A FORMER managing director's 26-year involvement with the Kent Messenger Group comes to an end next month when Peter Edgley retires as a non-executive director.

Fellow directors and their partners took Mr Edgley, 70, on a surprise lunch to pay tribute to his service to the company.

He joined the Kent Messenger Group in 1979 as managing director of the newspaper publishing division, South Eastern Newspapers.

He was appointed to the main board the following year and became deputy chairman in 1989.

Those 10 years saw massive change with the growth of computer technology, the take-over by the KM Group of the Kentish Gazette, Herne Bay Press and East Kent Mercury, and the launch of the Extra Series of free newspapers.

Mr Edgley has been a non-executive director of the KM Group since 1991.

He was chairman of the West Kent Health Authority between 1994 and 1998. His involvement with the NHS goes back to 1990 when he became a non-executive member of South East Kent Health Authority.

Mr Edgley is also a former chairman and president of Kent County Cricket Club and a former chairman of Invicta Radio.

He lives in Hythe with his wife Dorothy. They have three sons who all work in the newspaper industry.