TRIBUTES have been paid to a former Islwyn councillor who passed away earlier this month.

More than 100 people attended Gwent Crematorium in Croesyceiliog today to pay their respects to William Aneurin Richards, who was known by his middle name Aneurin.

The former Plaid Cymru councillor, from Newbridge, died after a short illness on Thursday July 14.

Former Plaid Cymru assembly member for South East Wales Jocelyn Davies, who served alongside the late Mr Richards as a councillor, paid tribute to her former colleague.

She said: “He was a friend of my parents and would visit from time to time, the respect they had for him was passed on to me.

"We exchanged pleasantries and he persuaded me to stand for the council in 1987 alongside himself.

“We bumped into each other and he asked me to stand, needing to know by the following day, and my father said ‘if Aneurin’s asking then you’d better do it’.

"I didn’t have enough time to say no, so stood just to make up the numbers.

"He gave me the confidence to stand for Parliament”, she said.

Leading the service the Reverend Eric Jones said its details had been decided by Mr Richards himself 10 years ago.

"Ten years ago he came to me with all of his funeral preparations and gave me strict instructions, which is typical of Aneurin, and our ceremony will be in keeping with what he would have liked”, he said.

Born in west Wales on August 8 1923, Mr Richards left school at 16 and worked as a collier alongside his father and older brother before winning a scholarship to study a mining degree at the University College, Cardiff.

And he added that Mr Richards' interest in politics came from listening to his father talk about injustices suffered by miners.

He said: “He arrived in Newbridge in 1966 and intend to return to west Wales when retired but fate and politics intervened.”

Mr Richards served as a councillor in the former Islwyn Borough Council from 1974 until it was disbanded in 1995, serving as Plaid Cymru group leader for many years.

He refused the offer of freedom of the borough for his 20 years of service.

He stood for Parliament five times from 1974 to 1987, first in the Abertillery constituency and then for Islwyn, where he lost out to Neil Kinnock twice.

Former councillor Jim Criddle spoke before mourners sang Hymn Calon Lan and then Wedi Ei Fyw Y Mai was read by the late councillor’s granddaughter, Gotham actress Erin Richards.

“It is not the end. His actions and his good nature, will live on in all of us and our memories of him, his family and his friends,” she said.

The service concluded with mourners leaving to the sounds of My Way by Frank Sinatra.

Mr Richards is survived by his wife Hilda, who he met on holiday in 1949 before marrying two years later, his children Glenda and Alun, five grandchildren and a great-grandchild.