Member Article

North West Queens Award winners visit Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace was host to North West winners of the prestigious Queens Award this week, with 13 awards granted to the region in total.

Amongst the region’s accolades was the onlyLifetime Achievement Award in the country, given to Claire Dove MBE, DL, for her work in Liverpool with social enterprise.

Cumbria-based Lady Cunningham, who works as an enterprise development coach on a project called Ways Into Successful Enterprise (WISE), received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion along with just six others from different regions.

Companies from across the UK attended the event on Tuesday, hosted by the Queen, who recognised their achievements in business.

Business Secretary, Vince Cable, commented: “It’s right that companies which are pushing forward, reinvesting and working hard to champion UK business here and abroad get this well deserved recognition.

“I hope the awards and today’s celebrations will encourage even more businesses to enter next year and inspire more entrepreneurs to start or grow their own business. I applaud each and every one of today’s winners.”

James Brown, managing director for Old Trafford-based award winners, I Love Cosmetics, commented: “I Love Cosmetics is extremely proud of the contribution it has made to Export and International Trade.

“The award is a combination of hard work, passion and commitment to create a brand and product assortment of quality and performance. It was truly a privilege to represent the entire I Love team, who have all contributed whole heartedly to our success; this truly is a team award.

“The whole Buckingham Palace experience was outstanding, meeting the Queen was a once in a lifetime opportunity and it was truly an honour to receive the award from Her Majesty.”

Manchester-based Metalube, who make speciality lubricants and protective greases used for making tubes, wires, cables and electrical conductors were amongst the winners.

Doug Hunt, commercial director of Metalube, said: “It is a huge privilege to be a guest of Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace especially on such a special day.

“Metalube is incredibly proud to have been awarded a Queen’s Award – the UK’s highest business accolade. When Metalube was started over 20 years ago all our customers were UK based.

“As the UK economy has changed, we have had to change too. We now export over 90% of of our lubricants and greases to over 80 countries worldwide. This award is for all our staff, as it is their hard work across the globe that has contributed to us receiving this honour.”

Outdoor clothing and equipment company, Regatta, who are based in Manchester, also attended the event, represented by senior product liaison manager, Alison Glover, and marketing and product director, Jo Hawkins.

Ms Hawkins commented: “It’s an honour to be invited to the Palace to represent Regatta’s dedication to the growth of its export business.

“This is the second time Regatta has won the Queen’s Award which really does show our commitment is on-going and our hard work, unfaltering.

“It will be a very exciting day for us at the event, but a very proud one for the whole Regatta team across the world.”

A total 152 corporate Queen’s Awards were announced for outstanding business achievement , including 116 exporting companies who won awards for ‘International Trade’, 27 who were awarded for ‘Innovation’ and nine for ‘Sustainable Development’, benefitting the environment, society and the economy.

Cheshire-based waterproofing and surfacing firm,Stirling Lloyd Polychem, were awarded with a Queens Award for International Trade.

John Volpicelli, export director, and David Lloyd, managing director for Stirling Lloyd, attended the ceremony at the Palace.

Mr Volpicelli commented: “We are delighted to win this Queens Award for Enterprise for the first time, recognition of our products’ reputation for excellence, quality and long term performance on the international stage and for our dedication to customer care.

“It’s obviously a great honour to be invited to the Palace to receive this award especially at such an exciting time for the royal family. David and myself are looking forward to what, I am sure, will be an unforgettable experience.”

Representatives from Brampton-based company Triveritas, who provide consultancy and trials around new veterinary medicines, also attended the event.

Julian Braidwood, managing director, commented: “Triveritas is a small dynamic company based in a hamlet in Cumbria.

“Our team has increased export sales by 219% over a three year period, making overseas business in 23 countries 96% of our turnover. The Queen’s Award is a fantastic recognition of the excellent skills and expertise of everyone working at Triveritas.”

David Hymers, managing director of Totalpost, who were also awarded at the ceremony, said: “Since winning the award at the end of April our sales have increased by 20% and our staff numbers have gone up by 25%. It’s also accelerated our plans for international growth.

“We’ve recently opened companies in France and South Africa and are currently opening a further subsidiary in Germany. Winning this award has given the whole team an extra boost and this enthusiasm is leading to more success for us.”

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the standard of entries to the Awards this year was exceptionally high, with 25 per cent of entrants winning across a range of sectors and size of business, the smallest having just two employees.

In addition to the Royal reception, the corporate Award winners are presented with an engraved crystal bowl and Grant of Appointment at their place of business by a Royal representative, so that the whole workforce can join in the celebrations.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .