The first meeting of the new Town Council took place on May 17th in the the Town Hall Council Chamber. The Town Clerk and the fifteen Town Councillors were present: 10 Labour Councillors, 4 Conservative Councillors and one Liberal Democrat Councillor.
The outgoing Mayor and Mayoress, Chris Woodhouse and Cllr. Sheila Woodhouse were also present. They were given a formal vote of thanks for their successful year in office, the year in which the National Eisteddfod was hosted in Abergavenny.
The first item on the agenda was the election of the new Mayor. Cllr David Simcock was elected. He represents Cantref ward, having first won his seat in a by-election in 2015. David is the first Labour Mayor of a Labour-led Council for many years. Cllr. Penny Simcock is the Mayoress. Cllr. Margaret Harris is now Deputy Mayor and Cllr. Stephen Head, her consort.
The new Mayor has lived in Abergavenny for 20 years and has a background in the theatre and in social work. He has been an active member of the Crickhowell Choral Society and the Gwent Mountaineering Club for many years. He has recently taken part in theatre productions at the Melville Centre, Abergavenny.
The Mayoress, Councillor Penny Simcock, retired in 2011 as Newport City Council’s workforce development manager for the social care sector. She is Chair of the Board of the Melville Centre for the Arts CIC. Penny was elected earlier this month as a Town Councillor for Grofield Ward.
David said: “It’s a great privilege to be Mayor and I’m looking forward to my year in office. The Council is determined to engage the community in the decisions we make on their behalf. It’s good to live in a place where people care so much about the future of the town. Our decisions should take their ideas into account.”
