a w a r d s
2 0 1 9
s p e c i a l
Bath is the winner, always‌ The biggest ever Bath Life Awards were held last month. More nominations, more finalists, and yet more emotions on a very special night‌
BATH LIFE awards
W
hat is this life if we have no time to stand and stare…” Awards give opportunity for pause. Pause to think how well a business has done in the year. Pause to consider a city and how it is changing. And pause to ponder on just what remarkable individuals there are in Bath, developing companies, employing more people, finding new routes to market, increasing the amounts of goods and services bought locally, risking start-ups, volunteering for charities, acting civically, seeking to improve this city… And so it was at the Bath Life Awards, the most emotional yet. It was a night to be proud of Bath. We came to celebrate and stayed to cheer – resoundingly. The warmth in the room was palpable, particularly at four points: Freshford Church School won the Bath BID-sponsored Environmental category and used the opportunity to make a widely-supported political point about having its solar panel proposal rejected by B&NES. “What’s the point of protecting our past if we can’t protect our future..?” Taste of Bath’s Helen Rich gave the most Olivia Colmantastic acceptance speech, some of which is even repeatable (you had to be there): “I’m absolutely [redacted] amazed. I’m [redacted] so honoured. I’d dreamt of simply being in Bath Life but to win this award is absolutely incredible!” Reader, there were tears. And not just from Helen. For the first time ever, there were joint winners of the charity category, sponsored by Stone King. Bath City Farm and Southside Family Project were deserved winners individually, and the judges also wanted to highlight how superbly they work together. In a city of such success, highlighting the vital work they do to help combat the effects of poverty in the city was recognised with a standing ovation. And for many, the highlight of the evening was the spontaneous outpouring of emotion for a remarkable man Eddie Ilic, who works at hairdressers BA1 and founded Eddie’s Street Cuts. He gives free haircuts to the homeless to help their self-esteem and is inspiring other salons in the city to contribute – all prompted by his own story of turning his life around. Eddie was overwhelmed by the room cheering and cheering and cheering as he accepted the inaugural Civic Award, which Bath Life’s publisher MediaClash was honoured to sponsor. Reading the nominations and attending the Awards makes us feel yet better about Bath – and we hope that the same is true of Bath Life as, issue in issue out, we celebrate the very best of Bath. On this uberglamtastic evening, of shimmering beauty, of whooping and surging emotion, of celebration and coming together, ultimately there was one winner: Bath – always. To all who entered, judged, sponsored, partnered, entertained, gushed, filmed, aftershowed, photographed, supported, organised, hosted, fed and dined us all, just one word: thanks. These were the very best yet. And next year? It’s started already. Tick tock. Jane, Steph, Greg and the Bath Life and MediaClash Events teams
2 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
Headline Sponsor
Platinum
All photos by Soul Media
It’s a cliché for a good reason to say that we couldn’t have organised the Bath Life Awards without our wonderful sponsors – but, we’ll, we couldn’t’ve. But beyond that, it’s also superb that so many leading companies are part of this singular celebration. To each: thank you.
