ABERGAVENNY Town Council has been accused of failing to show respect to one of the town’s only burgesses after deciding not to don ceremonial robes for the funeral of former mayor Ray Hill.

The decision to not wear ceremonial dress during the funeral of honorary burgess Ray Hill divided the council, after some came out in favour of the tradition — only to be told there was no support for it.

Mayor David Simcock, who took the decision, defended the move pointing out that he and mayoress Penny Simcock opted to wear their chains of office for the funeral, as a mark of respect.

“I would like to emphasise that there was no intention whatsoever to diminish the respect we as town councillors feel towards Ray Hill, who was a councillor for over thirty years, mayor five times and subsequently made a town burgess as a mark of respect for his service to the town, by not wearing robes at his funeral,” said the mayor.

“A significant number of town councillors, including the mayoress and myself, attended Mr Hill’s funeral service to pay our respects, and the mayoress and I attended the cremation service on the town council’s behalf. If we as a council have offended anyone, I can only apologise – this was not our intention, far from it.

“There is no written protocol about councillors’ robes, and whether or not they should be worn - it is a matter of custom and practice but times change and customs must change with them or become outmoded and anachronistic.

“The current council is starting to modernise the practices it has inherited from times past and bring them into the 21st Century. This includes not just the wearing of robes, but the many procedures under which the council operates, in order to make the council more transparent, responsive and able to demonstrate due diligence.

“People will be glad to hear that we have not however abandoned the wearing of robes completely – public events such as the Remembrance Day parade are still likely to see us wearing our traditional robes.”

Former mayor Chris Woodhouse said the tradition would have remained with his mayorship, but said he respected the view of the current council.

“I think many people expected the robes to be worn. Ray was Mayor of Abergavenny five times—you don’t get much more of a record than that, but if the new mayor has a different opinion, then he is, of course entitled to it,” he said. ??

“It was a little disappointing,” he added.

Councillor Sam Dodd, herself a former mayor said she was appalled by the decision.

“I’m appalled that we were not in robes to commemorate a former councillor and honorary burgess, who has served the town remarkably over the years, and will be sadly missed.

“It’s an embarrassment to the town and I’d hate to see such things ‘be done away with’ as it seems the majority council wants.”

“I asked if we would be wearing robes as we always have in the past and was told there was no support for the policy from councillors,” said Councillor Dodd.

Over 200 people attended Mr Hill’s funeral on February 2, packing the main body of the St Mary’s Priory Church, with the cortege led by David Llewellyn carrying the Royal British Legion standard.

Bearers included Ron Oliver from the Royal British Legion, representatives from the Borough Band, and Councillor Martin Hickman.

Mr Hill served as Mayor of Abergavenny on five occasions after being elected to Abergavenny Town Council as an independent councillor in the late 1970s and was widely respected for his forthright views.

On his retirement from the town council he became one of only a handful of people to be made an Honorary Burgess of the Abergavenny in the last thirty years.