Dignitaries, Past Mayors, County and Town Councillors, Members of the Emergency Services, NHS Staff, Teachers, and members of a wide range of volunteer organisations gathered at the Priory Church of St Mary the Virgin, Monmouth to attend the Monmouth Town Council’s Civic Service on Sunday 14th July.

 The service was conducted by the Revd Tim Dack, Rector and Dean of St Mary’s. Music was provided by Organist Mr Thomas Mottershead, the St Mary’s Choir, Monmouth Male Voice Choir and St Mary’s worship group. Readings were given by members of Wyesham Christian Fellowship, St Mary’s RC Church, and the Methodist Church. The address was given by Revd Jonathan Greaves from the Baptist Church. The collection raised over £500 for the Mayor’s charities. Following the service attendees enjoyed a reception in the Priory and in the Priory gardens.

The Mayor, Cllr David Evans, thanked those for attending and said he felt “ honoured and very privileged to have been elected as Mayor of Monmouth. I thank my fellow councillors for their support and, to Fiona my wife, in agreeing to become Mayor’s Consort.

“Monmouth is a great Town to live in. There are many facets to life here but for this Mayoral Year I said that I would like to focus attention on those who serve our community whether paid or as volunteers. Our town is blessed by the extraordinary generosity shown by so many individuals and community groups, leading the way in their commitment in both time and effort towards community causes for the benefit of all.

“There are too many to mention but hopefully we have managed to invite to this Service a substantial number of those individuals and organisations  so that I can say a personal ‘Diolch yn fawr’ Thank you very much for all that you have done and continue to do for our town. It is my fervent hope that Monmouth Town Council will continue its work with those individuals and organisations to see how we can provide our community with the support it needs.

“I asked the choir to sing 3 pieces from their repertoire. The first ‘Rachie’ is a reminder of my paternal grandmother, a regular at ‘Chapel’ in Dowlais. The second ‘Anfonaf Angel’ is a more recent composition and reflects a time when the composer was away from home, living out of a suitcase and his wife said that she would send a guardian angel to him. It reminds me of my guardian angel, my maternal grandmother. Finally, the choir sang Calon Lan (A Pure Heart) a great hymn sung with gusto including before rugby matches and one that I hoped some of you would join in with.

“My charities this year are as follows.

“The Alzheimer’s Society provide support and advice, fund groundbreaking research, and campaign for change. It is a sad reality that 1 in 3 people born in the UK today will be diagnosed with dementia in their lifetime. My father died from it 10 years ago this October and both my in-laws this year.

“My wife and I received a lot of support from the befriending volunteers at the Bridges Centre and my late in-laws enjoyed the tea dances there. I am one of the Community Car Scheme volunteers. The Bridges Centre celebrate the 40th Anniversary of their opening this year and I have picked them as the second Mayor’s charity.

“The third charity I have selected is the Monmouth Charity which gives small grants to Monmouth Residents. Many of the requests for grants come from Citizens’ Advice and there has been an increase in requests due to the cost of living crisis.”

The event ended with a reception at The Priory.