Headline Sponsor: The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa, with its Brand Partner Taittinger
Property Group, Apex City of Bath Hotel, Kersfield, Novia, Tile & Flooring, Bryers, Bath Audi, Bath VW and Bath Rugby
Platinum Sponsor:
Silver Sponsors: Dialect, L&C Mortgages, Pearson May, Royds Withy King, Thai Barn
Bristol Airport
Main Sponsors: Jelf, Stone King, Savills, Spaces, Bath BID, Curo, First West of England, Hawker Joinery, Sub 13, Acorn
Feature Sponsors: Juice
Recruitment, Freestyle Designs, Circo
www.mediaclash.co.uk I BATH LIFE I 3
CATEGORY WINNERS
ARTS
WINNER:
BATH INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL IN PARTNERSHIP WITH VISIT BATH
BUSINESS SERVICES
WINNER:
TASTE OF BATH
Sponsored by
CHARITY
Sponsored by
JOINT WINNERS:
BATH CITY FARM & SOUTHSIDE FAMILY PROJECT
4 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
BAR
WINNER:
Sponsored by
CAFÉ
CIVIC
CIRCO BAR
WINNER:
CASTLE FARM CAFÉ
Sponsored by
WINNER:
EDDIES STREET CUTS
BATH LIFE AWARDS
CREATIVE Sponsored by
WINNER:
MYTTON WILLIAMS
ENVIRONMENTAL Sponsored by
GASTROPUB Sponsored by
WINNER:
FRESHFORD CHURCH SCHOOL
WINNER:
MARLBOROUGH TAVERN
EDUCATION Sponsored by
WINNER:
FUN SCIENCE
EVENT
WINNER:
BATH FESTIVALS
Sponsored by
HAIR & BEAUTY
WINNER:
BROAD STREET STUDIO
www.mediaclash.co.uk I BATH LIFE I 5
BATH LIFE AWARDS
HEALTH & WELLBEING
WINNER:
LEGAL & FINANCIAL
WINNER:
TEAM BATH
Sponsored by
ROYDS WITHY KING
Sponsored by
NEW BUSINESS Sponsored by
WINNER:
MH TYRE SERVICES
6 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
HOMES & INTERIORS Sponsored by
WINNER:
SIMS HILDITCH
LEISURE & TOURISM
WINNER:
Sponsored by
AVON VALLEY ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE PARK
PROPERTY
WINNER:
Sponsored by
AARON EVANS ARCHITECTS
BATH LIFE AWARDS
RESTAURANT
Sponsored by
RISING STAR
WINNER:
THE SCALLOP SHELL
WINNER:
JADE WHALE, BATH RUGBY FOUNDATION
RETAILER Sponsored by
WINNER:
THE ITALIAN FOOD HALL
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION Sponsored by
PLATINUM AWARD Sponsored by
WINNER:
TEAM BATH
10 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
WINNER:
TRUESPEED
FINALISTS Arts
• 44AD artspace • Bath Art Fair • Bath International Comedy Festival in partnership with Visit Bath • The Edge • Kilter • New Old Friends Bar
• Bar 15 at No.15 Great Pulteney • Circo Cocktail and Rum Bar • Framptons Café Bar & Kitchen • Le Vignoble • Mandalyns Bar • The Mint Room • The Star Inn • Sub 13 Business Services
• Apex City of Bath Hotel • Catering Services International • HGEM • HUB XV • Keystone HR • SearchStar • SerialTrainer7 • Spaces • Taste of Bath
Café/Coffee Shop
• 3 Café Kitchen • Castle Farm Café • Good Day Café • Hartley Farm Shop • No.10 Tea Gardens
Dementia Action Alliance • Bath Area Play Project • Bath City Farm • Bath Mind • Bath Rugby Foundation • Southside Family Project • St John’s Foundation • We Hear You • YMCA Bath Group Civic
• Bath Business Improvement District • Bath Carnival • Bath City Football Club • Bath Rugby Foundation • Eddies Street Cuts • Minerva’s Owls of Bath • Minuteman Press • Nationwide Building Society • The Packhorse Community Pub • Stride Treglown
Creative
• Absolute Press • Dialect • Fitzroy Hawk • Mytton Williams • Really Decent Books • Wild & Wolf
• Bath & North East Somerset Carers’ Centre • Bath & North East Somerset
Environmental
• Freshford Church School • Harvest Natural Foods • Huskup® • Iford Manor Estate • The Natural Cleaning Company South West • Natural History Consortium • Pure Planet Event
• Bath Carnival • Bath Digital Festival • Bath Festivals • Bath Mencap and Komedia • Genesis Trust Bath • Minerva’s Owls of Bath • SearchStar Gastropub
• The Chequers • King William • The Hare & Hounds • The Locksbrook Inn • The Marlborough Tavern • The Methuen Arms • Timbrell’s Yard Hair & Beauty
Education Charity
• Broadlands Academy • Dorothy Coleburn School of Dancing • Fun Science • Mayden Academy
• Bath Business School, Bath Spa University • Bath College • Bath Theatre School
• Beauty @ No32 • Broad Street Studio • David Maxwell Hairdressing • The Duchess Beauty Heaven • Glow Beauty
All hail the Judges!
