A FORMER mayor of Monmouth and lifelong resident of the town has died at the age of 93.

Alan Warren and his wife Eirwen served as Mayor and Mayoress in 1980/81. Their scrapbook of photographs and press cuttings from that year provide an interesting record of life in Monmouth, when a new business equipped with an ’on-line computer’ was headline news!

The Warrens married in 1955 and lived at Cornwall House in Monnow Street. Mr Warren managed Don Edwards paper shop then bought the old wool shop opposite to run as a gift shop. He was joined by his wife after she retired from teaching home economics at Monmouth Comprehensive.

Mr Warren was chosen as Mayor having served as a councillor since local government reorganisation in 1974.

Press cuttings from 1980 show him and Sir Ray Tindle, chairman of what was then Farnham Castle Newspapers (now Tindle Newspapers Ltd), ’bringing to life’ the new Cossar Press installed in the Beacon Printing works in Monnow Street.

The ’fully automatic press’ succeeded the Wharfedale manually fed press on which the Beacon had been printed for many years. Sir Ray said it was ’a big day’ in the newspaper’s history.

One of the main issues worrying Monmouth residents in 1980 was the heavy traffic passing through the town centre to access the lorry park near the cattle market. One headline described: ’Thundering juggernauts damaging the historic town’s booming tourist trade’.

Monmouth had done well in Wales in Bloom that year - winning a 1st and 2nd and three runners-up prizes. There was also a Best Kept Street in Monmouth competition. The Mayor presented a plaque to residents of Tower View, Overmonnow along with a £10 cheque which they donated to the ’Algerian Disaster Fund’.

St Thomas’s Church was celebrating 800 years of Christian worship and the Queen Mother was celebrating her 80th birthday. The council marked the occasion by sending her a card.

1980 also saw the opening of Nationwide Building Society’s Monmouth office, which boasted having "its own on-line computer terminal linked to a central computer".

Alan Warren, handing over to his successor, described what it was like to take on the responsibilities of mayor of the town.

"Almost immediately one is startled to discover the touching faith which many people have in the Mayor’s ability to accomplish anything - to solve disputes, unblock drains, inhibit population explosions in feline communities, to restore tour operators to solvency or in fact deal with any otherwise intractable problems instantly if possible," he said. "Although often beyond human intervention, each situation was tackled with the limited powers available."

As a footnote, the councillor chosen to be the next deputy mayor - and Mayor-elect for 1982/83 - had been Cllr Frank Alvis. But he dropped a bombshell by resigning his seat on the council because, according to a press article, "his wife felt too embarrassed to be Mayoress"!

Mr Warren is said to have been especially proud of his stepson Dr Gareth Warren, a researcher in genetics in the USA who had returned to Imperial College London to pursue his work. The couple were ’devastated ’by his sudden death while at the peak of his career.

Mr Warren is survived by his wife Eirwen, a resident at Gibraltar House.