A big-hearted Anglesey business has put their shirt on four local sports clubs in a series of sponsorships worth £2,000.
Peninsula Home Improvements, based in Gaerwen, has backed three football clubs and Bangor Rugby Club Mini Rugby Section by presenting them with kits and training tops.
And all four clubs are riding high in their resplendent new kits so there’s the prospect of some silverware being lifted by the boys in the Peninsula shirts.
The football sides range from seniors Welsh Alliance Division Two title-chasers Penmaenmawr Phoenix and Gwynedd League Bro Goronwy to Amlwch Town Under-14s from the Anglesey Junior League.
Ken Grayson, Chief Executive of the company which employs 23 full-time staff and has a turnover of more than £2 million a year, said: “This is all about our belief in corporate social responsibility and supporting youth and adult sports.
“We like to give something back to the community where we operate and we believe it’s important to do that because local sports clubs need sponsorship and provide a real identity to their communities.
“My boys are involved with Bangor Mini Rugby and I can see every week how they develop and how they make friends.
“The people at these clubs put so much unpaid effort into providing facilities and opportunities, particularly for the young, so it would be a sad state of affairs if we couldn’t support them.”
Phoenix keeper Dion Jones, a builder who works for Peninsula and who has played for Penmaenmawr for 14 years, said: “We’re delighted with the new kit and we’re third at the moment and we were top for a while.
“We’re having our best season since we were promoted to the Welsh Alli8ance and Peninsula have been great with us – they even loaned us a digger when we needed a dugout by the pitch.”
Also going well are Bro Goronwy, fourth in the Gwynedd League Premier Division after being promoted from the Anglesey League as champions with a haul of four trophies from the season.
Left back Richard Williams has played for the Moelfre-based side for the past six seasons and he said: “Sponsorship is vital for us because we need to upgrade our facilities if we’re going to progress so the new kit from Peninsula means we can use our funds for the improvements we need to make if we finish in the promotion places.”
Also flying high are Amlwch Town Under-14s, top of the Anglesey Junior League and so are Bangor Rugby Club Under-10s with Sonny Grayson, Ken’s son, at number eight and little brother Tal, five, shouting encouragement on the touchline.
Sonny said: “We’ve lost only twice this season out of 20 games so we’re having a great season so far.”
Peninsula began trading in Pwllheli as a spin-off from a boat-building yard and initially specialised in uPVC windows and conservatories.
Now based in Gaerwen on Anglesey, the company employs a 23 people full-time and another three on a part-time basis, and are looking to expand their business across North Wales and into Cheshire.
Ken added: “Like the teams here we are ambitious but it’s always important to remember your roots and that’s why we have a corporate social responsibility fund.
“It underlines out commitment to the locality which has provided us with a base for our business and a skilled workforce to enable us to grow.”
