Member Article

Forward Ladies Win for Sally's Cottages

Sally’s Cottages is celebrating another win this week after scooping Gold in the SME Growth category of the Forward Ladies North West, Wales and Ireland Regional Awards 2017.

This award, sponsored by HSBC and presented at a lunch at The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, adds to a growing number for the Keswick-based holiday cottage letting company. Earlier in the year, the agency was announced as the winner in the Small Leisure and Tourism Business category of the Cumbria Family Business Awards 2017. They are also finalists in the prestigious British Travel Awards 2017 and the Amazon Growing Business Awards 2017, for which the winners are due to be announced later this year.

Forward Ladies is one of the country’s leading organisations for the promotion of women in business. The esteemed National Awards were introduced eight years ago to acknowledge, reward and celebrate the exceptional work and female talent throughout the business community.

Discussing her pride in the winners, Forward Ladies Managing Director Griselda Togobo said: “The calibre of entries has been increasing year on year, but this year we had a number of outstanding applicants and it was a wonderful afternoon of celebration and sharing their remarkable success. The standard of all our shortlisted entries was truly exceptional.”

Jennifer Crawley, Head of UK Performance for HSBC and Chief Awards judge said: “I am always impressed by such talented businesswomen who enter each year – and this year is no different. They play a significant part in the UK economy, which is recognised by these awards. A very well done to all those who have joined us and provided such inspiration for other entrepreneurs through their ongoing achievements.”

Mum-of-three Sally Fielding set up Sally’s Cottages 13 years ago with just one cottage and £1,000 to invest in the company. The business has grown to where it now lets almost 450 cottages across the Lake District and Cumbria and last year took bookings to the value of £6.5million. This stupendous growth is part of the reason for Sally’s Cottages’ win in the SME Growth category of the Forward Ladies Awards.

“Sally’s Cottages started with just me,” explains Sally, “but every person who has joined us has helped us grow further. We’re lucky to have an amazing team of people involved in all aspects of the business and this award is a testament to everybody’s hard work and dedication.”

As a winner in the Regional Awards, Sally’s Cottages is now invited to attend the Forward Ladies Awards Grand Final. A glittering awards ceremony will take place in Leeds on the 1st December, where the national winners will be announced.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sally's Cottages .