AS raffle prizes go, they don’t come much more iconic than the legendary Fender Stratocaster guitar.

But that what was on offer to anyone taking part in the Sunday night open mic night at The Club in Chepstow.

The Strat was put up by open mic night founder John Ozaroff whose 50-year career in music included a stint with chart-toppers The Four Pennies.

He said: “We set up the open mic night earlier this year and its really grown.

“I decided to put one of my guitars up as a prize to encourage people to take part.

“Anyone who performed received a ticket so the more times they took part, the more chance they had of winning.

“The Club is a great venue, right in the centre of town, and there are loads of very talented musicians in the area.

“There’s always a great atmosphere and people really enjoy it.”

John used the Strat on stage as a slide guitar.

The winner of the guitar was Barry Carlino who, along with wife Suzanne, makes up the duo Skylark.

He was presented with his prize by John and chairman of The Club Mr Rodney Welsh.

Barry said: “I never win anything. When he said the winner is Barry C, it was only when he started reading out my phone number that I realised how lucky I’d been.

I’ve been playing guitar for years but I’ve never been able to own a Strat – I’m  very excited to ave a play with it.

“As well as the performers on Sunday nights, we get people who turn up to listen to the music and they seem to really enjoy it.”

Barry and Suzanne are well-known performers in the area who play an eclectic range of music.

They came up with the name Skylark at the last minute when performing at Monmouth Festival.

He said: “We won the busking competition at the festival which meant we had a spot on the main stage.

“We didn’t have a name so we came up with Skylark as we were going on stage.”