Headquartered at Hillington Business Park, WM Crawford & Son Contractor Ltd. has developed into one of the UK's premier facility support specialists over the past century and is currently active on a number of major projects in both Scotland and England. The company currently provides gainful employment to a team of 45 full-time staff members, under the guidance of three directors - John Curran, Mrs Rona Curran, and John Reilly. In keeping with the strong ties that exist between a particular corner of Ireland and the largest city in Scotland, John hails from Donegal - thus the proud association that has been forged between WM Crawford & Son and the Glaschu Gaels GAA club. Glaschu Gaels GFC was formed in 1999 as an amalgamation of local sides Glencovitt Rovers and Paisley Gaels. Both clubs had been struggling but by combining their resources GAA stalwarts such as Paul Gallagher, Jimmy Kelly, Michael Hollinger and Charlie McCluskey witnessed the new outfit make rapid progress. Already, Glaschu Gaels can be considered as one of Scotland's most successful clubs, with twelve competitions already accumulated at the time of writing. They have featured in the last three men's senior football championship finals and are reigning Scottish champions in both men's and ladies codes. One of the real beauties of the team is its thoroughly cosmopolitan look. In addition to its Irish-born players, Glaschu Gaels also have some home-grown talent and players from as far afield as France and Australia. In recent times, the club has taken part in high-profile challenges against the Derry and Down senior teams as well as the reality TV side 'The Underdogs'. The profile of the club has been boosted by visits from Association celebrities like Mickey Harte, Peter Canavan, Sean Marty Lockhart, Anthony Tohill, Sean McCague and Sean Kelly The club has a strong link with Glasgow University and is also fortunate to have outstanding patrons in the Arlington Bar and WM Crawford & Son Ltd., the latter of which is increasing its involvement with Glaschu Gaels on an annual basis. John Reilly, who has sat on the board of directors for two years, says the company is thriving at present, having experienced significant growth over the past six or seven years in particular. Regarding the genesis of the partnership that exists between WM Crawford & Son Ltd. and the current Scottish senior football champions, John notes: "Through work I have come into contact with some people who are actively involved in the Glaschu Gaels club, and the deal developed from that. Donald Jackman and Hugh Gallagher are two keen clubmen and we negotiated the deal through them. "We were always interested in Glaschu Gaels and we went to see them playing on a couple of occasions. We were then approached to see whether we might be interested in providing sponsorship. We agreed to get involved and the nature of the arrangement has grown over the past two or three years. We're proud to be associated with the club and we were all delighted to see them win two Scottish titles last year, in both men's and ladies football." John is full of admiration for everybody associated with Glaschu Gaels, a superb club which does a tremendous job of keeping the native Irish game alive against all odds on foreign soil. The commitment and dedication of the committee members and players never ceases to amaze him: "Unfortunately, due to the nature of our work, we don't get to as many games as we'd ideally like, but we follow their progress closely and we were delighted to see them win the two championships in 2006.We try to take in some of the games and - as sponsors - we always attend the presentation dinner dance. This year's was a great event and it's amazing to see how passionate these guys. They are a credit to gaelic football and hopefully they'll get all the success they deserve again in 2007…" John is confident that the link between the building giants and Scotland's most successful gaelic football club of 2006 will continue for quite some time: "I'm sure we'll keep it going. It's nice to be involved in a club with so much passion and purpose and to play a little part in their success. They deserve all the support they can get because they do a wonderful job for very small rewards. "Being originally from Donegal himself, John Curran is very happy with the sponsorship and it's a way for him to stay in touch with his Irish roots. We're delighted to be associated with Glaschu Gaels and hopefully they'll retain their titles in the coming months." WM Crawford & Son Ltd is a general builders and maintenance contractors. The Glasgow-headquartered company also specialises in providing maintenance and construction services to the Facilities Management (FM) sector. In existence for over 100 years, WM Crawford & Son provides a comprehensive service not only across Scotland but throughout the mainland UK. Major clients are in the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors, including local authorities, hospitals, universities, colleges, distilleries, housing associations, banks and airports. The range of services offered includes brickwork and paving; roughcasting; concrete laying; groundworks; concrete repairs; plasterwork; drainage; fire damage treatment; joinery; general roofing; glazing; suspended ceilings; decorating; tarmacadam surfacing; property development; and facilities maintenance support. WM Crawford & Son Ltd - which became part of the J&T Group in 1989 - carries out projects for a number of different organisations ranging from large public sector contracts to small reactive repairs. The company employs a dedicated team of fully experienced tradesmen including bricklayers, joiners, slaters, plasterers, tilers, roughcasters, surfacing and services tradesmen and is capable of carrying out operations with a minimum of sub contractors. All management and supervisors / foremen are long serving members of staff and are fully experienced in all aspects of builder and external landscaping works. A random selection of recent and current projects undertaken by Wm Crawford & Son Ltd. includes the check-ins at Glasgow Airport (for Alfred McAlpine plc); South Stand alterations for Glasgow Celtic Football Club); Queen St. Station in Galsgow (for Wates Construction); and the River City Subway set (for BBC Scotland). And some nice support for Glaschu Gaels GFC, too, of course! Tweet

Most Read Stories