A FORMER Mayor of Wrexham has managed to raise £45,000 for various charities over the last twelve months.

Cllr Andy Williams and his wife and former Mayoress, Bev Williams, both had a very busy year in office last year and their final act to mark their year in office was to hand over cheques to their nominated charities.

They attended almost 500 events during their year and raised over £30,000 and nominated a further £15,000 which saw his chosen charities receive over £45,000.

The charities who received the cheques were:

• Chariotts

• Dynamic

• Homestart

• Salvation Army

• Stepping Stones

• Bitesize Youth Theatre

• Wrexham First Responders

• Nightingale House Hospice

• Wales Air Ambulance

• Blood Bikes – purchase of a blood bike of £14,000 see picture below

• Wrexham and District Orchestral Society

• The Katie Piper Foundation

Garden Village, Andy’s local ward, will also benefit from a defibrillator in the near future.

Cllr Williams said: “It was an amazing year! Being the Mayor and holding down a full-time job was extremely tiring but it was so rewarding.

“Bev and I met so many inspirational and committed people over our 12 months that it would be impossible to mention them and to thank them all individually.

“Wrexham is an incredible town full of amazing people and history and we were both honoured and privileged to be Mayor and Mayoress for the year.

“I am very grateful to everyone that supported our charities to give us the final sum distributed to local charities of over £45,000.

“An amazing achievement and a credit to all the people, organisations and groups that supported us. Thank you everyone.”