AFTER nine years dedicated service to Dartmoor Forest Parish Council parish clerk Ann Inman has retired.

Mrs Inman was only the second parish clerk appointed to Dartmoor Forest after the parish was split off from Lydford in 1987, and Ann was instrumental in bringing the parish administration into the modern era.

At her last meeting on March 11, Alison Geen and David Worth, co-chairs of Dartmoor Forest Parish Council, presented Ann with a painting by local artist John Stones of a landscape within the parish to commemorate her time serving Dartmoor Forest.

Alison said: 'All of us on the parish council would like to say a big thank you to Ann for her unfailing dedication to the clerk's role and to Dartmoor Forest Parish over the last nine years. David and I both agree that having Ann at our elbow during the meetings we chaired has been enormously reassuring. Her preparation for meetings and advice during them has always been helpful.

'Whilst the clerk's role is relatively small time wise compared perhaps to her career days as an IT executive, Ann has always shown 100 per cent commitment to the task. I'm sure that extra minutes and hours were put in to some jobs but I've never heard a complaint.

'She has followed tasks through, terrier like, until completion and has not seemed fazed by the complex legalities and paperwork, although I know that there will be certain items from the agendas that Ann will be very glad to never hear of again. We are very grateful to her for always being ready to get involved in these matters.'