A FORMER Stockton Heath parish councillor who served the village in the role for 31 years has been awarded the Freedom of the Parish.
Wendy Emsley stepped down recently due to ill health and was presented with the award at a special meeting of the council by the chairman, Cllr Helen Dutton.
She was also presented with a bouquet of flowers and a framed photograph.
Earlier, when she first announced her retirement as a councillor, the council had presented her with a painting, appropriately painted by Cllr Dutton.
Mrs Emsley served as a councillor continuously from the time she was first elected, on May 7, 1987.
She thanked the council for the honour and said: “We give with whatever is within us, without thinking about what we will receive. We just hope that Stockton Heath will be a better and happier place for us having been here. Stockton Heath Parish Council has been like my second home.”
Traditionally, the honour gives Mrs Emsley the right to graze sheep or cattle in the parish, trade within the “city walls” and march troops through the parish with drums beating and colours flying.
But today these rights are symbolic and recipients are not awarded any specific powers.
