Humphrey Ker hails firm that ‘helped save Wrexham AFC’ after £10k miners boost

Nation Cymru staff

Wrexham AFC stars swapped football gear for reverse gear to help raise £10,000 for a major mining heritage project.

The Red Dragons teamed up with longtime sponsors Ifor Williams Trailers for a charity challenge featuring an 80-metre reversing trial and tipper trailer shoot-out.

Players took turned steering one of the firm’s new Tow Max trailers through a hay bale obstacle course.

Defender Dan Scarr topped the leader board after clocking the fastest reversing time while midfielder Harry Ashfield hit the target to win the shooting contest.

But the biggest winner was Wrexham Miners’ Project after Ifor Williams Trailers donated £10,000 towards the redevelopment of the historic site near the STōK Cae Ras.

Following the trailer challenge, the trailer firm is also donating £10,000 to the Nightingale House hospice in Wrexham.

Wrexham AFC’s community director Humphrey Ker, a patron of the miners’ project, thanked Ifor Williams Trailers for the donation and also for its support of the football club during its darkest days when it was lingering in the National League and facing financial uncertainty.

Humphrey, who played a key role in paving the way for Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac to buy the football club, said: “The funding from Ifor Williams is brilliant and of course Ifor Williams Trailers has a long-standing relationship with the football club as well.

“They were front shirt sponsors when we took over and they have been partners with the club all throughout that period.

“At the end of the day, they helped save the football club.

“The donation is indicative of the company, they are a great North Walian business and they are people who no matter how successful that business is, they want to make sure they are supportive of the local community.

“There is such a close relationship between the football club and the miners’ project.

“We have lent on the miners’ project for educational purposes, with them talking to our first team players, talking to our academy and talking to our women’s team so they can understand the town they represent.”

The donation from Ifor Williams Trailers was celebrated during the annual general meeting of the miners project, which is based at Maesgwyn Road, in walking distance from Wrexham AFC’s famous stadium.

The donation will be used for the renovate and transform the firm former Superintendent’s House next door into supported living accommodation.

Humphrey told the meeting Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac didn’t just want to buy and run a football club when they took over at Wrexham, which has been documented in their hit Welcome to Wrexham TV show, they also wanted to be deeply involved in the community.

He said: “When I first talked to Rob in March 2020 about all this, the thing that the guys were most excited about wasn’t the football necessarily, what they were really passionate about was what boosting a football club could do for the community.

“We have just completed our fourth and half season in charge, and on the pitch we achieved the club’s highest ever finish in the Football League, and that is something to be really proud of.

“But you don’t get an open top bus parade for finishing seventh.

“But what they have always hoped for was that idea of a football club as an engine to drive positivity and hope and change.

“There are all sorts of extraordinary examples of things that go on in this town and in the documentary we have tried to capture that.

“The Wrexham Miners Project is the most perfect example of everything that existed before we came along, and what will exist long after we’ve gone, because it is driven by the people of the community.

“If we have been able to play any small part in helping this place grow, then that is the proudest achievement we have as far as being involved in Wrexham.”

Alex Lenden, show manager at Ifor Williams Trailers, visited the miners’ project and was shown around the Superintendents House.

He explained the project was Dan Scarr’s chosen charity, and as the winner of the Ifor Williams Trailers reversing challenge, a donation of £10,000 was given to the project.

Alex said: “The £10,000 will go towards the cost of creating one of the bedrooms.

“It is really impressive what the project is doing and it is important that we preserve our mining heritage.

“Ifor Williams Trailers loves supporting the local community and we are involved in all our communities in various different ways.

“These sorts of challenges are a good way to work with Wrexham AFC and allow the players to pick the charities they would like to support and we have supported them with the donation.

“Ifor Williams Trailers have been supporting the club through sponsorship for about 10 years and it is important to us as they are so important to our local area.

“We have been supporting them when so many others didn’t, we have always supported Wrexham AFC and many of our staff are keen fans of the club.

“We are a family-run business and we are proud to be fully based in North Wales and we do as much as we can to support our communities and our sports clubs.”

John Gallanders, chair of the Wrexham Miners Project, thanked Ifor Williams Trailers for the £10,000 donation.
He said: “What Ifor Williams have done is brilliant. They are a great supporter of local communities and we are so grateful they chose our charity for the donation.

“From a financial point of view we are really grateful for everybody and everything that comes in just so that we can keep the door open.”

The ultimate aim of the miners’ project is to create a fully functioning heritage, community and visitor destination.

That includes the renovation of the Superintendents House and the restoration of the project’s Grade II listed rescue station, with the overall cost given as £2.2 million.