The former mayor of Abergavenny Councillor Tony Konieczny looks back at his unexpected two years in office - brought about because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tony reflects on his mayoral years in office for Chronicle readers.

‘‘I was elected Mayor of Abergavenny in May 2019 expecting to have one year in office.

2019 started with the usual round of Civic duties and there were many highlights, attending the Abergavenny Eisteddfod, sitting in a theatre full of appreciative children entranced by Baba Yaga, collecting the Wales in Bloom Award on behalf of Abergavenny from Behnaz Akhgar from BBC Wales.

The worst weather ever for the Christmas lights Switch On but the biggest crowd determined to enjoy the occasion despite the downpour.

The Mayor, traditionally, nominates a charity to support during the year in office.

I chose to support the Haematology Unit in the Windsor Suite in Nevill Hall Hospital.

I am indebted to the people who gave so generously of their time and support to raise money, Mr & Mrs J Sharland who organised a street collection outside various supermarkets, Daniel Morden for his Storytelling performance in the Borough Theatre, Abergavenny Community Centre who helped by hosting a dinner and shared the proceeds, and Paul Cable who asked for sponsors for his artwork.

There were two further concerts planned to raise funds but sadly a pandemic got in the way.

However, we managed to raise a magnificent sum of £5700 for the Windsor Suite.

One of my other roles as Mayor is to chair council meetings.

The first lockdown in 2020 put a halt to everything including the Town Council being able to conduct business.

Face to face meetings were banned and there was no legislation in place to allow remote meetings.

Emergency Coronavirus Regulations in June 2020 allowed councils to hold remote meetings and as we had not been able to hold a statutory Annual meeting in May we held off until September to see if it would be possible to resume face to face meetings.

In October 2020 we held our Annual meeting remotely and decided to maintain all the offices of the Town Council until 2021, so I remained Mayor for a further year.

There have been only a few low-key Civic events in the last year, Remembrance services for the Mons Regiment, VE and VJ as well as The Armistice were conducted solemnly without the usual crowds wishing to pay their respects to the fallen.

On a brighter note, the 2020 Christmas Lights Switch On went virtual with a short video that showed Abergavenny in a very festive spirit and I was featured switching on the lights from my armchair.

The Council has continued to be very active behind the scenes and we have continued to support a variety of community groups and organisations to improve the wellbeing of our community.

We have commissioned work in Bailey Park to restore the Grade II listed gates and begun work on resurfacing a multi-use games area near the pavilion.

We have also started a programme of environmental improvement and planting to increase biodiversity.

In conclusion it has been an honour to represent our lovely town of Abergavenny and I pay tribute to the support I have received from fellow Councillors and the Town Council officers.

The community response during the pandemic has been amazing, so many people have gone the extra mile to help neighbours and ensure that no-one was isolated and without support.

I sincerely hope that this is one aspect of the last 18 months that will continue to grow and make us a stronger and more resilient community.’’