business award winners

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all those involved!

Best of British Events

To win at the Sussex level was quite surreal given the depth of the active Chambers of Commerce within the County.

It was something I never expected so to go on to win the Regional Award for the South East blew me away!! I still don’t believe the scale of that win has sunk it yest – nor will it for a long time! Fundamentally, I feel very honoured and humbled in equal measure. So many people have supported me over the past two years especially (immediately post Covid) when your events company doesn’t look like it has much of a future. I now appreciate that our ability to lead the way in pivoting led to the success we’ve enjoyed and I have never put my neck on the block in such a way before. The single biggest business risk I’ve ever taken was to launch a NEW events business at the height of the pandemic backing the live events market to return. I never bought into the popular philosophy that “face to face is dead and zoom is all we’re ever going to know from now on….” After all, we’re social animals and the market did / continues to “return” to the live space and long may that continue!! Honoured to win, proud to represent my home County in that respect and a massive thank you to my lieutenants Anne & Stella for all they do to support the overall operation. Don’t believe for one second that any entrepreneur does it all on their own!

Creative Pod

Award-winning Sussex-based marketing agency, Creative Pod, were pleased to win the ‘Rapid Riser’ award at the inaugural Sussex Chamber of Commerce Business Awards 2022 this September.

Members of the chamber met at Buxted Park Hotel on 20th September to celebrate the success of local businesses over the last year, and Creative Pod were over the moon to win ‘Rapid Riser’, awarded for their exceptional levels of growth with a strong plan for sustainable financial performance. Having grown from nine employees in 2020 to now 25, the company has almost tripled in size, as well as actioning internal promotions, dealing with mergers and acquisitions, and working with more businesses than ever.

Since then, Creative Pod went on to be a Regional Winner within this category for the whole of the South East too. This award is another brilliant achievement to add to their accolades after winning the ‘Creative Design and Marketing’ award in March at the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards, and becoming a Drum Recommended marketing agency this year too.

Matt Turner, CEO of Creative Pod, said: “We’re delighted to have won the Rapid Riser award from the Sussex Chamber of Commerce and to now be a Regional Winner too is incredible and a testament to our team. Thank you to the Sussex Chamber for this wonderful accolade!”

If you’re interested in speaking to the team about your marketing or website needs, email matt@creativepod.uk.com for more information.

Tisshaws Solicitors

Tisshaws are delighted to win the Sussex and Regional Southeast Equality Trailblazer Award

We are delighted to have won the Sussex Chamber of Commerce Equality Trailblazer Award based on our belief that the law must be based on inclusivity, diversity, and equality for all, in terms of those it helps and those who work within it.

Over the past decade, the firm has continuously worked to increase the diversity and inclusivity of clients, along with supporting those underrepresented in the legal world to forge a career in law.

To help overcome the perception that legal help is prohibitively expensive, Tisshaws offer new clients an initial one-hour meeting for a fixed fee of £50 (incl. VAT) with no obligation. Very few firms offer this. While some offer a 30-minute free appointment, we do not consider this offers sufficient time to discuss a client’s specific issues and background.

At the other end of the spectrum, our legal expertise means we are regularly instructed in complex financial divorce cases involving multiple properties, investments, pensions, and businesses, for high-net-worth individuals.

Our reputation for empathy and compassion, means that many cases also involve issues around the safeguarding of children; allegations of physical, sexual, and mental abuse, as well as cases involving people with alcohol/drug dependences, poor mental health, and physical disabilities. What’s more, we have experience in dealing with the planning of families, surrogacy, and co-parenting law, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community.

Traditionally, the legal world has underrepresented many minorities. To help open a career in family law to more women and those from underrepresented backgrounds, the firm supports those taking non-traditional routes into the legal profession and has supported several staff through their training, one to become a solicitor and another, a Chartered Legal Executive and is now supporting another.

www.tisshawssolicitors.co.uk

Augustinian Care - Delighted with their Workforce Developer - Commitment to people award

‘The Workforce Developer - Commitment to People Award - Is for a business that has shown how their approach to the learning and development of their team has enhanced their business performance’.

The organisation’s core values since our beginning in 1905 are that of focus on shared common experiences that ensures all staff are trained to understand the charity’s welcoming and hospitality ethos.

Although care may have adapted to changing needs, we have continued to develop as an organisation, modelling new methods of care from Adult Nursing to Independent living. We are currently developing 27 new assisted living apartments which will be supported by the domiciliary care team.

As an organisation we ensure our staff have the necessary skills to meet care requirements by attending mandatory training along with a range of specialist subjects. We consider different learning styles and methods to include classroom based sessions, reflective discussion and recently we introduced a new, innovative idea of a roadshow.

Staff, Residents and Relatives also participate in Virtual Dementia Training. The Tour is medically and scientifically proven to be the closest that we can give a person to experience what living with dementia might be like.

Our current training compliance stands at 96% in both our homes. We believe that staff development and progression is key to providing a positive care approach, meeting our residents’ best interests being at the forefront of what we do.

We very much value staff feedback, so we undertake an annual staff survey in order to gain insight to the benefits we offer along with ensuring we have a pleasant happy living and working environment.

We have now been nominated for a British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) Chamber Business Award in the Workforce Developer category.

LoveLocalJobs Foundation C.I.C proud to be named Community Champions

We were delighted and incredibly proud to have been named as The Community Champion at the Sussex Chamber of Commerce Awards in September.

