The Trade Centre will break new ground at Chepstow on Friday, June 2 when the major UK car dealership sponsors an entire meeting at the racecourse for the first time.
The move reflects a growing confidence in both the sport and the venue, which will host four flat race fixture meetings across the month.
The Trade Centre – who were founded in Wales in 1999 – have previously sponsored individual races, but have now broadened that commitment to a whole meeting.
They are the main sponsor for an afternoon of summer racing which will feature seven races, beginning at 1.20pm, with the final race at 4.50pm.
The company – who own seven giant stores around the UK, including their original site at Neath – began to develop a link with Welsh racing when they chose Chepstow as the location to celebrate the achievements of staff who had been with them for a significant number of years.
The Ten Year Club
The Ten Year Club is an exclusive group of employees who have reached a decade of service with The Trade Centre.
Adam Sherief, The Trade Centre Group’s head of people, says: “We currently have 31 people who are in the Ten Year Club, which is a fantastic achievement.
“We dipped our toe in at Chepstow last year and held our Ten Year Club annual event at the racecourse which was a fantastic success.
“We have since sponsored a couple of races, and taken some hoarding advertising, and now we are sponsoring an entire day, so it has been a natural evolution for us.
“There are lots of things that make this very worthwhile from our perspective.
“The kind of people who go racing are often our kind of customers, it provides good value from an exposure perspective, with the likes of Sky Sports there, and it’s just a very pleasant way to reward our own people within a beautiful setting here in Wales.
“As a Welsh company, everything here makes sense for us.”
Six members of staff will also be recognised for their loyalty and join the Ten Year Club on the day. That will take the total up to 37 out of a total workforce of almost 600.
The Kit Club
Racing is not the only sport which benefits from the backing of The Trade Centre, a Welsh-owned company built on strong Welsh connections.
The company also have sponsorships links with Swansea City and have their own Kit Club – a sponsorship initiative that provides playing kits for various Under 17s sports teams across the UK.
Football, rugby, hockey, netball and basketball clubs have all benefitted from the Kit Club. Last year, over 400 clubs wore team kit provided by The Trade Centre.
“We are proud of our Welsh roots and proud to back Welsh sport,” says Adam.
