Our young people in Torfaen often amaze me.

From academic or sporting success, to taking part in activities like the recent highly-acclaimed Congress Youth Theatre production of Chicago, there are so many great examples of young people making a positive contribution to our communities.

As far as I’m concerned, we should celebrate these achievements more and use them to inspire others.

I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Senedd with another inspirational Torfaen young person last week.

Lucy-Marie Phillips has written a fantastic book on her experiences of living with Tourette Syndrome. The book, "I can’t make it stop. My diary on living with Tourette Syndrome" is available online and contains a wealth of stories, pictures and diagrams that tell Lucy-Marie’s story in a way that really brings it to life.

As I thought it was so helpful to teachers, parents and pupils alike, we’ve purchased a copy for every school in Torfaen.

At the Senedd, we met with Education Minister Jeremy Miles, Social Care Minister Julie Morgan and local MS and Minister Lynne Neagle.

Lucy-Marie talked about her experiences growing up, the challenges she faced and about how the book had helped improve the understanding of Tourette’s by her teachers and classmates.

The ministers were all massively impressed with the book and with Lucy-Marie’s case about how we can improve things.

For me, the next step is to try to get every school in Wales to buy a copy!

Thank you Lucy-Marie for making such a difference – your book will improve the lives of so many other young people, which is an amazing achievement.

Talking of improving the lives of all our young people, it’s also nice to see the new inclusive play area at Pontypool Park taking shape. The park will improve facilities for all children and make the play areas more suitable for those with special needs including sensory impairments, allowing children to play together. Thank you to Pontypool Community Council for working with us on this project.

Lastly, on the subject of Pontypool Park, what a great result for Pontypool RFC in the cup semi-final against Neath at Ebbw Vale at the weekend.

Pooler ran our deserved 26-9 winners and were cheered all the way by an outstanding turnout from Pontypool supporters in some rare sunshine. The two league games against Neath were very close, so I went along with more nerves than usual, but the whole team were superb.

I’m certainly looking forward to the final at the Principality Stadium on April 23 now!