ALLERDALE Borough councillors have shared their memories of times on the council, as the authority ceases to exist from this weekend.

The council has observed almost 50 years of service to the people of the borough and overseen both bad times and good.

Since its formation in 1974, the council has been the body of representation for the people of Allerdale with the main town of Workington, Maryport, Cockermouth, Keswick and Wigton all being within the borough, as well as countless villages and hamlets.

Maryport councillor Carni Mccarron-Holmes has served on Allerdale Borough Council since 1979 and will now go on to chair the new Cumberland Unitary Authority in its infant years.

Speaking of her memories of the borough, Cllr Mccarron Holmes said: "There's quite a lot of memories, we started off the Keswick Jazz Festival, we don't run it now but we set if off.

"It brought thousands of people to Keswick and brought jazz to Keswick and West Cumbria."

She also remembered major projects such as selling off council houses in 1999 and the creation of the Derwent and Solway Housing Association, as well as the building of the now Allerdale House in Workington.

She said: "We didn't have a council chamber to start off with, we were using other places and then we added it onto Allerdale House so we had our own council chamber."

The now Cumberland chairwoman also remembered fondly the Workington Town Centre redevelopment, as well as Lidl and Aldi being brought to Cockermouth.

Looking to the future as she said: "It's the realisation of a dream to be the chairman of a brand new council, it's realising a political dream and all the things I can take to the new council."

Current Conservative Leader of Allerdale, Cllr Mike Johnson, also recalled some of his best memories of his premiership.

Speaking at he last Allerdale Borough Council meeting he said: "When Allerdale was born in 1974 I was two. The world was a different place.

"We have achieved some great things, some of them as highlighted by councillor Smith and some by councillor Fitzgerald.

"It's quite staggering when you look at it in numbers, there has been 49 mayors, though some have had more than one term in office, collectively our officers have worked 7,850 hours in total a week, thats 377,000 a year.

"I'm sure our staffing levels will have been higher in years gone by, but even using today's figures thats over 1 million hours of work.

"I am confident that what has motivated each and every person throughout that time has been a desire to improve lives for the residents of Allerdale.

"It's quite astonishing when you think about it all."

Former Allerdale Borough Council Leader Alan Smith has said that he is proud of what his administration and the wider council has achieved, although it has not always been easy.

He said: "In 28 years there's a few things that stick out. In 2000 there was the foot and mouth that will always be with me because okay we weren't the lead authority, but that had a  a really big impact on the area and communities.

"The 2009 floods and 2015 floods they will stick in my mind as major catastrophies for Keswick, Cockermouth and Workington, and we learned from the 2009 floods for 2015, and we got things done faster and better for the people who were the victims.

"I think the sports centre was the pinnacle of my administrations, at the time it was built it was the best in the North West."