Sponsors pledge awards support

ONE AWARDS:

 TWO more sponsors have added their support to the growing list of companies and organisations wishing to be involved in the One Oldham Business Awards.

Launching the 2011 series at Fresca Restaurant in Delph, steering group chairman Steve Kilroy told more than 70 guests that architectural practice Thorpe Whyman Briggs, from Hollinwood, had picked up the major sponsorship for the Business Woman of the Year category.

And later, over lunch, Paul Milner, the proprietor of Chadderton business Positive IT Solutions, committed himself to the growing list of associate sponsors.

The event kicked off the process to reward and recognise the outstanding businesses and individuals within the borough’s industrial and commercial community.

As last year, there are 10 categories. The nomination process is now open — online at www.oldhambusinessawards.co.uk  — ahead of the gala presentation dinner which will take place on Friday, March 18, 2011, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

NatWest — represented by area director Lee Crook and senior relationship director Steve Lowe — has committed once again as title sponsors joining the Oldham Evening Chronicle and Oldham Council as the major promoters of the awards, which last year attracted almost 100 entries from around 70 companies.

Mr Kilroy said: “This year we are at aiming for 200 entries. We know that’s an ambitious target but there is a huge amount of talent out there — and we want these One Oldham Business Awards to reflect all that ability. I have the honour of being chair of the group that works extremely hard, in their own time, outside of office hours, to make sure these awards are the best they can be. We have a vision that Oldham’s business will be judged against the best from neighbouring boroughs. We are confident they will pass that test.”

Announcing a change to the nomination process, Mr Kilroy said, for the first time, third-parties, (customers, clients, colleagues and friends) can nominate a business.

Charlotte Wharton, managing director of Fresca, spoke about her pride in winning the Start-Up category last year and the lasting benefits her business had enjoyed as a result of that success.

Chronicle Editor Dave Whaley spoke of the “positive Oldham” message the awards signalled and his delight at the Chronicle’s promotion and continuing involvement in the awards.