Cheshire Business Awards 2009

Winners of this year's annual Cheshire Business Awards have been announced at a glittering awards ceremony at the Queen Hotel, Chester on 19th November.

The sponsors for this year’s event were ScottishPower, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Sellafield Ltd, Bank of America, Cheshire and Warrington Economic Alliance and Royal Mail. CWEA sponsored the Large Business of the Year category.

Entertainment at the awards ceremony was provided by Chester-based band The Funky Doctors.

Winners

Business Person of the Year

Simon Nixon, founder of the price comparison website moneysupermarket.com and two new recently launched ventures – holiday and property websites simonseeks.com and simonescapes.com.

Small Business of the Year

Global Air Training (GAT) of Tattenhall - a specialist aviation training company which provides training, development and consultancy services in aviation and healthcare for organisations across the world..

Also nominated were Vale Plumbing Supplies of Northwich and Sparkling Strawberry of Tarporley.

Medium Business of the Year

Cheshire Farm Ice Cream which has established itself as one of most popular tourist attractions in Cheshire since it started 23 years ago.

Also nominated were BiG Storage, Cathedra Stone of Middlewich, and UK Container Maintenance Ltd of Northwich.

Young Business Person of the Year

Gary Smith and Richard Alexander were joint winners of the Young Business Person of the Year category. The business partners, who were friends from their teens, run Prism, a successful million pound plus turnover business providing IT solutions to blue chip organisations and SMEs from their premises in Congleton.

Also nominated were Christopher Naylor of Peckforton Castle and Alan North of Bank of America.

Large Business of the Year

Boughey Distribution of Nantwich, one of the country’s leading specialist warehousing and distribution firms. The company makes deliveries every day to supermarkets, wholesale and speciality chains and has a 55-acre purpose-built facility at Wardle which is home to its own fleet of vehicles. It has a sister site at Deeside.

Also nominated was Chester-based identity management company GB Group.

Employer of the Year

CHESS Telecom of Alderley Edge picked up the trophy in the Employer of the Year section. The company believes looking after its staff to be of prime importance and its offices adhere to the principles of Feng Shui. Benefits for staff include childcare vouchers, pensions, free health care, flu jabs, gym membership, a bike-to-work scheme and life insurance.

Also nominated were Prism of Congleton and Weaver Vale Housing Trust.

Start-Up

DTM Legal, of Archway House, Chester, a new, dynamic law firm which provides commercial legal advice to SMEs and to larger companies. Less than a year after setting up, the company has increased its staff from 19 to 37 and its intention is to recruit more staff and expand into more niche commercial legal disciplines.

Also nominated were Asphalt Re-lay of Crewe and Vale Plumbing Supplies of Northwich.

Women in Business

CLAIRE Braithwaite of LoveLula.com based on the Barrowmore Enterprise Estate at Great Barrow, scooped this year’s Women in Business award. Claire launched the online store in 2006. It specialises in organic and natural beauty products. The website now stocks more than 1,200 products by more than 70 beauty and wellbeing brands and attracts an average of a million hits each week.

Also nominated were Dianne Worby of Global Air Training and Jan Williams of Frodsham Laser Clinic.

Community Award

The Community Award was won by Team Bank of America at Bank of America Europe Card Services. Team Bank of America is the company’s primary volunteer organisation for staff who work together to enhance the lives of teammates, customers and the community.

Also nominated were Weaver Vale Housing Trust and Robert Smith & Son of Crewe.