He won the Leader of the Year Award at this year’s Welsh Veterans Awards and was the runner-up in Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

The award was in recognition of Arwyn’s role as CAW president in leading the successful Team Wales bid to bring the Worldchefs Congress and Expo to the International Convention Centre Wales (ICC Wales), Newport in 2026.

He said: “The award was unexpected and it’s a great honour to win in such a strong category. I do the voluntary job with the Culinary Association of Wales without thinking of accolades, but it’s nice to be recognised. Many people wouldn’t know that I am a veteran and it’s only in recent years that I have reconnected with the veterans community.”

Passionate about developing chefs in Wales, Arwyn coached the Welsh Junior Culinary Team to a Culinary Olympics gold medal in 2004 and was appointed CAW president in 2015. In the New Year’s Honours List in 2018, he received an OBE for his services to education and training in Wales.