Business awards winners

More than 200 people attended the event, and guest speaker was Michelle Dewberry, star of BBC series The Apprentice. It was organised by 1066 Enterprise and the Observer.

Judges were Colin Monk, Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Brighton, John Challis, Business Manager at Business Link Sussex and Bruce Hayter from Rix and Kay Solicitors.

There were a number of categories, all detailed below:

1. Best Start Up Business sponsored by Ten Sixty Six Enterprise

Winner - The Visionary Soap Company Limited.

The company makes handcrafted organic soaps and body care products and is a fair trade company. Sales grew from 2005 to 2006 by 330% and turnover in 2007 is anticipated to treble again. They have been exporting to a Russian company which is ranked 15th in the world of top retailers and have a contract to supply Oxfam shops. The company now employs three part time staff and the judges were impressed with the growth and entrepreneurial flair of the Company.

2. Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community, sponsored by Manningtons Chartered Accountants

Winner - George Stone Limited, a construction company based in Hastings.

The judging panel was impressed with the wide range of activities that the company undertakes in the local community '“ particularly with work in the education sector. This includes organisation of an annual 'Pathway to Construction Challenge' '“ last year 26 students were taken to a construction site '“ after that they were set the challenge of pricing part of the construction work they had been taken to see. In addition the company regularly takes 5 work experience placements and they organise an annual charity Treasure Hunt.

3. Outstanding Community Business of the Year, sponsored by Hastings College

Winner - Hastings Furniture Services.

HFS has been trading for 18 years, providing low cost furniture and appliances to people with low incomes. In addition HFS employs and trains people who have been long term unemployed.

The judges were impressed with the strong steps forward made by the business over the last 12 months.

4. Customer Care Business of the Year, sponsored by Arbuthnot Commercial Finance.

Winner - Profile Plumbing and Heating

The business has been running since October 2005 and has shown good growth in that time. The company has customer service at the heart of all it does, and bases its work ethic on treating customers fairly, politely and respectfully. In September 2006 the business became an Approved Trader under the Trading Standards Buy with Confidence scheme.

5. Retail Business of the Year , sponsored by Priory Meadow Shopping Centre

Winner '“ The Source

This is the second time The Source have won this award '“ the first time being 2005. Since then the business has developed significantly with the shop being relocated to Queens Road, Hastings. Richard and Marc Moore have also set up two new businesses, Snap Distribution and Source Skateparks which have seen turnover increase to around 500,000.

As well as increasing turnover through both shop sales and through the web the Judges were very impressed with their commitment to the community.

In 2005 and 2006 the De La Warr Pavilion has been turned into a skatepark with 100 participants and thousands of spectators '“ they also have held ramp demos in Hollington with a view to helping secure the building of a skatepark in the area.

6. Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Business of the year, sponsored by Hastings Borough Council and 1066 Country Marketing.

Winner - Swan House.

Opened in June 2006 Swan House is a B&B in the Old Town of Hastings. In November 2006 they were awarded the Visit Britain Five Star quality grading together with a silver award '“ one entry in their Visitors Book says ' the best bed and breakfast ever, with an entry on an independent travellers website saying 'a gem of a guest house'.

7. Outstanding Individual Achievement, sponsored by Business Link.

Winner - Ian Jarvis of FAT Promotions.

In answering the question what are the factors behind his success Ian's boss said two words '“ absolute dedication. Fiona Allman-Treen also commented how hard it was to find employees who were equally adept at both the technical aspects of web design work and also interfacing with clients '“ Ian is able to do both. He has also developed a database system being used by local estate agents to help improve their web performance '“ growing the company's client base in this sector from one to five agencies.

Ian ran recently in the Hastings Half Marathon on behalf of Aplastic Anaemia '“ a local trust he is involved with.

8. Young Entrepreneur of the Year sponsored by the University of Brighton.

The award this year is a joint award to two entrepreneurs '“ the business they run is White Leaf, and the winners are Ceri Bates and Sam Roberts.

Ceri and Sam opened their design business in 2006. Both achieved BA Hons in Art and Design at Hastings College with who they continue to work closely. Since they started they have worked on a number of large and small scale projects. The Judges were impressed with the progress the business has made since inception.

9. e Business of the Year, sponsored by the E Biz Centre

Winner - Whats on Magazine

The judges were very impressed with this website, particularly the look, layout and general completeness of the site. They were particularly attracted to the fact the site reinforced making a subscription to the magazine.

10. Award for a person making an Outstanding Contribution to business life in the area.

Joint winners - John Hodges and Clive Galbraith.

They have together undertaken a very difficult task over the last 12 months and have agreed to continue with their task, on behalf of the business community for another 12 months.

The Task in question is to Chair the Local Strategic Partnership '“ for those who don't know the LSP is a public/ private/ community partnership which has a vision to see 'The renaissance of Hastings through social, economic, cultural and environmental regeneration'.

In the last 12 months through their strong leadership the LSP has augmented its vision and mission and built on a key set of 21 targets for improvement. Not only have both been involved in the regular LSP meetings but they have also given hours of their time on related LSP business '“ this is all on behalf of the wider Hastings business community.

The fact that they have been asked to continue as joint Chairs for the next 12 months is testimony in itself of the positive impact they have had.

11. HSBC Overall Business of the Year

Winner - Hastings Furniture Services