Wayne Connolly, entrepreneur and scaffolding industry leader 

Manchester Central, the day before ScaffEx25 opened. Teams of scaffolders were hard at work putting the finishing touches to their stands. Among them, cutting a striking but slightly out of place figure, strolled Wayne Connolly. Amid the overalls and high-vis jackets, he was dressed to the nines in a full dinner suit in the middle of the day. It is fair to say heads were turned.

Wayne had been recording an opening address for the Scaffolding Excellence Awards and, as ever, offered to help the film crew create some additional footage they could use. Willingly following their lead, someone suggested the inevitable; this was a golden opportunity to create a Bond-themed social clip to promote the event.

Wayne, as ever, was up for it. Funny, self-deprecating, honest, hard-working, plain-speaking and always on the look-out for the next opportunity. This was archetypal Wayne Connolly.

Whether thinking seriously about how to further improve the industry or hamming it up as Bond, Wayne gave everything he had. He spoke often about the importance of being open to opportunity, and even more about being willing to offer opportunities to others. This was one reason he put so much into all areas of his life. He recognised that he had already been presented with some great opportunities and wanted to share his own good fortune with others.

There was a natural entrepreneur in him, with not only the ability to spot an opportunity but also the drive to act upon it and turn it into something meaningful. The two successful eponymous businesses he built are testament to that: first, a car maintenance business which lives on with his name to this day, and second, the hugely successful Connolly Scaffolding, which has only recently expanded into new headquarters. To the end, Wayne was always ready and open to the next opportunity.

At NASC, the UK’s largest and leading trade body for scaffolding and access, Wayne was President and Chairman at the time of his sudden death in December 2025, following earlier work as a Regional Chairman and Chair of the Membership Standards Committee. Here, as elsewhere, he helped create space and opportunities for others.

Wayne was a major driving force behind the NASC’s new approach and the industry’s modernisation programme, including the launch and successful expansion of ScaffEx. He oversaw a major overhaul of NASC’s governance and as Chair of CISRS, the industry’s leading training body, fought hard for recent improvements and modernisation in education and training for scaffolders.

Wayne was a quiet, effective leader. He didn’t need to shout to be listened to, didn’t have to raise his voice to be heard. He had that rare talent, shared by the best leaders, to instinctively know how to deliver the right message at the right time. And whenever he saw the opportunity to improve something, he took it and delivered.

Wayne Connolly was born in Manchester in 1970 and leaves behind his fiancée, Nicola, three children and three stepchildren.

His funeral will take place at 1.30pm on Wednesday 21 January 2026, at St Peter’s Church, The Village, Prestbury, Macclesfield SK10 4DG. Everyone is welcome, however a private service for family members only will be held directly after the funeral.

For those unable to attend the funeral it will be accessible through a live feed, the link to which will be shared on this page before the service. An online Book of Remembrance is also now open.