Amanda Brown Founder, Flamingo
Amy Williams Olympian
Charlie Taylor Partner, Knight Frank
Ian Sandham Branch Director, Jelf
• Number 3
Leisure & Tourism
• The Apartment, Bath Health & • Apex City of Bath Wellbeing Hotel • Art at the Heart of • Avon Valley the RUH Adventure & • The Hand to Elbow Wildlife Park Clinic • The Bath Priory • Harvest Natural Hotel, Restaurant Foods and Spa • Lansdown Tennis Squash & Croquet • Bath Racecourse • Century Casino Club Ltd • Kaleidoscope • Nova Sports and Collection Coaching • Lucknam Park • Spa 15 at No.15 Great Pulteney • Team Bath New Business • TONIQ • Aesop • Bath Country Pets Homes & Interiors • The Beckford Bottle Shop • Dible & Roy • Boudavida • Elmore Kitchens • Hartbeeps Bath, • Etons of Bath • Joel Bugg Furniture Keynsham and West Wiltshire & Spaces • Kelly Marie Kitchen • Koffmann & Mr. White’s Interiors • MH Tyre Services • Sims Hilditch • Walcot House • Stonewood Builders Ltd • Valley Of Bath Property Limited • Aaron Evans Architects • Acorn Property Legal & Financial Group • Epoch Wealth • Bath Stone Management Property • inFund • Berkeley Place • L&C Mortgages • Linden Homes • Lesson Moore (Western) • Milsted Langdon • Savills • Mowbray • Stonewood Woodwards Builders • One pm Finance • Stride Treglown • Royds Withy King • Tynings • South West Business Finance (SWBF) Restaurant • Unividual • The Bath Priory Hotel, Restaurant
and Spa • Corkage Chapel Row • The Dower House Restaurant • Green Park Brasserie • The Ivy Bath Brasserie • Lucknam Park • Noya’s Kitchen • The Scallop Shell • Thai Barn Retailer
• Abbott Lyon • Dible & Roy • Fudge Kitchen • The Italian Food Hall • Moss of Bath • Portman • The Perfume Shop • V V Rouleaux Rising Star
• Fabia SelwoodMiller, The Marlborough Tavern • Jade Whale, Bath Rugby Foundation • Jessica Saumarez, LUX Rewards • Nicola Davis, Nicola Davis Crafts • Stephanie Jeffery, Good Day Café Technology & Innovation
• Bluefuse Systems • BrownHen Solutions • Claritum • OJO Solutions • Rocketmakers • Storm Consultancy • TrueSpeed • Zahara Systems
All decisions about these awards are made by a panel of utterly impeccably independent judges, chosen afresh each year from all areas of Bath business life. All different businesses types and sizes. With a record number of yet stronger nominations, the decisions this year were harder than ever for our judges. Our sincere thanks to all.
Ian Taylor Owner, Kaleidoscope Collection
John Ryder IWG PLC (Regus and Spaces)
Laurel Penrose CEO, Bath College
Mel Taylor Co-director and owner, Running High Events
Zara Perry Owner, Zara Perry Hairdressing
www.mediaclash.co.uk I BATH LIFE I 11
SCENE T H E L AT E S T A DV E N T U R E S I N PA R T Y- GO I N G AC ROSS BAT H Cal Davies-Phillips, Kerry-Ann Markham and Tierney Cocoran
Elliot Mellen and Katja Kammerer
PHOTOS BY SOUL MEDIA
Sam Thomas and Simon Wainewright
Is it a film set? No, just the mesmeric Assembly Rooms
Since the Bath Life Awards celebrate excellence in the city, it was fitting that our host was Amy Williams, who has excelled both here and internationally as a gold medal-winning Olympian. Educated at Hayesfield, Beechen Cliff and then the University of Bath, Amy was a complete and utter star on the night‌ Amy Williams
Amanda Brown, David Maxwell and Zara Perry David Ghent and Angela Ghent, Tim Moss and Annie Moss
12 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
BATH LIFE AWARDS
Standing tall were these gorgeous guests
Joe Stas and William Noad
Nickie Portman, Jon Rolfe, James Portman and Lauren Prince
Nicola McHale and Gavin McHale
The awards kicked off with a champagne reception, sponsored by Juice Recruitment. The Assembly Rooms were positively buzzing as the glitterati of Bath arrived in their finery, audible clinks of glasses featured heavily and friends and colleagues chatted away.
