Optician wins national award

Optician Nick Howard, from Greenfield, has been named Contact Lens Practitioner of the Year at the Optician Awards 2012.

For the past two years Nick, who has 30 years’ experience in the industry, has been teaching and coaching by visiting practices, conferences and universities across the UK and Europe.

He was invited to a ceremony in London after making the three-strong shortlist for the final, selected by a panel of 50 judges.

The awards are open to the whole optometry profession.

He said: “Getting to the shortlist of a national award such as this is a tremendous achievement in itself.

“The entire profession recognises this event as the pinnacle of excellence and when the winning name was read out on the night I was left quite breathless. It is the highlight of my career.”