The owner of a home improvements company is organising a charity auction in memory of his late father to raise money for two causes close to his heart.
The auction at Peninsula in Gaerwen on Anglesey is being staged at an open day to celebrate the firm’s 40th anniversary and will be in aid of St David’s Hospice and the UK’s first female-only charity ultra marathon, the She Ultra.
The event on Thursday, July 18, is brainchild of company chairman Ken Grayson and will also see the unveiling of their new £150,000 Grand Designs-style showroom extension.
It will be officially opened by celebrity interior designer Mandy Watkins, one of the judges on the popular BBC Wales show, Wales’ Home of the Year, whose business, Space Like This, is based in Menai Bridge.
Mandy, who styled the new showroom, is offering a free, hour long consultation as one of the lots for the auction.
Other prizes have been donated by a whole host of local companies and business associates and the master of ceremonies wielding the gavel will be well-known local estate agent Dafydd Hardy, who is also a trustee of the hospice charity.
Catering for the big day is being done by one of Ken’s old school friends, Paul Withington, whose Conwy-based company, The Coconut Kitchen, specialises in award-winning Thai cuisine.
As well as being a day of celebration, it will be a poignant occasion for Ken, whose father Barrie passed away in 2020.
He said: “My Dad who started the company was a big charity fundraiser who raised thousands of pounds for good causes over the years, so this is a nod to him.
“He would have been very proud of what we have achieved as we celebrate this landmark anniversary and I’m sure he’d love the new showroom extension.
“Having a charitable purpose to the occasion is very appropriate and it’s also going to be a lot of fun, especially with Dafydd Hardy running the auction.
“I’m hugely grateful to everyone for their generosity in donating some absolutely brilliant prizes.
“Both the charities we’re raising money for help people affected by cancer and we’ve set ourselves a target of £5,000 and maybe more.”
Huw Williams, who founded the She Ultra, is also an old schoolmate of Ken’s and was diagnosed with inoperable neuro-endocrine cancer in 2019.
The inaugural event in April along a 31-mile course on the Llyn Peninsula was a huge success with more than 500 women taking part, among them Ken’s partner, Majella Nicholson, who is also an ambassador for it.
According to Huw, who also organises the popular Pen Llyn Ultra races, the aim of the She Ultra is to raise money for women’s cancer charities.
Huw said: “Majella’s been impacted by cancer with losing her Dad. The whole point of the She Ultra is to raise funds for women with cancer, women who live with someone with cancer or women who have lost someone to cancer.
“It’s not a race. It’s an event with no cut offs so the women can take as long as they want. We have an all-women event team with a few men on the periphery.
“It’s also in memory of the women we have lost to cancer so the next year is already sold out with 1,500 women signed up.”
Also grateful for the support was Jane Richardson, the St David’s Hospice’s community fundraiser for Anglesey.
The charity, which has 12 beds at the main hospice in Llandudno, another four at Ysbyty Penrhos in Holyhead and a therapy centre at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, needs to raise £7 million a year to run it’s vital services.
She said: “I’m absolutely thrilled because every penny counts, particularly as we’re in a cost of living crisis.”
Among those supporting the charity auction is Justin Williams, from Frongoch Garden Centre in Caernarfon, who said: “We were delighted to help because, like Peninsula, we are part of the community and we’re part of the same eco-system really.”
There was a similar message from Aled Seeney, from County Tiles, which has shops in Holyhead and Llandygai, near Bangor.
He said: “We’re both family businesses and we always try and help each other if we can and we’ve been established as a business for a similar time – we’ve been going for 42 years and I’m the third generation of our family.
“We felt it was important to help out because the two charities are ones that we have supported.
“My mother is an ultra-runner and she ran the She Ultra in Penllyn and is an ambassador for the event. She’s also done fund-raising for St David’s Hospice so when Ken asked it was quite fortuitous.”
Lots in charity auction
Auction prize worth £1000 from Peninsula Windows
HD projector to the value of £250.00 from Peninsula Windows
Builders Radio worth £85 from CL Jones
£30 voucher from Valley Hotel
£250 cash from Mabon Scaffolding
Two prizes of gas boiler services worth £100.00 each from SKL Plumbing
£50 voucher from Lloyds Blinds
Two prizes of £100 Wagamamas voucher and a £100 Pizza Express voucher from Roberts of Port Dinorwig
Voucher for Tavern on the Bay from Simon Lowe
Cleaning hamper to the value of £60 from Love to Clean
MOT voucher worth £60 from Modurdy
A dry robe worth £165 from Concept Spa
Sunday lunch for two including a bottle of wine to the value of £75 from Four Crosses, Menai Bridge
A day entry ticket for a family of five, two adults and three children to Portmeirion
A set of tickets to Portmeirion Food and Craft Fair in December
A garden set worth £600 form Fron Goch Garden Centre
A weekend away for eight people from Gorwel
Bed and breakfast for one night from The Slate
A £500 voucher from Brian Fox Carpets
15 square metres of tiles from County Tiles
A voucher for four pizzas worth £50 and a driving range and golf lesson with Mathew Wharton worth £150 from Popty Pizza
An Anglesey gift hamper to the value of £100 from LA Accounting
One steak box to include 10 sirloin steaks, a bottle of Aber Falls whisky and a bottle of Aber Falls gin to the value of £100 from Harlech Foodservice
Four vouchers for underground golf worth £95 from Zip World
A one hour consultancy worth £250 from Mandy Watkins
A day’s electrical work from IGR
Flights and a two night stay in Salzburg, Austria from Internorm
