Haverhill Chamber of Commerce Business Awards hailed as huge success for town

THE most prestigious of awards ceremonies was hosted last weekend by Haverhill Chamber of Commerce for their 2011 Business Awards.

BBC1’s TV Apprentice Finalist Claire Young was guest speaker for the evening and also judged the Young Entrepreneur category. She said of her time in the county "It’s certainly the glitziest Chamber I’ve attended, there should have been an award for the most glamorous person with so many stunning dresses! The preparation, attention to detail and all round positive 'let’s have a great evening' vibe on the night are a testament to why Haverhill is an area of such change, business is growing in the town and the new era is really being embraced by Haverhill’s business community."

Guests enjoyed a drinks reception on arrival and Haverhill’s Young Chamber were on hand to give them some pre-awards entertainment with a charity Olympic Wii Challenge which  raised £101 for the St Nicholas Hospice Care. One of those guests was Neville Reyner CBE DL, President of the British Chambers of Commerce and also Chairman of the UK Young Chamber. He said: "I was not only struck by the shared community celebrating success of local businesses but I was also very pleased to be welcomed by some young people from Young Chamber. Our future is in the hands of these young people and I was very proud that all were made aware of Young Chamber not only because they were there but because they explained their activities thoroughly."

After a three course dinner, Chairman Sarah Howard took to the stage to welcome the guests, sponsors and judges, Sarah said of the night: "The awards are all about promoting Haverhill and I don’t think we could have done it in a more effective way than we did on Saturday night.   However, it wasn’t just Haverhill businesses who enjoyed the night, we also had some fantastic high profile guests from outside the town which just goes to show we are generating great interest in Haverhill and what it has to offer."

It was then time for Claire Young to run through the award winners of the night, guests were held in suspense as each category was summarised and the nominees were announced.

The winners of the Haverhill Chamber of Commerce Business Awards were:

Large Business - Abbeycroft Leisure
Retailer - A-Revolution
Export - Ardex
Young Entrepreneur - Paul Gardiner of Axa insurance
Employer of the Year - Axa Insurance
Environmental Awareness - Days Inn
Small Business - A-Revolution
Customer Care - KAD Cars Ltd
Best Use of Technology - Paul Donno & Co Ltd
Employee of the Year - Keiran Crone of Saffron Insurance
Start Up Business - Best of Haverhill
Marketing Strategy of the Year - Abbeycroft Leisure
Business of the Year - A-Revolution

Theresa Foddering, owner of A-Revolution Beauty Salon in Haverhill, won three awards on the night including the most prestigious title of Business of the Year. The judges said  "This was a very close award and particularly difficult to judge between all the outstanding award winners in different sectors, however we chose A-Revolution because we felt entrepreneurs are the backbone of this economy and this business in particular demonstrated great entrepreneurship."

With the awards completed it was time to roll up the red carpet and the floor was filled with guests dancing to the live sounds of Tangent a seven piece soul band. For pictures of the night’s events visit Haverhill Chamber of Commerce on Facebook here