Whenever I can, I attend some of the Veterans Breakfast Clubs held across Monmouthshire, organised by the Armed Forces & Veterans Breakfast Clubs.

These are always fantastic opportunities to meet veterans, members of the armed forces community and their families, and hear about the issues that matter to them.

Last weekend, I was particularly pleased to bring a guest along with me to a breakfast in Abergavenny: the Veterans Minister, Calvin Bailey.

Calvin is a Veteran himself with some incredible stories, so he was warmly welcomed and spent the time speaking with members about all sorts of issues.

The breakfast was held at a new venue, the Gurkha Corner Restaurant, which put on a fantastic breakfast for everyone.

The incredible Peter Farthing and his team of volunteers also organised a raffle and raised hundreds of pounds for the emergency response in Nepal.

It was also great to have the new Valour manager join. Valour is a programme funded through £50 million from the UK Government, designed to provide joined-up support for veterans across housing, employment and welfare.

From there, I went to the fantastic Usk Show. It was brilliant to meet so many of you and have some really useful conversations with the NFU, Farmers’ Union of Wales and RABI.

A huge well done to everyone involved in organising another brilliant show.

And community spirit was certainly on display again when I joined PT Pilates for their 24-hour Reformerthon in aid of St David’s Hospice. I woke up aching the next day, but it was absolutely worth it!

At the time of writing, they have raised more than £8,000 – smashing their original £5,000 target. Huge congratulations to Jane and everyone at PT Pilates, and to everyone who took part.

It was lovely to meet Emma Saysell, CEO of St David’s Hospice, too, and hear just how much this money will mean to the hospice. If you’d like to support their fundraising, you can still donate online.

Finally, it was great to see the Caldicot Male Voice Choir perform again at their Gala Concert. They always put on a fantastic performance and it was a pleasure to be there.

Visiting people, organisations and events like this is an absolute privilege of being Monmouthshire’s MP, particularly seeing first-hand the work volunteers and communities put in to run fantastic events like the ones I joined. It’s people and events like this that make Monmouthshire such a fantastic place to live!