from Cllr Phil Gwyther 15th May 2008
There'll be lots of jostling for seats at the first
meeting of the new Pembroke Dock Town Council as it will be looking a
very different animal when it sits down, with only six of the previous
fourteen councillors still in position.
Long-standing faces missing from the line-up will
be ex-Councillors William Rees (one of the original councillors from
when the current council began) and four previous Mayors, David Jones,
Don Esmond, Veronica Roach and Paul Weatherall, who all decided to step
down this term, while Councillors Pat Folland, another former Mayor, and
Tim McMahon lost out to the voters decisions in their wards. That is a
huge amount of experience and commitment to lose in one swoop. The
fourteenth councillor was of course, the well respected Ted Hissey, who
passed away not long ago.
Add on the two new faces due to the
re-organisation of the council up to sixteen seats and that will see ten
new councillors in place. They wont all be greenhorns however, as the
new faces will include all four previous county councillors for the
first time ever as Brian Hall, Kate Becton, and Tony Wilcox join Sue
Perkins (who already was a town and county councillor) on the lower rung
of the democratic ladder.
Christine Gwyther is another new face, although
already a well known one in local politics and Darren Esmond will be a
new face but a familiar name as his father is Don who has just stepped
down. The other fresh blood in the town council mix are Andrew
McNaughton, Doug King, Maureen Colgan, Liz Cook and Sue Beasley.
Along with Sue Perkins the other five councillors
left in position are Phil Gwyther, Kevin Higgs, Carolyn Fortune, Ron Watts
and Pam George who is the only councillor left from the original
formation of Pembroke Dock Town Council twenty two years ago.
Now I know that Politicians in general take a lot
of stick from the press and public, but don't forget that town
councillors are entirely volunteers. Nobody gets a penny even in
expenses, apart from whoever has the mayoral duties, so I would like to
pay tribute to those people who have put a great amount of effort into
doing their bit for the town over many years. You may not have agreed
with everything they said and did, but at least they stood up to be
counted and gave of their time willingly. So here's a huge Well done!
to those faces we wont be seeing across the table in debate any more and
a slightly smaller Well done! to those new faces who also have
the best intentions for the town when they put their names forward.