In a category that featured so many amazing businesses doing such inspiring and important work within the local community, to be recognised and celebrated for the work the LoveLocalJobs Foundation C.I.C does is a fantastic feeling. Like so many people and businesses, we’ve faced our fair share of challenges and obstacles over the past two years. To say the way our team and network of supporters pulled together to overcome these challenges and deliver the Dare to Dream programme to schools across Sussex has been inspirational is an understatement.

Special thanks have to go to all our amazing partner businesses, volunteer mentors, local authorities, schools and of course, the incredible students we engage with. The work we do to inspire and raise aspirations for local young people is a privilege to be involved in and without all their support, we simply couldn’t do what we do.

Last year was a phenomenal year and there have been plenty of learnings that we’ve applied to our new series of programmes for the 2022/23 academic year. Everyone at the LoveLocalJobs Foundation C.I.C is hugely excited to be continuing this journey forward with some exciting collaborations and developments to the programme this year. Thank you to the Sussex Chamber of Commerce for this lovely moment of recognition!

www.lovelocaljobs.com

Saving the Planet on a National Scale!

GreenBlue Urban has come a long way in the last 30 years since its inception in 1992.

From his landscape gardening days, CEO Dean Bowie has been at the forefront of enabling the establishment of healthy living trees for all to enjoy.

Working alongside Architects, Landscape Planners, Urban Designers, Local Authorities and Contractors the renowned ArborSystem® brings together the critical elements of successful tree pit design and simplifies the planning and installation process.

GreenBlue Urban are at the forefront in enabling our towns and cities to adapt to climate change and continue to innovate by incorporating Green, Blue, Smart Space and Air to the brand, with an enhanced offering to include Off-grid lighting, EV charging and Air quality planters.

In celebration of its 30th anniversary, GreenBlue has hosted events across the UK; celebrating achievements at MMU University in Manchester and Tottenham Hotspur London, also having recently welcomed local MPs to their headquarters in Bodiam, East Sussex.

Both Sally-Ann Hart, MP for Hastings and Rye and Huw Merriman, MP for Bexhill and Battle were greeted by Dean Bowie and son MD Roy Bowie for a presentation on why GreenBlue exists with a tour of the UK manufacturing facility which is working toward Carbon Net Zero distribution.

Further enhancing the brand, on a local scale, GreenBlue were delighted to be nominated and unexpectedly WIN the Sussex Chamber of Commerce Planet Saver Award! The award recognises organisations with sustainability at the heart of their business.

As GreenBlue are renowned for using 100% recycled materials, omitting landfill and providing products that enable green and blue infrastructure, specifically mature established trees, providing multiple long-term benefits for now and our future generations.

It is fantastic to receive such an accolade that distinguishes efforts towards mitigating climate change for all – now on to the Nationals!

7thSense

Founded in 2004 by flight simulation industry veterans, 7thSense invented, develops, and manufactures the Delta Media Server®, Juggler® pixel processor, and Medialon range of hardware and software from its head office in Upper Beeding, Sussex.

Delta Media Server is an audio-visual (AV) software/hardware product designed to serve the highest quality media onto any projected screen size or shape for a compelling attraction or event.

Juggler® is a high-resolution, high frame rate pixel processor that can assemble video inputs from a virtually unlimited number of sources onto a shared canvas and output segments of that canvas to various outputs. The Medialon show control product range manages time-accurate control of audio, video, lighting, and special effects for live shows, themed attractions, museum exhibits, and visitor centres. 7thSense products are used globally in thousands of prestigious installations including world-famous theme park dark rides, Expo 2020 Dubai, Radio City Music Hall (New York), Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (Los Angeles), Museum of the Future (Dubai), One World Observatory (New York), and Ferrari World (Abu Dhabi). With additional offices in London London, Michigan, Florida, California and Melbourne, the fast-growing team is able to support all timezones with sales and support requests and uphold their reputation for exceptional service and dependability. They are technology innovators that work with the biggest names in the theme park and attraction industries worldwide - providing products for creative people to tell their media-based stories with the highest standards of quality, reliability, and support.

www.7thsense.one

info@7thsense.one 01903 812299

Drallim Industries Ltd

Winning the “Problem Solver” category at the awards was a tremendous surprise and an absolute accolade to our staff working in our St Leonards-on-Sea factory.

Our recent story has been complex. It starts with a devastating factory fire in February 2019 with urgent recovery action to re-establish a temporary factory getting us back in production by early April! That in itself was a miraculous performance but just then came the COVID-19 lockdown. As we are direct suppliers to the MoD and critical infrastructure businesses our work was essential, and we could not all “work from home”. We closed for just 4 days to adapt controls and procedures and carryon production. Meanwhile we were busy building a new factory under “buddy” rules, moving into our new manufacturing facility in Oct 2020.

Whilst the fire has been a devastating blow, our recovery has been a quite remarkable experience! It has often been frustrating, exhausting and almost overwhelming – but I think many of us have enjoyed the challenge, and the great spirit of team camaraderie, which has continued into our business activities.

Returning to problem-solving; throughout the period we have won new business including a 10-year MoD contract servicing cargo hooks for the UK helicopter fleet solving problems with quality standards, stock control and safety testing. National Grid renewed a nationwide support contract monitoring oil filled power cables. Another major series of orders have come from Hong Kong Electric with a phased delivery of very complex special cable monitoring equipment.

Our customers are the other great heroes for us as they tolerated our delays and stuck with us until showing immense confidence in us all. We have many new project opportunities and as we seek the next wave of specialist equipment problems to solve, we are proud to shout about our award.