THE 100,000 signatures on a petition recently handed in to me at the Welsh Assembly represents one of the largest petitions ever received by the institution.

The issue of such controversy? The continuing absence of a cancer treatment fund in Wales; a fund which has been established in England and allows cancer sufferers to access pre-NICE approval treatments which their doctors consider could be of benefit to them.

A similar fund in Wales would cost around £5 million, a fraction of the cost of the Welsh Government’s free prescription policy or the money spent on purchasing Cardiff Airport.

As Usk campaigner Julie McGowan put it, the whole point of an Assembly was to bring politics and decision-making closer to the people not to deny Welsh patients access to medical treatments. I will continue to call for equity for Welsh cancer sufferers and a comprehensive cancer treatment fund this side of the border.

On a brighter note, Usk has also been in the news recently for a more upbeat reason, the town scooping a Gold Award in Britain in Bloom as well as being nominated as UK Champion of Champions. The volunteers have worked so hard and I was pleased to be able to present them with awards at a recent ceremony at the Glen yr Afon Hotel to mark their enormous success.

Speaking of success, I must mention a recent visit to the new(ish) Mabey Bridge factory in Chepstow with officials from the United States Embassy. This long-established local company which grew on the old Chepstow Dock and supplied the steel for the deck of the original Severn Bridge has received its own accolades and shown the importance of moving with the times. It is now making the next generation of electricity “T-Pylons”, shorter and less obtrusive than the current generation.

Finally, the Remembrance Sunday services of this weekend were particularly poignant given this year’s centenary of the outbreak of the Great War. Recent marches and church services in Monmouth and Chepstow commemorated the departure of soldiers from the towns to the front on the continent.

It’s difficult to put into words our feelings of gratitude and respect for the sacrifices of so many young men which were perhaps best encapsulated in 1916 by the moving words of John Maxwell Edmunds: “When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today”.