Shufflebottom #teamofsteel pumps iron for local causes
At the heart of Shufflebottom’s business model and Economic & Social Governance (ESG) is a commitment to support our local Carmarthenshire community in as many ways as we can. Our roots are here, and for over forty years its people have been part of our workforce that has seen us grow from a small, family business manufacturing a single garden gate, into a multi-million pound business employing 78 people, and a leading player in the manufacture of steel-framed buildings. We have much to be grateful for.
Over those four decades we have always tried therefore, to raise money, and awareness, for charities and great causes. With so many that need help, it is always difficult to choose, but we have decided on those that our closest to our hearts, and closest to our home here at Cross Hands in Carmarthenshire.
As part of our aim to pay-back our lovely county, this May many members of our #teamofsteel here at Shufflebottom are giving their all physically at The Class House Gym in nearby Llandeilo, as part of its MAY MISSION. The mission is month-long fitness challenge which involves enduring a Workout of the Day (commonly referred to as a WOD!) in support of three incredible local causes:
a defibrillator for the Llandeilo Business Park
the local youth club charity in Llandeilo
and Tenovus Cancer Care, Llandeilo
All these three causes have resonance with our staff here at Shufflebottom, and in the wider Llandeilo and Carmarthenshire community. Many of us will have been touched by Cancer, many of us have needed a defibrillator and many of us have great need to see our young people engaged in meaningful social activities. So, this May WOD Challenge isn’t just about fitness, it’s about coming together, pushing through adversity, and making a difference.
And it was wonderful to see so many of our staff commit even further to the WOD to support Shufflebottom’s sponsorship of a day of physical challenges on Saturday, 17th May 2025. After a call-out in #spark, our employee newsletter last month, many of our Shufflebottom family (blood relations and those staff we call family) signed up to do some tough workouts on Saturday and to do it for something bigger than ourselves.
The Class House Gym has a longstanding and very special place in our hearts as it stands on the site known locally as ‘Pengrug Yard’. It was where Shufflebottom manufactured buildings back in the early days of our business in the 1980s. It is also the site where our distinctive logo (Ellie the Elephant) was developed. The Pengrug Yard has layers of meaning for us, and also for the people of the Llandeilo community who recall histoires of when the yard functioned as training camp in WW2 – a women’s land army camp, we’ve been told, as well as it housing Italian Prisoners of War.
Saturday 17th May’s workout signalled how important the Pengrug Yard is to not only Shufflebottom’s personal journey, but to the story of our wider community. It was very poignant therefore that Ellie the Elephant logo was central to the day in 2025. It signified that the Shufflebottom name and family in its fullest sense, is still at the heart of the Llandeilo community.
Along with the logo was Managing Director, Alex Shufflebottom, who has been sweating daily throughout May for this May Mission. She was joined by her husband, Dafydd Jones, who is a fabricator and often works on at Pengrug Yard, and by Shufflebottom’s wider family members, draughtsmen in the drawing office, Corey and Liam who pumped iron for these great causes.
Diolch yn fawr, iawn/thanks very much to all members of our staff and the Carmarthenshire community who supported us, not just on Saturday, but over the last forty years. You are all part of the Shufflebottom DNA and we know that together, we are investing Carmarthenshire’s next generation’s physical and mental well-being.