DESCRIBED as the father of the council, Jeremy Gist was elected as Portreeve of Callington last week, for the fourth time in his 33 years as a town councillor.

Cllr Gist was proposed by Cllr Andrew Long, who praised him for the 'tremendous amount of work' he did for the community of Callington, some of which was seen but much unseen.

At the portreeve choosing ceremony last week, attended by representatives of the town's organisations, Cllr Long said: 'If I list all the things that Jeremy is involved with we would still be here this time tomorrow, but one of his roles is working for the soup run for homeless people in Plymouth.

'If you want a job done, Jeremy is normally the one who is there to see it happen and I am honoured to nominate him as portreeve for 2012/2013.'

Cllr Rick Lumley, who seconded Cllr Long's proposal, said Mr Gist had 'enthusiasm and stickability' and although these were trying times he was confident that the new portreeve had the strength of character to lead Callington over the next year.

Mr Gist, who succeeds Karen Gold after her two year run as portreeve, said it would be a difficult year but one in which he hoped to see lots of 'twinning' with communities around Callington.

'It will be a lot of work and we will see a lot more devolvement of services from Cornwall Council,' he said. 'But I would like to see us build links with the likes of South Hill, Stoke Climsland and Gunnislake so we can work together to help this part of Cornwall.'

He praised the strong relationship with the local police and town organisations which he hoped would continue to grow.

Cllr Denise Winfindale was elected as deputy portreeve, who, despite having a busy working life, was always the first to volunteer for everything. She was proposed by Cllr Phil Harriman.