over the last 13 years, including floods and now the pandemic and we have got through them all,” she said.
Lynda sent her best wishes to successor Vivien Little, who also took part in the online meeting.
Vivien’s appointment came shortly after internet sensation Jackie Weaver had elevated the largely unsung role of town clerk to new heights through her supercool performance with Handsworth Parish Council in Cheshire.
Referencing this, Lynda added: “You have only got to look at the Handsworth debacle to see what a good bunch of councillors we have got here, although we have always had an odd one who has perhaps not agreed with the rest of you! But it has never stopped anything being done and I think we have achieved a lot when you look at the town centre and the parks.”
Her final role as town clerk will be at the parks’ trust meeting on March 11 before Vivien takes over for the Keswick Town Council meeting the following week.
The mayor said a proper presentation would be made to Lynda in recognition of her “phenomenal service to Keswick” once COVID restrictions allowed.
Lynda, a keen walker who lives in Keswick with her husband Ian, took up the post in March 2008, having previously worked for the local council in Crewe and Nantwich.
Duncan Miller is the only one of Keswick’s 12 councillors who has served on the council longer than her.
