The building of Llay Miners Welfare Institute was started in 1929 and completed with a grand opening in 1931.

In early 1929, negotiations with the Miners Welfare Trust took place for monies to build a Miners Institute with sports facilities and playground. All miners working at the Llay colliery paid a levy of 1p per week towards this fund. Miss Allington Hughes J.P opened the recreation ground in July 1930. The Institute was finally completed and opened on the 20th June 1931 by Robert Richards M.P.

Building of the Welfare

At the time of opening Llay Miners was the biggest institute in the country built with mining funds.

Sports facilities were provided with a football pitch, cricket pitch and 2 bowling greens. The first groundsman appointed to look after the facilities was Earnest Ankers.

During the early years the institute was only allowed to sell intoxicants on the ground floor, and also, women were not allowed into the licensed part of the building.

Llay Playground in 1936

At the outbreak of the World War II, the 4th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers were billeted in the institute and remained there until they were sent overseas. In the early years, various sections from the village used the concert room to raise funds for their various societies, which is still the practice today.

In 1981, the Welfare held a week long Festival to celebrate its Golden Jubilee which included competitions from all the sporting sections inside and outside the building. Mr Joe Gormley who was president of the National Union of Mineworkers opened these festivities.

At the time of the festival, the Chairman of the Welfare was Mr Sydney Fraser who stayed in office until early 2000, serving the welfare and its members for over 30 years. The manager at this time was Mr Frank Goulding who was appointed Manager in 1968 and served through to his retirement in 1995 when the current manager Mr Alun Parry replaced him.

The sporting facilities at Llay Miners are some of the best in the area and help in bringing a lot of revenue to the institute. During the 1980s, the institute along with everyone else at this time suffered financial hardship and had to release their groundsman, so the committee at the time decided to approach Wrexham Council with a view to them taking over the running and maintenance of the sporting facilities. Finally it was decided that each sub section would be responsible for the upkeep of their facilities, which is still the case today. The Management Committee are most grateful to the people who give up many hours of their time doing these jobs for gratis.

In the modern era, the Welfare still has many thriving sporting sections. Also many local organisations use the building for meetings, fundraising etc, a list of these is provided on the contacts page of this website. The rooms can also be booked for private functions such as Weddings, Engagements, Birthdays, anniversaries etc.

In 2004 we celebrated the 75yr anniversary of the conception of Llay Miners Welfare by holding a gala day in June and also a Gala show in Nov. Both of these events were a great success. Continuing in 2005 we are holding another gala day with the hope of this becoming an annual event.

Also in early 2005 we will be installing a lift so our elderly and disabled members can have access to the upstairs cabaret room. The monies for this has been obtained through grant aid which the manager and trustees are trying for further funding to improve not only the inside of the building but the outside sporting facilities.