Message from the Mayor

In taking over as Mayor of Usk for 2009/10 I was delighted to receive, as one of my first invitations, a request to write a few words for the new Usk Town website.

Usk has come a long way since the Town Council came into being in 1974 following local government reorganisation. The old Urban District Council became part of history and the new Town Council started with one small office, housed in the White House in Old Market Street, and a second typewriter left behind by the former clerk to the UDC - I am not joking!

During the next 25 years, we moved to the old school in Maryport Street behind the library (now demolished) and then by a stroke of incredible good fortune ,which is detailed elsewhere, we managed to acquire the wonderful building known as the Sessions House, which is now the town's Civic Centre.

We have, since then, made huge strides to keep pace with the way Local Government now works and that, of course, means information technology. Our new website has evolved as a result of many months of hard work by a lot of individuals to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude.

So here we are in the 21st century conducting our business in a way that our first Town Clerk, Emrys Morgan MBE, would never have dreamed possible. I hope that all of those who make contact with us as a council and the town as a whole, through the website, will appreciate and enjoy it as much as we have in creating it

With every good wish,


Councillor Roger Galletley

Mayor of Usk