Friday Night and We Headed For Crewe Hall...

Friday night saw the 2009 edition of The South Cheshire Chamber Business Awards. Representing Atlas were Group Managing Director John Butler and Director (and John's wife) Daphne Butler. Here, Daphne blogs about the evening and the Butler's favourable impression of young local businessmen and women.


South Cheshire Chamber
Business Awards 2009

Appropriately frocked and suited, John and I mounted the steps of Crewe Hall last night, guests of Tracey Barcroft our indispensible bank manager. Tracey is with the NatWest Commercial Office in Nantwich which sponsors the Best Large Business of the Year Award at this now well-established annual event. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane for John and I since Atlas won this award back in 2001, then at Stapeley Water Gardens Tropical Oasis … … … and although many of the main players remain the event itself has definitely grown-up and moved on.

These sort of formal get-togethers can be a bit daunting, but you can’t live and work in a town for nigh on 20 years without getting to know people, and we had barely escaped the wet November evening and connected with a glass of something fizzy before we were chatting with Martin and Heather Kynch old friends from way back in the early days of Atlas Business.

One of the best things about reaching an uncertain age is that the achievements of others, young, fresh and going places acquire a bottomless fascination, so that when the award ceremony got underway (very capably presented by Sam Plank of Moorlands Radio, and Verity Hilton of BBC Radio Stoke) I found myself enchanted by the string of bright young people and companies who made their way to the rostrum collecting certificates and plaques.

Companies like Best Small Business of the Year, Amita UK, who describe themselves as ‘an IT dept in a box’ and provide a comprehensive range of IT services for their clients. (Hey, wait a minute, that’s Atlas territory. Is there something we might learn here?).

And then Employer of the Year was the Commercial Training Division North West of St John’s Ambulance – amazing people training other amazing people to do amazing things. (Are Atlas amazing enough to compete with that, I wonder?).

The International Trade Award … … … International Trade? … … … The winner here turned out to be Event Stewarding & Training Consultancy Ltd (ESTC for short – an acronym just up John’s street) who work with sporting and music venues advising on safety management of stadiums and spectators with an impressive testimonial list starting with Crewe Alex and ending with the Hellenic Football Federation.

In all there were nine different awards, which I am sure will be very ably reported on next week by the Crewe Chronicle who are joint-sponsors of this razzamattaz with the South Cheshire Chamber, but I would just like to mention one more award that caught my attention. The Visitors’ Choice Award is sponsored by Visit Chester & Cheshire and is voted on by the people who find their way to visitor attractions in the county. There were eighteen contenders, and the winner was, for the second year running, Nantwich Players Theatre*.

Good food, splendid company, what a lovely way to end the week! Thank you NatWest.

* For those who are not aware, Nantwich Players is where the absent Atlas Business and C2 Internet director (Benjamin who?) first took to the stage www.west16.co.uk refers.