Hwyl fawr Hannah – thank you for everything

Good media officers are worth their weight in gold and Bala Town have lost one of the very best with the departure of Hannah Gwenllian Jones from the club.

Hannah has decided to step down from her role as press/media officer and website administrator for the Cymru Premier Lakesiders.

For the Maes Tegid club, it is tantamount to losing a star player, such is the amazing job Hannah has done over the years.

I have known her for a long time, and always found her a dream to work with.

Such is her reputation as a web designer, I employed Hannah to build my website Grassroots North Wales in 2019.

I would never have considered using anyone else as I knew I was dealing with a professional, friendly, dedicated person who puts her heart and soul into everything.

Bala Town made the following announcement today: “It is with great regret that we have to announce that Hannah Gwenllian has decided to step down from her role as Club Press/Media Officer and Website Administrator.

“Hannah’s decision is a considerable blow to the football club as she has been an integral part of the meteoric development over the last 18 years.

“Her commitment, dedication, enthusiasm, innovation, energy and outstanding professionalism have all been instrumental in the club’s rise to the very top of Welsh domestic football.

“Bala Town will be forever indebted to Hannah for her outstanding contributions to the club over the last 14 years and can only hope that the excellent work in this specialist field of social media and press reporting which she has pioneered over this period will remain as the strong foundation and platform for future officers to follow.

“Hannah’s input will be sorely missed but we hope to have her continued support from the touchline at our Maes Tegid fixtures.

“The club will be working hard to find a person/persons to take over the essential roles vacated by Hannah over the next 4 weeks. We ask for everyone’s understanding that there will be limited media and website releases over this period until we are in a position to make a further announcement.”

Hannah was always ultra-efficient in providing news on latest signings and departures, match reports and photos, often taken by her sister Naomi or dad Arwel, but sometimes by the women herself.

My fondest memory of Hannah is probably her delight at Bala winning the Welsh Cup for the first time in their history in 2016-17.

Before anyone else, she was the first person I thought of when the Lakesiders clinched the famous trophy with a first-ever victory over TNS.

I often met her on Europa League nights at Belle Vue, Rhyl, where Bala played their home ties.

And oh yes, we’ll not mention the time when she took me on in predicting the outcome of five North Wales games in the one-time weekly Five-Match Challenge! Let’s just say I did not come out of the contest too well!

As a family, the Jones’s have always been friendly and welcoming, and forever ready with a kind word or several.

If Colin Caton is the King of Bala, then Hannah has been very much the Queen.

Hopefully Hannah’s business HG Web Designs will go from strength to strength.

Whatever her involvement with football in the future, what she did for the reputation of Bala Town will never be forgotten and as an inspiration for women in football administration, her contribution has been immense.