A WELSH speaking duo have taken the top ceremonial roles at Monmouthshire County Council.
Abergavenny Labour councillor Tudor Thomas was elected as the council chairman for new municipal year, which will lead up to the 2027 local government elections, with David Jones appointed as the vice chairman.
The independent councillor represents the nearby Crucorney ward.
No other candidates were nominated for either post at the council’s Thursday, May 14 annual general meeting and Cllr Thomas told councillors he plans to use some “incidental”, or occasional Welsh language words, when chairing meetings.
The former teacher said he’d taught for 18 years in England and also at Abergavenny’s King Henry School VIII School and his wife of more than 40 years, Janet, will be his consort while the couple have three adult sons.
He said he and his wife come from “very strong Welsh speaking backgrounds” and said: “I’m not a native of Monmouthshire, and neither is Janet, but we have lived here for 40 years now.”
Cllr Jones told the council he is also a Welsh speaker and Cllr Thomas said they have both been on the governing body of Ysgol Gymraeg Y Fenni in Abergavenny.
Cllr Thomas, who represents the Park ward, named St David’s Hospice Care as his chosen charity for his year of office and praised outgoing chair, Labour’s Peter Strong, for raising more than £2,000 for the Little Troopers charity that supports children from service families.
Cllr Strong was also a teacher and he recalled his first day as a history teacher, at Caldicot School in 1979, how he taught his class the history of Monmouthshire’s coat of arms, that features an English lion and Welsh dragon and its Latin motto translates as “Faithful to both”.
The Rogiet counillor said he has “fun” over the sometimes disputed status of Monmouthshire, between Wales and England, but said “the new Monmouthshire is proudly Welsh”.
Councillors across the chamber paid tribute to Cllr Strong’s wit and the way he had chaired council meetings. His outgoing vice chairman is Abergavenny Landsdown Labour councillor Martyn Groucutt who is a former headteacher and education official.
Cllr Thomas was a member of the cabinet, responsible for social care, when Labour took charge at County Hall following the 2022 elections but lost his cabinet role the following year when Labour agreed a coalition with the single Green Party councillor.
The council chairman represents the authority at functions and events across the county as the “first citizen” and chairs the full council’s monthly meetings.
Though the role is largely ceremonial the chair also has the casting vote in any deadlocked decisions at full council meetings and due to an almost even split between Labour and Conservatives, and divided independents, the administration has often had to rely on the chairman’s casting vote on key decisions.
