Long-serving Norfolk journalist Chris Stokes has taken early retirement at the age of 50.

The North Norfolk News reporter had been off work with a stress-related illness since January.

Mr Stokes (50) has been a member of the National Union of Journalists throughout a career spanning 30 years and is expected to be awarded life membership of the union in recognition of his long service.

He began his career in London with Thomson Regional Newspapers and joined Eastern Counties Newspapers in 1979 at its Thetford office, where one of his first assignments there was to spend a day with a troupe of clowns at a circus. For the past 12 years, he worked at the North Walsham office.

At the time he retired, Mr Stokes was local news correspondent for the North Norfolk News. In this newly-created role, he specialised in covering schools, charities, churches and voluntary groups.

He told the paper: “The richest privilege of my career in journalism has been to enjoy the friendship and trust of so many people in almost every walk of life in North Norfolk.

“The best thing aboout being a newspaperman is the joy of meeting people and making friendships, and it’s going to be a great pleasure to keep those friendships flourishing in retirement.”

Mr Stokes is a Quaker and, for 10 years, was a director of a London-based firm publishing the Quakers’ national weekly paper. He is a former chairman of the North Norfolk branch of Amnesty International and was an executive committee member of Norfolk Accident Rescue Service.

In recent years, he was a mentor to sixth-form students at a local school and worked as a volunteer at a drug and alcohol treatment centre.

He has been married to Heather for 30 years and has a daughter and a grandson

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