QUAY Arts manager, Paul Armfield, is stepping down from his role at the end of December after more that two-and-a-half years at the helm of one of the Isle of Wight's main cultural venues.

Singer songwriter Paul, 51, from Cowes is leaving to record a new album and also to train as a celebrant so that he can conduct humanist funerals, as well as being able to spend more time with his family.

He said: "This is not a job you can do by halves. It is all encompassing. I have other things to do such as my music. I am in the middle of doing another album. I had ambitions at Quay Arts, all of which I have achieved. When I started there, I was given a brief to make it lively again, to get more things happening. Obviously, live events are just one small part of that.

"My greatest achievement, when I have enjoyed it most, is when there are several things going on there all at once."

Chair of Trustees Terence Hart who is also stepping down in December, said: "Paul Armfield's dedication to the journey of placing Quay Arts, in his own words….. ‘At the cultural heart and hearth of the Island’, has been very successful.

"I would like to publicly thank him for his work and passion for the quay over the last two and a half years. He will be a very hard act to follow and the trustees are currently working with the senior team to make the transition as seamless as possible. On behalf of the trustees I wish Paul continued success in all his endeavours."

Paul added: "Stepping down I feel a mixture of emotions but most of all I am proud to have been a part of the history of this incredibly important and inspiring place. "It’s been an exhilarating and enervating period of my life, challenging and all-consuming, but enjoyable and thoroughly worthwhile.

"However I’ve other ambitions I’d like to pursue and now feels like the right time to disengage the tug and hand it back over.

"As a team we have achieved so much, thrown open the doors to an increasingly wide and diverse range of arts and activities and in so doing have broadened the audience vastly, creating countless new links and opportunities along the way. The staff and volunteers have worked incredibly hard to get it back to the healthy state it’s in today and are deserving of enormous praise."