Emilio Mudrak and Mark Hawkins
Annette Hind and Annabel Hall
Greg Ingham wowing the crowds
Tom Annear and Jonny Wheeler Rachael Risdale and Becky Pocock
Stephanie Pritchard and Robert Burrows
Evan Wienburg and Claire Wienburg
www.mediaclash.co.uk I BATH LIFE I 13
Declan Gray and Kalvin Simmons
Eddie Ilic and Aurore Coatantiec
Tom Bright, Holly Rose and Adrian Millard
Adam Powell and Claire Powell Alice Stevens and Fiona Gilbert
Kevin Murphy and Penny Murphy
14 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
Beth Denny and David Maxwell
Emma Rome and Abi Pocock
Katie Cofferon and Abi Constanza
BATH LIFE AWARDS
Guests gamely threw themselves into the spirit of the evening, posing in our life-size perspex Bath Life magazine cover, sponsored by Freestyle Designs. xxxx
16 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
• Domestic and commercial roofing specialists • Covering Bath, Bristol and the South West • Trading since 1985 Tel: 01225 421499 Email: mail@youngsroofing.co.uk www.youngsroofingbath.co.uk Braysdown Lodge, Woodborough, Peasedown St John, Bath BA2 8LN
David Boddington, Elaine Roberts, Lucy Allen and Stephen Pierce
Louise Harvey selfie-styles it out An awards ceremony is nothing without a multitude of gigantic feathers
There were hugs aplenty on the night
MP Wera Hobhouse
DINNER Guests tucked into a three-course meal of salt-baked beetroot, English goats’ cheese, organic watercress, toasted pecans, lavender honey and mustard dressing, followed by slow-braised beef, sweet potato mash, buttered greens and caramelised shallots. To finish, a trio of colourful delights arrived: a mini choux bun, raspberry tart and a chocolate opera. De-lish. Me?! Fabia Selwood-Miller delighted with the win for Malborough Tavern
18 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
Hoorah! Whoop! Whoop!
Sarah Moon, Laura Brewster and Kambiz Shayegan
BATH LIFE AWARDS
Happy winners Georgina Tomlinson and Emma Heatley-Adams
Forget the Oscars, it’s all about the mighty Bath Life columns Rafi White, Mary Stringer, Anthony Rizzo and Isobel Heather
Jody Roblin and Samantha Fanthorpe
The moment everyone had been waiting for arrived as MediaClash co-owner Greg Ingham and Olympian Amy Williams took to the stage to present the awards. Whoops of joy, gasps of delight and hearty claps were felt around the room as the deserved winners were announced.
Helen Rich can’t believe it xxx Jonathan Stapleton
Chin chin! Winners Marcus Harris and Sophie Rodger in a state of jubilation
www.mediaclash.co.uk I BATH LIFE I 19
Many, many beverages were consumed, and sore heads were had
Sarah Moon, Guy Mercer and Laura Brewster
Scott Gurd, Cherie-Anne Baxter, guest and Greg Harris
Katja Kammerer
THE PARTY CONTINUED... The hardcore party-goers keen to keep the celebrations going moved on to the official aftershow party at Circo Bar. Cocktails were drunk, shapes were thrown and everyone had a jolly old time. Gemma Chatfield and Mitchell Thomas
Kartini Sutoto and Zara Perry
Circo’s DJ wizard mixing the tunes
20 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
BATH LIFE AWARDS
Marie Richardson, Katie Cofferon and Francesca Randese
Cocktail time at the bar Amanda Jones and Tom Weaver
Laura Kearns and Stuart Brazington Emilio Mudrak, Sam Thomas, Simon Wainewright and William Noad
Julian Burrage and guest
www.mediaclash.co.uk I BATH LIFE I 21