ON Friday scores of people joined the South Wales Argus to share in our Pride of Gwent awards ceremony.

We would like to congratulate all the winners, who turned up with friends and family to share their stories. And what stories they were.

There was much laughter in the room at the Coldra Court Hotel by Celtic Manor, as we heard stories of great courage, fantastic community commitment and humanity.

But there were also tears as the audience listened to the moving stories of several of our winners.

It was humbling to be in their company.

It was also a delight to be able to highlight the good being done by so many people in our communities; people who are doing their utmost to keep our parks and streets litter free or who provide support for the more vulnerable members of society or who are real life-savers.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the very many people who took the time to nominated someone for an award and also to thank the local businesses which supported the awards scheme and helped make it such a success.

Judging was incredibly difficult but the two standing ovations afforded our overall winner, Ron Jones, confirmed the panel had made the right choice. The 99-year-old Auschwitz survivor and, until recently, active fundraiser for the Royal British Legion is deservedly our Pride of Gwent 2017 winner.