Councillor first person to be granted Freedom of Llandrindod

Long-serving town councillor Sian Meredudd has become the first person ever to be given the Freedom of Llandrindod, having tirelessly represented the spa town and its constituents for 50 years.

Sian was presented with her framed freedom scroll and flowers by Llandrindod mayor Marcia Morgan at a town council meeting on September 17. The High Sheriff of Powys, Kathryn Silk, also presented her with a certificate in recognition of her valuable service to the county.

Sian, 91, was elected to the Llandrindod Wells Town Council committee in 1974 – the very first year it was established. She has remained in place ever since, and still attends meetings, despite breaking her hip in a fall in May.

Sian described the accolade as a “tremendous honour”, although she has “no idea” why the privilege was bestowed upon her.

“It really is a great honour, but I was not expecting it at all,” said Sian.

“I was completely surprised, not only to receive it, but the fact that people should think of me along those lines.”

After the town council was established in 1974, the same year as Powys County Council became a unified local authority, Sian came abord via a by-election held later that year.

“It’s not been awarded to anyone before, I know it hasn’t, so it really is a tremendous honour,” said Sian.

“I have no idea how they came to think about me, because I’ve always felt other people were more important than me.”

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Asked why she has remained on the council for half a century, Sian added: “I can’t really tell you why, except that it’s just part of my life now.

“I was mayor of Llandrindod in 1985-86, and that was really the beginning; the year that town and community councils started to be able to do things and make a difference.

“Prior to that, when we (she and her husband at the time) joined in 1974, we were told by the clerk that it was just a talking shop, that we didn’t have any influence or power. I think he tried putting us off.

“By 1985, councils had begun to feel they were worth more and I was able to start the allotments committee, of which I’m still chair, and also the footpaths committee, which has since folded.

“I don’t really want to call it work because everything I’ve done are my hobbies, so I don’t feel as if I’ve done very much. It’s just all part of the way my life has developed.”

Despite giving 50 years of her life working for the people of Llandrindod, Sian doesn’t yet feel like retiring. “I don’t think I’ll have all that much more time and I might give up at the next election, but I’ve been thinking that for the last few elections and I’m still there,” she said.

“I have enjoyed it. It’s all been highlights. My first job was planting flowers around the town and I’ve kept on doing that.”

Sian, pictured with her sons Rhys and Lloyd, as well as mayor Marcia Morgan and Kathryn Silk, High Sheriff of Powys. (Image: Llandrindod Wells Town Council) She still attends council meetings, even if some of them have been online, via Teams, since her accident in May.

“I foolishly fell over a tree root and broke my hip, so that has stopped my physically active work, but by phone and email I still keep on with the work I’ve always done,” she added.

“We often have Zoom meetings so of course I can go to them. Before my hip I attended face to face meetings, and I still do if I can get a lift.”

The freedom of a town, or city, is historically an honour bestowed upon a valued member of the community, arising from the medieval practice of granting respected citizens freedom from serfdom (peasant status).

A number of ‘rights’ have traditionally been circulated as being associated with freemen/women – in London freemen have the right to drive sheep and cattle over London Bridge and to carry a naked sword in public.

So, does Sian’s new-found status allow her to march cattle the wrong way round Llandrindod’s one-way system at the lake? Or can she park all she wants on double yellow lines in the town centre?

“I’m not aware of any special privileges,” she joked. “I have been intending to ask if I can have free cups of coffee in all the cafes, but I haven’t got round to it yet.”