A NEW children’s wellbeing centre in Monmouthshire, thought by its founders to be the only one of its kind in Wales, officially opened today.

Hummingbird, based at the Llanover Business Centre near Abergavenny, was opened by Monmouth MP David Davies MP and has been up and running for three weeks.

The brainchild of former Gwent head teacher John Healy and his business partner Alison Baillon-Jones, it is attached to a coffee shop and Llanover’s new village store.

Children can receive one-on-one tuition to support their learning while their parents wait for them and have a drink.

Other services that could be offered there soon include speech and language therapy, massage and counselling, helping children with anxiety, depression and bereavement.

Mr Healy, who will soon finish working for the Gwent EAS (Education Attainment Service), said: “We chose Llanover because it is such a beautiful area. I hope we can do something for the community of Llanover.”

He added: “We are excited by our project. We think it is unique and we want to the centre of the community.

“We really do not do enough to celebrate people and tell them how much they are doing.

"We want to tell people how much they are doing.

Children at the opening were entertained by a magician, had their face painted and took part in an arts and crafts workshop.

The co-owner of the Llanover Business Centre Ross Murray said the project was 'the final piece of the jigsaw'.

He said: “We did not know what would go there. We had an idea it could be a spa but we got John and Alison – it is a really exciting achievement.”

The opening was attended by Mr Davies, Llanover’s county councillor Sara Jones and cabinet member Cllr Bryan Jones.