A man from Abergavenny has been made an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List for his services to the veteran community across South Wales.

Trevor Scott is originally from Belfast, but has lived in Abergavenny for much of his life and worked across secondary and higher education as Head of Art at King Henry VIII School, before moving on to West Monmouth School and eventually teaching at The Open University.

The 83-year-old also enjoyed Art Fellowships at Skidmore College in New York in 1992, 1994 and 1997 before being introduced by the armed forces charity, SSAFA.

A father to two daughters, Trevor was introduced to the charity by one of them when her husband was serving in the British Army and began volunteering for SSAFA as an army base herself.

“The sort of people I would do casework with originally would be veterans, so people who have left the services,” Trevor said.

“Whereas my daughter was working with serving personnel on a base. But she was helping families, really. And she said to me she said to me, dad, you I think when you retire, you would like this and that's where it started.”

“It's my connection with my son-in-law, really, that ties me to the charity and the work I have done.”

Having lived in Cardiff as a young family for a year, Trevor had completed his latest course in the city and was looking to continue his climb up the career ladder in education.

The Northern Irishman has lived in Abergavenny since 1974 and was smitten with the town while playing hockey for Cardiff. It was that fateful away day that would see Trevor look towards the area to live and work for the rest of his life.

Beginning in 2008 as a caseworker in the former Gwent branch, he became Abergavenny Divisional Secretary in 2018, Chair of the Gwent branch in 2020, and Chair of the South East Wales branch, following a merger of Gwent, Cardiff & The Vale, and Mid Glamorgan branches, from 2022 until October 2024.

Upon receiving the news of his MBE, Trevor said he was pleased to have been recognised for his work helping local veterans.

“It probably won’t sink in properly until I have gone to receive the medal from Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle,” he said.

“Having the MBE after my name isn’t going to change my approach to helping people trying to make a difference to the world where I can, but it is recognition, and that makes me feel pleased.”

“My award therefore also belongs to the SSAFA team, especially those in the South East Wales branch, without whose commitment nothing would have been achieved.”

The charity congratulated Trevor on the outstanding achievement and praised his service to the Armed Forces community over almost two decades with the charity.

“What Trevor has managed to achieve while generously giving his time for SSAFA goes far beyond volunteering. He has singlehandedly safeguarded the continued success of the SSAFA Branch in South East Wales.”