Standing down after his 12 months in office, the Mayor of Monmouth, Cllr David Evans marked the occasion with some special mayoral awards.

Before the beginning of the Annual General Meeting which would see his successor elected, Cllr Evans looked back at his tenure in office, the high points and the low points.

He began by saying how “ honoured and very privileged” he was to have served his time in the office as mayor, adding “I have really enjoyed my time representing and promoting Monmouth as a great town to live, work, play and visit.

“There are many facets to life here but for this Mayoral Year I tried to focus attention on those who serve our community whether paid or as volunteers. A simple ‘Thank you’ will never seem enough, but I am extremely proud of our town and its community, the people within it and the care that has been shown by them.”

He paid tribute to his Chaplain, Revd Ian Griffiths for his thoughts and prayers through the year for the town, the council, and himself as Mayor.

“Thanks also go to my wife Fiona who has been my consort at many events.”

He also thanked the team behind his role in office: the town clerk Caitlin Williams and her team Natasha, and Catherine “who have been consummate professionals”.

Looking back, he pointed out that one of the low points in his term was the turbulence caused by the renewal of the drinking water supply pipes throughout the town which was “hugely disruptive, particularly to our businesses.

“Fortunately, the majority weathered the disruption and it has been a particular pleasure to attend the opening of new businesses and thank them for their investment and confidence in Monmouth.”

This was outweighed by the improvements seen around the town such as the new paving, benches, planters and planting in St Thomas Garden, the improved green area in Blestium Street, the hanging baskets in town supplied by the council as well as the seating, signage and new planters Church Street and White Swan Court, the newly-painted railings around the war memorial and the “amazing” artwork in the subway.

He ended by saying that he has tried to focus his attention “on those who serve our community whether paid or as volunteers by visiting many of the fantastic organisations in Monmouth.

“And so, I will finish by thanking a very important group of unpaid volunteers and that is you – my fellow councillors”.

He then went on to hand out some special Mayoral Awards to the Monmouth Comprehensive School Football Team whose kit was sponsored by the town council and designed by the players themselves.

They won not only the U18s Welsh Cup, but went on to win the Gwent Cup Final!

Individual awards went to Lauren McCartney and Marianne Piper for their contribution to the town.

He also handed a Past Mayor’s badge to Jane Harvey who still holds the record for being the youngest mayor elected over 41 years ago.