Time to celebrate the two counties success

17 Jul, 2014

Thursday 10th July 2014 marked the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber Annual Awards evening to celebrate local success in the two counties.

Over 400 delegates from businesses across the two counties celebrated in style and elegance at the Bank House Hotel Golf and Country Club. The hotel with roots dating back to the late 17th Century, is situated between the thriving city of Worcester and the cultural hub of Great Malvern. The Bank House is lucky to be located in the rural countryside of Worcestershire with a view over its own 18 hole golf course to the spectacular Malvern Hills beyond, which makes it the ideal spot for weddings / conferences / golf / short breaks.

Jennifer Appleton, Operations Director and Chantall Herbert, Business Development Manager, ISO Quality Services Limited, attended the event, having been invited on behalf of Growth Accelerator and Worcestershire Business Central.

The evening started on the terrace of the bank house, with complimentary treats for the palate that included champagne and elderflower pressé glasses and beautifully designed canapés, with The Sophistication Strings String Quartet providing background ambiance to the chitter chatter of business individuals.

We were invited to take our seats for the evening in the newly re-furbished Rothschild Suite where an elaborate setting was waiting for us.  CB Chartered Accountants had kindly supplied table gifts for all of the attendees.  We were joined by Howard Bentham, as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening, let’s hope he managed to make it to his day job the next morning, as the presenter of the BBC’s awarding winning Hereford and Worcester radio Breakfast Show.  Whilst eating our delicious main course and our mouth watering desserts, we were treated to the musical styling of Tina V, a local singer-song writer.  

With the all the finalists waiting for the nail-biting excitement to be over, the awards began with Growth Business of the Year – Sponsored by Growth Accelerator, the winner of this award, Gtech – The Spetchley based company, which develops cordless technology, experienced phenomenal growth in 2014, with a turnover of £4.5 million in March remarkably matching the entire year’s turnover for 2011.

Next, was Most Promising New Business – Sponsored Worcestershire.Business.Central – A big congratulations to Kinetic Six Limited – who provide and install secure communication system solutions and infrastructures, especially in hostile environments.  Their success has been phenomenal, increasing turnover 100% from 2012 to 2013 and forecasting another doubling of turnover over the next three years.

We must not forget a highly commended award for Most Promising New Business to Allvalves Online Limited which supplies valves and actuator packages to the process control industry.

Most Outstanding Young Person in a Business, sponsored by Dytecna – Well done to George Hudson, Allteko Ltd.  George who joined the engineering and procurement specialists as a Sales and Marketing apprentice and was recently appointed as the company’s Quality Representative, particularly impressed the judges with his commercial awareness.

The Sustainabilty Award, sponsored by Resource Efficient Worcestershire – was won by Thomas Vale Construction, with thanks to their commitment to constructing energy efficient buildings that exceed industry standards and regulatory requirements.

Small Business of the Year, sponsored by MFG Solicitors LLP was awarded to Orchard Valley Foods – with their customers including Marks and Spencers, Costa and Weetabix and an organic growth rate of 35%, Orchard Valley Foods was seen as an exceptional small business by the impressed  judges, who saw  potential for them to expand into a large company in the future.

Commitment to Supporting Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace, sponsored by Worcestershire Works Well – The winner, Southco Manufacturing Ltd – They were able to demonstrate their commitment in various ways, including developing a website dedicated to providing a bespoke employee benefits scheme.

Again, we must not forget a highly commended award for Commitment to Supporting Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace to Titania – They provide security and compliance audit software is used by organisations and governments worldwide to create detailed network audit reports in seconds.

Manufacturer of the Year, sponsored by Hewett Recruitment saw Kingspan Insulation be victorious.  The judges were impressed by the company’s considerable profitability growth despite competing in a tough construction market, which has suffered a downturn during the last few years.

Best Use of Technology to Improve your Business, sponsored by TechTeam – It was awarded to Gemporia – A company selling its own handcrafted gemstone jewellery directly to customers through television and the internet.

Commitment to People Development, Sponsored by the Sanctuary Group – Congratulations to Malvern based, QinetiQ, specialists in defence, aerospace and security.

Exporter of the Year, sponsored by Malvern Instruments – was won by Apreco Limited.  They are a Bromyard based company, that manufacture environmental air pressure control systems.

Excellence in Innovation, sponsored by Central Technology Belt – Pulsar Process Measurement Ltd –  Their innovative new product that caught the attention of the judges, was the Flow Pulse, which can reliably monitor flow across a variety of pipe materials in a manner analogous to taking a person’s pulse in order to ascertain the health of the vital organ.

And finally…Business of the Year…the winner of the all the winners…goes to…GEMPORIA!

A huge congratulations to all of the entrants, the nominated and the winners!  A big thank you to Growth Accelerator and Worcestershire Business Central for inviting us to spend the evening with them and finally a huge well done to everyone involved in the organisation of the evening – you did a grand job.

For more information on the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce (Chamber of the Year 2013) – please contact the team on 0845 641 1641, email or visit their website