POSSIBLY the longest serving council clerk in Pembrokeshire retired earlier this month.

Norman Thomas had been clerk to Dinas Community Council for sixty years. He was presented with a beautiful weather vane crafted by Dinas blacksmith, Efion Thomas, as a token of thanks for his decades of hard work.

Mr Thomas has had to stand down from his role due to failing eyesight. He has witnessed a lot of changes over the years.

"One of the biggest changes in the village is that holiday homes have taken over here now," said 85-year-old Mr Thomas. "Not that I'm against them. There are cottages on the mountain that would have been empty if it weren't for people doing them up."

Mr Thomas said that technology had made a big difference to the role of clerk.

"It used to be all hand written. Then I went to a type writer and for the last ten years we've had a computer. It's all modernised.

"I've enjoyed working with the councillors," he said. "There are one or two old faithful members."

Mr Thomas said the weathervane worked "marvellously", turning on a breath of wind. It now stands proudly on the corner of his property near Cwm-yr-Eglwys.