LARGER-than-life former MP Sir Cyril Smith congratulated long-standing councillor Charles Grills for his 37 years of public service during a dinner held in his honour.

The event, at Whitehall Hotel and Country Club, Darwen, was attended by 45 people.

Chris Thayne, chairman of Darwen, Blackburn and Rossendale Liberal Democrats said: "Mr Smith gave his usual display of wit and down-to-earth common-sense as he spoke of the Liberal Democrat way of representing the people by focusing on their needs, which Charles Grills has done for 37 years."

Mr Grills, a former Darwen mayor, retired as a county councillor earlier this year.

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