I first joined local government in 1970 in a service role, and was appointed to my first corporate post following the wholesale restructure of councils outside London in 1974.

Forty years later, I am soon to retire from full-time employment, having worked in several roles in a metropolitan unitary, two-tier county and nationally at the Local Government Association. I became chief executive in all of them, in unpredicted circumstances, but that is another story for another day.