The Mons, a new award for Monmouthshire, were picked up by ten businesses, charities and individuals from the county at a special event held at St Pierre, near Chepstow.

The awards were the brainchild of Jo Barnes, editor of our sister publication Monmouthshire County Life magazine, who came up with the idea of rewarding some of the county’s unsung heroes as part of the magazine’s 10th anniversary celebrations.

Jo said: “In Monmouthshire we are surrounded by amazing talent – from worldclass chefs to best-selling authors – but we are also surrounded by unsung heroes who work tirelessy in their own fields to make Monmouthshire the diverse and vibrant county we love.”

MCL asked the people of Monmouthshire to nominate possible recipients and then a panel of judges, including members of the MCL team, whittled the list down to the final 10.

Awards were to the Severn Area Rescue Association; David Sansom of Usk for his work with Usk Festival; the owners of the Inn at Penallt for their hard work in bringing a near-redundant village pub back to life; Anne Rainsbury, curator of Chepstow Museum and one of the founders of Chepstow Festival; Steve Davies, of Homes of Elegance in Abergavenny for his work promoting the town, Donald Stewart for his work spreading a love of traditional Celtic music through Gwent Music Service; Henry Ashby, who is an integral part of the Monmouthshire food scene providing some of the top restaurants in the area with foraged food; The Rotary Club of Monmouth for their fund-raising activities especially the hugely popular Monmouth Raft Race; and Jenny MacGregor who has run the Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies near Monmouth for 37 years.

A posthumous award was also given to Alison Beasley, a driving force for promoting Chepstow and one of the founders of Chepstow Radio. Her daughter Remy attended the event to accept the award on behalf of the family.

Each winner received a specially commissioned ceramic pot, which was handmade by young Tintern potter Kristian Vaughan-Adkins and sponsored by Newport-based public relations firm, DBPR, whose managing director David Barnes lives in Monmouthshire.

Jo Barnes said: “I am so pleased the awards were such a success. It was great to meet all these unsung heroes and find out more about what they do for the county. We’re already planning next year’s event.”