Meurig Harries and his company, M&S Transport, is a name that is recognised throughout Pembrokeshire and his contribution to the agricultural community in Pembrokeshire throughout his lifetime has been extraordinary.
Early life
After leaving Selwyn House Preparatory School at the age of 16, he went straight to join the family business, N.M. Harries & Sons, importing, buying and selling machinery, constructing sheds and erecting milking bails on many farms throughout Pembrokeshire during the 1960s and 1970s.
Expanding his offer to the agricultural community, he later branched into Meurig Harries Livestock Haulage, serving the farming community by moving stock all over the county and throughout the UK and Ireland, and then in 1986 he was joined by his son-in-law Steven to establish M&S Transport. This enabled the business to grow further, serving the farming community by bringing hay and straw into Pembrokeshire, as well as moving livestock and trading in machinery - their monthly trips to the machinery sales in Cambridge and Shaftesbury have provided an invaluable service to local farmers looking to sell tractors and implements or wanting to purchase any second-hand machinery.
Charitable work
In recent years as well as continuing to serve the farming community with livestock haulage, Meurig has also become well known for his charitable work within farming circles. Meurig was one of the founders of the Annual Croesgoch Vintage Tractor Run which began in 1998, taking place on the second Saturday in June. Friends and fellow tractor enthusiasts would come from as far away as Ireland and Cornwall to support the event and raise funds for various charities, including Shalom House Trust St Davids, Tenovus Cancer Care, Prostate Cymru, Wales Air Ambulance, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Hope Oxygen Therapy Centre Neyland, to name but a few.
Over the years the Croesgoch Vintage Tractor Run event has helped raise over £155,000 for various charities, including a phenomenal £17,500 for ‘Big Tom’, a local builder paralysed through an accident who needed his home specially adapted before he could leave hospital.
Following his diagnosis and treatment from prostate cancer, Meurig has been instrumental in raising as much awareness as possible of the signs of the disease, whilst also raising funds to help fund equipment and training for the treatment of prostate cancer.
Big Breakfast
Meurig and his family started an annual Big Breakfast to raise funds for Prostate Cymru initially at Croesgoch Farm Stores and more recently at St Davids Old Farmhouse Brewery, both businesses run by Meurig’s daughters. This was just the start of his charitable work for prostate cancer as he wanted to help save as many men as possible from this terrible disease.
He decided to organise a 400-mile charity tractor drive over three days through Wales and Ireland, and to attend as many local livestock markets and agricultural shows as possible talking to farmers about the disease, telling them to get checked out. In the process, he raised £17,370 for the Prostate Cymru charity which resulted in him being awarded Prostate Cymru’s Fundraiser of the Year in 2019.
Jeff Evans, Chairman of the Idris Davies Memorial Award Management Committee, said: “Meurig Harries is a very worthy winner of the Idris Davies Memorial Award for his outstanding contribution to agriculture and for his charitable works in the farming community.
"Now in his eighties, he continues to attend livestock markets, hauling livestock, or just being a contact for machinery or livestock in Pembrokeshire. He is always willing to lend a hand, especially to people just starting out on their journey into farming. Meurig has served the farming community his whole life, supporting farmers at the grass roots. He is not one who speaks publicly as part of a society or union, but he quietly supports farmers at the farm gate, being a listening ear, or giving a little advice, and more recently supporting farmers health through his campaign to raise awareness of prostate cancer.
Love and devotion to farming
"His love and devotion to his farming community is very clear to see, and he still loves nothing more than to sit in the mart chatting about trade and the weather, or attending agricultural shows, especially supporting the vintage section. Meurig joins some illustrious company in becoming this year’s winner of the Idris Davies Memorial award.”
