A WOMAN from the Vale has won a Welsh Asian Women's achievement award at a ceremony held in Cardiff City Hall last month Saturday, April 25.

Hiral Nabad Shah topped the arts and culture category of the awards which celebrate Asian women's contribution to Welsh life.

Miss Shah is studying to be a chiropractic surgeon and her involvement with Asian arts in the community was recognised.

The former 'Miss Vale of Glamorgan' is a distinguished dancer and was glad to see how the awards increased the self esteem of Asian women and girls.

She said: "It was a great chance to meet other women and it made me feel empowered to see how confident it made them."

She has done lots of work for charity since she was young including winning the young citizens award for the Rhondda and being involved with a project which took blind people to Iceland.

She said: "It was quite an experience. I had never done anything like that before."

Next year, the event will recognise women from more ethnic minorities which Miss Shah thinks is a very positive thing.

She was impressed with how many different backgrounds were represented and said it really inspired her.

When it came to the awards night, she revealed that she "wasn't going to go originally because she did not think she would win." But little did she know that she would be walking up to collect her award from former first minister Rhodri Morgan.

She has been dancing since she was five years old when she learnt bharata natyam, a form of Indian dancing popular in Bollywood. She wanted to open up an avenue into Bollywood dancing for people in South Wales.

She takes her talent into charity events, performances, weddings and also primary schools and elderly care homes to spread her passion.

For those interested in getting involved, you can contact her at hiralnabadshah@hotmail.co.uk