It was a pleasure to attend this year’s My Local Heroes awards at the Grove Hotel in Watford, organised as readers will know by MyNews magazine.

The evening was a wonderful success and it was fantastic to see so many people honoured for their inspiring achievements across such a wide variety of fields, such as caring, bravery and sport. There were so many deserving winners, including Shenley Post Office owner Dayaram Nakrani, who defended his family and shop from burglars in September last year during a break in.

Reminders of what we have in common as a community are something we need at the moment, when there is so much disagreement on so many issues across the country. The MyNews publications make a unique contribution to this, keeping people linked with what’s going on in their area and bringing neighbours together.

At the same time, the evening raised over £100,000 of much needed money for charity, and my wife and I were pleased to be able to contribute a bottle of House of Commons champagne, signed by Theresa May and David Cameron.

Thank you to MyNews for hosting such an enjoyable and impressive evening, and I look forward to attending next year.