A FORMER Clitheroe newsagent Alan Yearing was installed as the new Ribble Valley mayor.

Coun Yearing and his wife, Susan, received their chains of office at a ceremony in the council chamber.

They were chosen after mayor-elect Frank Goss lost his seat at the local elections on May 1.

Coun Yearing, 53, left his teaching job in Grimsby in 1986 to run a newsagent in Bawdlands, Clitheroe.

He was elected to Ribble Valley Council in 1995 as Liberal Democrat councillor for the Edisford, Low Moor and Trinity ward of Clitheroe. He was Clitheroe mayor from 1999 to 2001.

He was proposed by Coun Frank Dyson and seconded by Coun Margaret Sutcliffe, who said: "Alan certainly likes a challenge and his unflappable and easy-going nature will win him many admirers during his term of office."

Coun Yearing said he was delighted to be mayor. He presented retiring mayor Joyce Holgate and consort, Norman Atty, with medals marking their term of office.