A Monmouthshire plant firm helped raise almost £68,000 at the 12th Royal Ascot charity day, held at Chepstow Racecourse, for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital.

The annual event, sponsored by Chepstow Plant International, which is based at Caldicot, has raised more than £300,000 in the last five years.

The money goes to help transform the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital in Cardiff.

More than 350 guests at this year’s event enjoyed a three-course lunch, afternoon tea, and live TV coverage from Royal Ascot.

An auction was a highlight of the day and included a new car as one of the lots. There was also a Gold Cup raffle and best hat competition to keep the guests entertained.

Eddie Hayward, chairman of Noah’s Ark Children’s Charity, said: “Each year we look to make our Royal Ascot day bigger and better, and this year we did not disappoint.

"We raised £67,710 seeing an increase of £6,000 from last year, which we are thrilled about. We welcomed 350 guests to the event who enjoyed a great day of entertainment and we would like to thank them for their generosity in helping us raise so much money for a fantastically important charity in Wales.”

Ross Hayward, asset manager at Chepstow Plant International, said: “It is such an honour to sponsor this yearly event to help raise much needed funds and awareness of The Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital. The hospital provides the much-needed care for children in Wales.

"Over the past five years we have raised more than £300,000 which has helped so many children in Wales and we look forward to working with the charity for many years to come.”

This year the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital has a target to raise £1.5 million, the money raised at the Charity Race Day will be used to continue to fund the play specialist team, enable the children’s assessment centre to stay open on a 24-hour basis and purchase medical equipment and service improvements at the hospital.

The current Noah’s Ark Children’s Charity campaign is the ‘Tiny Lives Appeal’ which was launched last November with an appeal to raise £1 million towards the expansion and enhancement of the neonatal unit which cares for some of the smallest and most critically ill babies in Wales at the University Hospital of Wales.