COLLEAGUES, friends and family gathered to salute a community champion.

John Montgomery has retired as chief of the Peebles and District Citizens’ Advice Bureau after nine years with the charity.

He was showered with gifts at a party to mark the occasion at Peebles Golf Club.

John, 60, has led the team doling out valuable advice to Borders folk on a wide range of subjects including debt, benefit and legal issues.

When he took charge at the bureau it was based at the Old Town and clients were required to climb rickety stairs to reach the offices. Four years ago he oversaw the move to the Chambers Institution.

“In my time here, I would say the biggest change for us was moving from the premises in the Old Town,” he said.

“The old place was unsuitable - it was just a 10 feet by 10 feet office and we had only two volunteers then.

“Now at the Chambers Institution we have four interview rooms, three volunteers, a debt advisor and a welfare benefits advisor.” John, a police officer for 30 years, is not suddenly about to put his feet up now that he has given up his day job.

He has already been doing work for the Scottish Rugby Union’s citing commission and will have more time for that role now.

“I go to professional matches and watch for foul play. I use my police skills to cite players that think they’ve got away with it,” he said.

He will have a part to play on the SRU’s disciplinary panel and as a rugby referee and will continue to indulge in his hobby of photography.

There will be more time to spend with his three grandchildren and John’s wife Sharon has found another job for him - dog walking. “We are getting an Australian labradoodle puppy on May 1, so that’ll be another task for me!” he said.

“You never know what else might come up as well - if I was approached by other voluntary organisations, for instance.

“I have worked very closely with the council over the last nine years and I wouldn’t want to lose all the rapport I’ve built up with them.” John’s successor at the bureau is Melanie Nairn, a 41-year-old mother of three, who is moving from a regional post based in Edinburgh.

“It’s going to be a hard act to follow but I’m looking forward to it and to being a part of the community,” she said.

Paying tribute to John, volunteer Jim Finnie said: “He has been the face and voice of Citizens’ Advice in Peebles for such a long time - his empathy, understanding and compassion always came through.

“John was always there as a shoulder to lean on - that was the John Montgomery that we knew and will miss.

“We wish him well in a new phase of his life - he caught the baddies before when he was in the police and now he’s going to do it again!” Bureau adminstrator Sue Newlands said: “We started at the bureau at the same time and we worked well as a team. I will really miss him - he’s been a fantastic boss with a great sense of humour and little evidence of a bad temper.”