Bury St Edmunds Town Council clerk Greg Luton bids farewell after six-and-a-half years

A town council clerk who dedicated six-and-a-half years to his role has decided to retire, but will still be involved with the town through volunteering.

Greg Luton, 68, of Hartest, will retire from Bury St Edmunds Town Council at the end of this month. Having started in 2017, at a time when the council was between clerks, he looks back and says he has made a positive difference.

“The nicest thing to be able to say is I sort of feel like I’ve left things in a better place than when I got here – and that’s not a criticism of anybody,” he said.

“I’ve managed to build up the business a bit in the last few years with the help of councillors and that’s been fantastic.

“We’ve funded lots of good causes over the years and I’m very pleased.”

Now Mr Luton, who is fully retiring, will be focusing on writing, travelling with his wife Mary and continuing his involvement with two charities – Bury St Edmunds Heritage Trust and Guildhall Feoffment Trust.

Mr Luton, originally from Canada, moved to the UK aged 20 in 1976. He spent some time in the military when he was young and then after that was based in Lavenham where he was director of the Suffolk Preservation Society. He later moved to English Heritage, now called Historic England, where he was regional director for 17 years. He then came to Bury St Edmunds Town Council.

He said one of the biggest challenges and biggest achievements during his time was how the town council quickly organised the royal proclamation at the Athenaeum following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

He added: “We did that in a very short period of time and it involved organising everything from police cover to sound systems to access to the Athenaeum. We went from not knowing that was going to happen to organising a full blown event on Angel Hill which we think had a couple thousand people attend.”

The new town clerk, Jodie Budd, will be starting her post at the beginning of January where she will take up a full-time appointment. She has been the deputy town clerk in Sudbury.