End of an era as council gets on its feet for Farnham town clerk

Councillors rose to their feet for Farnham’s departing town clerk last week as an era ended with a standing ovation.

Iain Lynch took part in his last full council meeting last Thursday with departing Haslemere Town Clerk Lisa O’Sullivan set to take his place at the table.

And she was in the audience as town mayor, Cllr Graham White, led a “spur of the moment” show of appreciation for the long-serving clerk and public servant.

He said: “As we all well know, after 15 and a half years this is the last time the town clerk will be sitting next to me.

“I would propose three cheers to our town clerk to celebrate his moving on and for everything he’s done.”

The three cheers were followed by an impromptu standing ovation with Cllr Mat Brown being the first councillor to get to his feet.

Mr Lynch was moved by the show of appreciation but it’s very much a “long goodbye” as there’s a lot he and FTC has to do before the reins are handed over to Lisa.

“I didn’t even know last week that this was going to be my last meeting – there’s still much to do,” said Mr Lynch.

“We’re working on a huge number of projects and it wouldn’t be fair for Lisa to pick up all of those, so it’s nice the council has the confidence to commit to a proper handover.”

Lisa, who has been at HTC for a similar timespan, said she is “excited” about the move but will leave Haslemere with a heavy heart on September 2.

“It’s a great environment here and Farnham is such a creative place,” she said.

“It’s helped that Iain and I started around the same time as we’ve worked together closely and have enjoyed a great working relationship.”