In 2021 I was invited by Amin Vepari to be his guest at the BIBAs awards.
I sat there soaking up the glitzy atmosphere of the amazing Blackpool Tower in awe of the achievements of businesses who were called onto the stage to collect their awards.
At the time my hospitality business which had been massively affected by Covid was just starting to reopen, yet I had faced huge financial losses and I was just too embarrassed to think about entering any awards.
I remember leaning over the balcony with Jason Kingston who if you know him you will smile when you read this, as he has a way of turning every scenario into a phrase or something you’ll remember. I never forgot him saying ‘’2021 was your year for growing, 2022 will be your year for showing’’…
So I decided there and then that I was going to enter some awards. 2022 awards-wise was incredible for us. We scooped up so many awards mainly for our sustainability work, that we had to declutter our awards area and it was an incredibly proud moment when I walked onto the stage and won a Biba award when a year ago I had been too ashamed to enter.
Nothing beats doing that walk up to the stage when you win an award – especially a green business award at this challenging time where sustainability is so critical…
So this year I’m so proud to have been selected to judge the category of Green Business of the Year.
To be an awards judge for the Bibas for me is such an achievement and I’m so excited as having been on the other side of the fence for so many years, to now be a judge is amazing!
Well at the end of March I will attend our final award ceremony for 2022 (final as this represents the end of my ‘showing year’). But wow am I going out with a boom…,
Having been too embarrassed to enter awards in 2021, in 2023 my little farm in Lancashire has been selected as a finalist in the Edie awards for ‘Lloyds Bank Sustainable Business of the Year’.
Now whether you are in the ‘awards are a waste of time and money’ camp or ‘awards are amazing’ camp, what I find amazing is that our little farm is the only SME listed amongst 8 global giants of industry:
- Vodaphone Uk
- Brabners
- EY
- E.ON UK
- IES
- Natura & Co
- RS Group
- TLT
- The Wellbeing Farm
So we will be flying the flag for SME’s and the hospitality industry at this flagship awards ceremony in London – The edie awards are the UK’s largest and most prestigious event for recognition of excellence of green business so I will be bloody proud when The Wellbeing Farm is flashed onto the screen amongst all those global giants.
In summary, yes we may have gone overboard with awards in 2022, but they are great for positioning and we do now consider our business worthy of being named one of the top sustainable hospitality businesses in the UK.
Now to return to our year of growing….
