KEEN sportsman and teacher David Smith was sworn in as the Ribble Valley mayor in a ceremony in the council chamber.

Coun Smith, of Cumeragh Lane, Longridge, teaches at the town's high school and is a former national basketball player and manager of Longridge Football Club.

He is a member of Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Club and his hobbies include gardening and fell-walking.

His appointment was proposed by Coun John Travis and seconded by Coun Myra Clegg, who said he had a keen interest in recreation and leisure in the Ribble Valley.

"He is chairman of Ribble Valley Sports Council and represents the area on the North-West Sports Council. He is also chairman of the Ribchester Hospital Action Group and, as such, has worked extremely hard to secure a hospital for the Longridge area. "We have worked alongside each other in many ways and it gives me great pleasure in seconding his appointment," she said.

Coun Smith said he was "extremely humbled" by the faith of his fellow councillors in choosing him as mayor. He told the meeting: "I will work hard to ensure that their faith is not misplaced and look forward to progressing the Ribble Valley's lottery bids, tourism initiative and corporate plan."

He also praised out-going mayor Jenny Grimes and the enthusiastic way in which she had carried out her duties.

"She brought a big broad smile and hint of Irish charm to the Ribble Valley mayoralty," he said.

Ribchester councillor Brian Collis, who was elected deputy mayor, is former landlord of the Black Bull pub in the village and chairman of Ribchester's football and tennis clubs, as well as a volunteer for the Lancashire Blind Welfare Society.

A mayoral dinner the Moorcock Inn in Waddington followed, with guest speakers were David Bamber, the governor of Hewell Grange Prison in Worcester, and former Lancashire county councillor Teresa Wilcock.

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