It was fantastic to see Pontypool Park bustling on Sunday morning for the finish of the Mic Morris 10K. With over a thousand runners registered this year, the event goes from strength to strength.

Well done to the fantastic organisers and to all those who ran, including several Torfaen officers, Cllr Fiona Cross and our MP Nick Thomas Symonds.

As a volunteer and a big fan of Parkruns, it’s always good to see our parks being utilised. Parkruns are a great thing – communities getting together, helping put on an event to keep people fit and active. It doesn’t matter whether you take 15 minutes or an hour to complete the 5km course, you’ll get the same welcome and encouragement every Saturday morning at 9am.

These days I’m more at home on my bike, so I jumped at the chance to join the SRS team for their recent charity bike ride. As the SRS provide IT services to five local public bodies, we rode 100km around the four council civic centres and Gwent Police HQ, raising money for Velindre Cancer Care and Headway – the Brain Injury Association. Thank you to all those who gave us a welcome along the way and contributed to the collection.

Events like the Mic Morris run show off the best of our area. A lot is often said about what our area doesn’t have the most of, or the challenges we face. We have to strive to bring more jobs and investment in - but we should talk our communities up, not down.

After all, our valleys have stunning natural beauty and our communities have a strength that more affluent areas envy. Hundreds of people came out on the streets on Sunday morning, either to run, volunteer, cheer on the competitors or contribute to good causes.

As well as an industrial heritage, we have local figures to be proud of too. That’s why I was so glad that a new street in Llantarnam will be named after James Prosser, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. James is a true local hero and an inspiration to me - as is his mother, Sarah Adams, who has campaigned tirelessly for our Armed Forces.

Those who have served in our Armed Forces deserve our respect and support – after all, they have put themselves in harm’s way in our name. The least we can do is to provide for veterans and remember those who paid the ultimate price for the freedom we sometimes take for granted.