Wrexham Ready

May - City of Culture

Wrexham is bidding to be the UK City of Culture for 2029, and they're sponsoring the Wrexham Ready Podcast!! Rose chats to just a few of the many people involved in the bid including Joanna Knight OBE, Chair of Wrexham Community and Culture Trust who shares her pride for Wrexham. Wrexham is full of murals and so Rose is joined by the new Art Trail Coordinator Liam Stokes-Massey to hear about the stories behind some of the incredible artwork. We've spoken to many volunteers during these episodes, but this time Rose spoke to Dawn Roberts-McCabe who is Chief Officer of the Association of Voluntary Organisations in Wrexham to hear about the key role that volunteers play within the city. Lastly, Rose got the opportunity to visit a 300 million year old fossil forest - Stori Brymbo. She chats to Dr Tim and Nikki Sawyer all about how unique this place is. Don't forget to back the bid here [https://www.wrecsam2029.wales/en_gb/back-the-bid/]! Tickets for Lexus Wrexham Open now available here [https://wrexhamopentennis.com/tickets/]too!

April - All About the Launch Event

Join Rose as she attends the 2026 Lexus Wrexham Open Launch event. She chats to many of the guests on the panel about their roles within the tournament including Adam Venton from Little Monster Media - the man behind the music for the podcast, and Jim Dorrington from It's all About You Hospitality who will be distributing all the food for the tournament in October. Rose also hears from the event's sponsors - Amanda from Lanyon Bowdler and Debbie from Ramada Plaza Hotel Wrexham. Listen in to hear from just a few of the people getting excited for the 2026 Lexus Wrexham Open!

March - Commentary Competition

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a tennis commentator? Well school children across Wrexham are invited to do just that! The Lexus Wrexham Open is supporting a brand new Commentary Competition for school children in years 5-8. They can work individually or in groups up to 3 to recreate the commentary for the last game in the Wrexham Open 2025 Final in which Mimi Xu was crowned champion. Listen to this episode where Rose will be chatting to Vicki Lees and Phil Lord, two school improvement officers, to find out more about this exciting opportunity. Rose is also joined by renowned tennis commentator Jonathan Overend who has commentated for some of the most historic tennis matches, including Andy Murray winning Wimbledon for the first time,. He gives a real insight into the world of tennis commentary. Stuart Dunn, commentator for Shrewsbury Town football club is the last guest on this episode and chats through his advice on commentary and shares his excitement for this project. This Podcast is brought to you by The City of Culture Team who are bidding for Wrexham to become the UK City of Culture in 2029. Let's shape a brighter future for Wrexham - back the bid, get involved and be Wrexham Ready! Find out more here [https://www.wrecsam2029.wales/en_gb/]

February - Australian Open Recap

Join Rose for this month's episode as she chats to 5 Live Commentator Abigail Johnson about her experience at Melbourne Park last month. Abigail gives her detailed insight into the highlights of the first Grand Slam of the year, including her unexpected excitement over the 1 Point Slam. She also tells us what up and coming players to look out for over the coming months. Next Rose catches up with Ella and Sophie at Evolve my Media and they discuss the plans in action for promoting Wrexham 2026. It's an all year round project and they are already getting sponsors involved in exciting projects ahead of October. Lastly, Adam from 7 Video joins Rose to discuss the work behind the scenes of some of the video footage from Wrexham, including the launch video from last year, and the Champion's video which is often shot, edited and produced on the same day! There's already so much to be excited for and keep up to date with everything Wrexham here [https://wrexhamopentennis.com/]

January - All About Tennis Wales

Join Rose at Bolton Arena where the Lexus Junior International U14's, a Tennis Europe Event, is taking place. To start, she chats to Sandi Procter about her role on the Committee for Tennis Europe and why she loves coming to watch the future stars of the sport in action. Next we discover just how much tennis will take place within Wales over the next 12 months as Rose chats to Jamie Clewer and Mark Lewis, both from Tennis Wales. Jamie takes us through the participation within the sport across the country and the many goals they hope to achieve this year. While Mark chats competitions and looks ahead to a busy April with Tennis Europe coming back to Wrexham. We also hear a few Australian Open predictions which may or may not age well so be sure to listen in!