From cake judging at Ewanrigg to escorting Government ministers around a flooded Cockermouth, Keith Little has done it all.

He retired earlier this year, before the establishment of the new Cumberland Council.

That retirement marked nearly 50 years of service to Cumbria, first as a fire fighter and then a s a councillor.

He joined the county council three year after his retirement in 2001 and, for the past 10 years, held the portfolio for highways and transport.

It was a responsibility that saw him spending long days and sometimes nights away from home.

He was a member of the Northern Transport Group,a body which covered the area from Hull, across the North West and the North East.

He was the spokesman and the face the public saw over issues from bus timetable changes to railways to highways and, in recent years,flooding.

As councillor for Maryport South, however, he kept his finger on the local pulse and said it was with pride that he was able to find money, through the Local Committee for deserving causes including the Ewanrigg Community Centre, Flimby Girls Brigade and more.

He has both enjoyed and endured highs in the job.

Getting the nearly £3 million improvement works to the A595 at Bothel was a definite high while Storm Desmond Desmond’s damage in 2015 was a disaster.

He did bring Government ministers to the area, however, and, as a result, the county was given £120 million for repairs and damage.

He has been disappointed by the lack of investment in the West Coast railway system which he said was Edwardian, but delighted that, through investment by the Borderlands Fund, Carlisle railway Station will be upgraded.

While to much of the county Keith Little was the face and spokesman for transport issues whether highways, trains or buses.

To those in Maryport South, he was often the man at the end of the phone when something was needed. And that is the part he has been missing since he retired.

With three children, seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren and both his own and his daughter’s dogs to walk, he is managing to fill his time better than he might have expected.