'I have mixed emotions' - Long-serving parish clerk steps away from Telford post after 23 years
A long-serving parish clerk was applauded by councillors at the end of his final council meeting in Telford.
Ralph Morgan has been holding the reins at Donnington & Muxton Parish Council for the last 23 years and is now heading to a part-time job with a smaller council.
“At my time of life it’s time to take a step backwards,” said Mr Morgan, aged 63, at his final full council meeting on Monday (October 13).
“But I have mixed emotions that I am going.”
Mr Morgan was handed a leaving present by parish council chair Councillor Fiona Doran who thanked him for his years as the person responsible for the finances and working of the parish.
He is not retiring after he leaves Turreff Hall on October 31 but will instead be working for 14 hours a week as clerk for Worfield and Rudge Parish Council in Shropshire.
Mr Morgan started work as a 17 year old when he became a medic and musician in the Armed Forces.
He served for 23 years in the forces until the age of 40 and became the Donnington & Muxton Parish Council clerk in July 2002.
Mr Morgan told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that when he first joined the parish it was locally famous for uproar. Now things are a lot calmer.
“When I started here, reporters were coming for all the wrong reasons,” he said.
“Now it is a gold award level council, has signed the forces covenant.”
Councillors shook his hand and thanked him after the meeting and he had some words of thanks for them in return.
He has seen councils in the Donnington area change much over the years with more change on the way after he has moved on. He has been a part of Donnington & Lilleshall Parish Council, then Donnington, Lilleshall and Muxton.
But he won’t be a part of the next change which is set to see Muxton have its own parish council, leaving Donnington to forge a new council with St George’s which will lose Priorslee in a Telford & Wrekin Council local governance review.
Mr Morgan said he has spent a lot of time with councillors but now it is time for the wife to see some more of him.
“The time is right for me,” he said.
“I want to spend more time with the wife.”
