Alderman passing and Councils

General
1

Morning everyone,
I have a bit of a niche issue and this is the first place I thought of to try and find an expert to help!

I work for a Town Council, we were only formed in 2019. The previous Borough Council had Alderman. When that Borough Council ceased to be the responsibility for Alderman passed to the new Unitary Council. I agreed to keep the certificates up in the Town Council Chamber out of respect to the local Alderman and to help smooth the transition from Borough to Town.

I have been removing the certificates when an Alderman passes as I thought that was the protocol. I was only passed the certificates for Alderman who were alive at the point of transfer, so the previous ones for deceased Alderman had already been removed.

Does anyone know what the actual protocol is? I am concerned we have been unable to effect a clean break from the “traditions” of the old Borough and forge a name for our Council ourselves, and I don’t want to end up as a museum to the Borough (in more ways than one …)

I would be very grateful for any advice on what others do.
Thank you ,
Jane

2

Indeed an interesting query Jane. I look forward to responses and maybe Phil O’Brien or Paul Millward may have a view on this

3

Thanks, it seems to have stumped people so far!

4

Jane
My thoughts are that as you are a new Town Council, you do not have to display the former boroughs certificates etc. or follow their protocol. You need to stamp the authority of your new council, and this means that the Alderman certificates can/should be taken down.
What have you done with those you have already removed? Perhaps the best place would be to donate them to your local museum

1 Like
5

Thanks Phil, if I had my way they wouldn’t have been displayed but some Councillors were insistent (they’re on the certificates) and it wasn’t a battle I felt I had to win. The ones we take down are offered to the local museum but so far they have refused so they go to the history centre. We did think about off offering them to the family, but they already have one.
Thank you for the reassurance