CALLING NUMBER 9!: A rare Grogg of Gareth Edwards was auctioned for £4,000 at a charity dinner on Friday, August 31, in the Coal Exchange in Cardiff, which was organised by the Welsh Charitables RFC.

At the tribute dinner, the owner of the famous World of Groggs shop, John Hughes, donated one of only two Groggs that he made of Edwards wearing a British Lion shirt, to commemorate his Lions tour wins in 1971 and 1974, and the new proud owner of the Grogg is Derek Thomas of Risca. Incidentally, the second Grogg is owned by the world famous scrum half himself.

Ex-stars David Watkins, John Dawes, and Clive Rowlands stood up and paid tribute to Gareth Edwards, who was sitting at the top table with his wife, Maureen.

David Power, secretary of the Welsh Charitables RFC, said: "The atmosphere in the room during the Grogg auction was fantastic. Everyone knew how amazing it would be to own this rare piece of memorabilia.

"The fact that the only other Grogg of its kind is owned by Gareth made it more special.

"It was a great fun night, and I'd like to thank all the guests for their generosity and the many ex-players for coming along to pay tribute to him."

Some of the stars among the 460 people there included Cliff Morgan, Bleddyn Williams, Jack Matthews, John Perkins, Bryn Meredith, JPR Williams, Graham Price, Tony Faulkner, Dai Morris, Brian Price, Barry John, Stuart Watkins, Keith Jarrett, Derek Quinnell, Tom David, Steve Fenwick and Ike Stephens.

All of the money raised on the night will go to into the We Want a Million' trust fund, which has been set up for the Welsh Charitables nominated charities, St Anne's Hospice, St David's Foundation Hospice Care, Ty Hafan The Children's Hospice in Wales, The Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust and WREX The Welsh Rugby Former International Players Association.