TRIBUTES have been paid to former mayor of Blaenavon Phyllis Roberts at her funeral on Friday.

Senior politicians from across the eastern valley were among those to remember Mrs Roberts, who died on September 2, aged 97.

At the service at St Peter’s Church, eulogies were read by former Torfaen MP and secretary of state for Northern Ireland Lord Murphy, and current Torfaen MP and shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds.

READ MORE: Tributes pour in for 'UK's oldest mayor' Phyllis Roberts.

Both said Mrs Roberts had been a mentor to them – along with other former MPs Leo Abse, Arthur Jenkins and Daniel Granville-West – in a career that was “nothing short of remarkable”.

Lord Murphy, a friend of Mrs Roberts for 50 years, said he had been on many trips abroad with her, and she would always say that nowhere she witnessed was as beautiful as the view from the Keeper’s Pond.

“She inherited her socialism from her father and her life’s work was to better the lot of the people of Blaenavon,” he said.  

“Above all, she had no side: no pretensions, no pomposity - she was as at home speaking to a pensioner in Elgam as she was conversing with royalty.”

“Born in 1924, Phyllis’ politics were formed in the Great Depression, and the poverty she saw then,” Mr Thomas-Symonds said. “She often spoke of how awful it was for people who didn’t know where their next meal was coming from, and how determined she was that we should never go back to times like that.

“Her father Christopher Davies was a war hero who was held as a prisoner of war for two years before he led 20 other prisoners of war back home through Belgium and France to Dover. After the war, he worked underground, before becoming a fireman at Big Pit.  

“Christopher became president of the local branch of the miners’ union, and she heard the gossip of everything that was going on with the miners at that time. His friends were people who were to become national politicians, like Jim Griffiths and Aneurin Bevan.

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“Her life in politics was nothing short of remarkable. She was a pioneer for the representation of women, and I’ve heard so many times from the women who followed her as councillors in succeeding generations say that it was to her they looked for inspiration.

“But she was also an internationalist, deeply proud of Blaenavon’s World Heritage Status, and loved travelling around the globe, though she told me she never found anywhere that looked more beautiful than the Blorenge and the Coity.

“She made Blaenavon – and the valley – a better place.”

Former Islwyn MP Lord Touhig read Psalm 121, current mayor of Blaenavon Cllr Liam Cowles read the Lesson from Ecclesiastes chapter three, and Mrs Roberts’ niece Susan Wilson read a poem written by Phyllis’ father Christopher Davies called Ruth.

At Gwent Crematorium, Ms Wilson and her son David read tributes to their aunt, who they said inspired them both in their careers and in the way they lived their lives and respected others.