A Personal History of the Spirit of Wrexham.
Grahame
Davies
Grahame Davies is a multi-award-winning poet and librettist who grew up in Coedpoeth, just a couple of miles west of Wrexham.
A lifetime of achievements
Winner of the Wales Book of the Year Award,
Grahame is best known for writing the lyrics to "Sacred Fire" at King Charles III’s 2023 Coronation.
Grahame served 12 years as Deputy Private Secretary to the King. A native of the Wrexham area, a highly decorated and accomplished author of 19 books in Welsh and English including Real Wrexham (2007, reprinted 2026), he took time out in his busy international schedule to meet with us. With both a prolific cultural career and a deep-seated connection to our town, particularly through the lens of his love of Wrexham AFC.
Memories
From The
Racecourse
Now aged 62, he recalled his formative years starting with his earliest memories of seeing games in the 1970’s, describing enthusiastic memories of the Austria match he attended at the Racecourse ground. He said; “I was at the Racecourse for the famous Austria game where Wales won 1-0. It was a goal from Arfon Griffiths in front of his hometown crowd. I remember being told that the shouts from the ground could be heard from Coedpoeth, my home village.”
Wales vs.
Austria
Wales vs. Austria (International): The famous "Austria game" often cited in Wrexham history is an international match played at the Racecourse Ground. On November 19, 1975, Wales defeated Austria 1–0 in a European Championship qualifier, with Arfon Griffiths (Wrexham's legend) scoring the winning goal. This victory sent Wales to the quarterfinals of the Euro 1976 tournament.
A True Red
Grahame recalled other games fondly showing his true red support, following the club's journey through both its "wilderness years" and moments of great celebration, mainly from afar, but with occasional visits to the ground when back at home. The history and story of his working life provided us a unique insight to the major events that have unfolded here in Wrexham over the past few years, shared by someone who has witnessed one of the most significant moments of Wrexham's recent development and evolution.
A prolific career for a Wrexham man
After a 27-year career in
journalism, in newspapers and with the BBC, Grahame
became a Member of the Royal Household in 2012.
A decade later, in 2022 he experienced a surreal, full-circle moment when accompanying The King on a royal visit to the very stadium of his youth.
How
Wrexham
City
Became
“I worked for The King when he was Prince of Wales, originally as Assistant Private Secretary and becoming his Deputy Private Secretary in 2018, working across the UK. In the run up to Jubilee year, eight towns were given city status and it was decided that the then Prince of Wales would formally confer the status on Wrexham. By the time the visit happened, the Accession had taken place, and he came not as Prince of Wales but as King.”
Wrexham's
Royal
Visit
On December 9, 2022, King Charles visited Wrexham with Queen Camilla to officially celebrate the town being granted city status. During this visit, they toured the Racecourse Ground, meeting Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, and attended a service at St Giles’ Church.
Cometh
The
Hour
Grahame said "it felt strange to enter the stadium with The King through the door which, as a young teenager, I had once waited outside to collect players’ autographs, and then to step on to the pitch and think of the places in the stands from where I watched some of the most memorable games of the 70's and 80's such as – Crystal Palace, Mansfield, Newcastle, Rotherham, Arsenal."
Grahame
asserts that the current Hollywood-backed ownership of the club is a positive catalyst for the town.
But he emphasised that the heart of the town "lies in the community voices that have persisted long before the spotlight and attention arrived."
Current
Schedule
Looking toward the future, Grahame outlined a remarkable portfolio of upcoming work. This includes a major music commission to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, scheduled to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in October of this year. He told us that he is shortly heading out to Phoenix, Arizona to work on a new opera based in the United States, and has a piece scheduled in for next year for the 700th anniversary of the Goldsmiths' Company.
How does
he do it?
"I've never been a full-time writer and I've always done a day job - usually quite a demanding one. So I'm always on a perpetual deadline. There will never be a time when I have time to write. So I have to do it immediately. I often compose in my head while I'm driving and dictate it into a voicemail system."
Future
Projects
Grahame attributes his high level of creative output to this rigorous productivity methodology. His dedication to his craft was evident as he discussed a forthcoming premiere of a new piece at next year's Llangollen International Eisteddfod, further cementing his role as a vital cultural ambassador for the region.
St Tudfil's, Coedpoeth
Outside of work Grahame retains a keen interest in the welfare of his home community, such as the ongoing restoration of St Tudfil’s Church in his home village of Coedpoeth, which is both important to the community and to him personally.
Read the author's book
Real
Wrexham
Grahame’s book "Real Wrexham," has just been reprinted by the publishers Seren. It is a work that remains highly relevant for those seeking to understand the town's unique character, told through his personal lived experiences here.
