113 Deaths

Shaftesbury wedding videographer declared Best in South West

Not quite a year after launching his business, Dan Pitman has been declared the South West regional winner - and awaits news on the National award at the end of the month.

The Wedding Industry Awards are well-respected in the wedding industry, judged by a panel of experts rather then a popularity contest. Dan Pitman, a roofer from Shaftesbury, entered the 2022 awards, just a year after launching his wedding videography business in May 2020, feeling that even a little recognition would add some credibility to his fledgeling brand. He was excited and surprised to learn he was a finalist, and attended the ceremony in Cheltenham on the 26th January with little expectation. His response when he won was an emotional one: “I’m still on such a high from winning. I feel incredibly lucky that my work has been recognised and regarded as the highest standard in the south west after less than a year of filming weddings. The amount of time I have invested in learning the skills required to film weddings, the money invested in equipment, facing fears of huge responsibilities... all worth it!” “I am so grateful to everyone who has hired me - especially the first few. Booking a videographer who had never filmed a wedding before is a huge risk - I certainly wouldn’t have done it! But to give me the opportunity to do that means so much. It is going to be a very busy year for me” he added “I’m transitioning from roofing to full time weddings, and 2023 bookings are busy. The national finals are next month, and I am up against some amazing filmmakers. If everyone can keep their fingers crossed for me I’d really appreciate it!

The Regional Winners now go through to the National Final. The National Winners will be announced at a spectacular National Awards Event in London on February 23rd.

Top dog status for eat:Festivals

Local food and drink festival organisers eat:Festivals are Finalists in the Dog Friendly Business of the Year category at the Bristol, Bath & Somerset Tourism Awards

Organiser Sarah Milner Simonds said “We think this is a ‘paw-fect’ start to the new year and really wag-ficient news. We work really hard to make our one-day food and drink festivals welcoming for the whole family and that includes four-legged members too.” Co-organiser Bev Milner Simonds continued “We have always made sure we are dog friendly but this year we enhanced experience by having a Dog Concierge on hand to welcome pets, publishing local dog walks, working in partnership with local dog businesses to increase our number of water bowl spots and having Pooch Paws-Points dotted throughout the festival with seating for owners to take a breather.” eat:Festivals find out if they have won Gold, Silver or Bronze on 17 February and until then they are working hard on the plans for the 2022 season of events - including enhancements for everyone and their dog!

Calling all potential sponsors – Join the Dorset food movement everyone is talking about.

As the Love Local, Trust Local Awards enters its third season, founder Barbara Cossins is thrilled so many sponsors have remained - but is looking for a few new partners to join the 2022 awards.

Now in its fourth year, Love Local Trust Local is making great progress in educating and encouraging the people of Dorset to eat & shop locally, supporting our incredible array of food producers, farmers & fishermen. This year, they are looking for more local Dorset organisations to become part of the Love Local Trust Local sponsorship family. Remaining for their 3rd consecutive year as sponsors are NFU Mutual Wessex, Blanchard Bailey, Symonds & Sampson, The BV Magazine, Damory Vets, Kingston Maurward College, Roberts Foodservice, Chase Farming, Hemsworth Farm, Harbarn Developments, Dike & Son and Saffery Champness.

Barbara Cossins, local farmer, business woman and founder of the Love Local Trust Local label and Awards.

Join the family

For a small investment you can join them and benefit from so much in supporting the production of wonderful food & drink here in Dorset. Sponsorship of a category is only £750 for the year. Some of the many benefits include: • Raising the local profile of your business & gaining positive publicity & PR • Benefitting from an increased online presence and profile by association • Becoming a judge of the tastings for the finalists in your category • Developing new partner relationships with other key Love Local Trust Local sponsors • Appearing in printed, online and PR placement as the key sponsor for an entire award category • Having your own organisational website profile on the well-respected Love Local Trust Local website • Building awareness of your brand with Dorset businesses from regular activity on a range of social media platforms supporting the annual

Love Local Trust Local Awards • Enjoying networking opportunities with everyone involved • Attending the Awards Night as our guest and bringing clients or team members with you to

celebrate your achievements • Presenting your Love Local Trust Local award to the lucky winner at the main event • Displaying your own pop-up banner & marketing material to the awards event to promote your business on the night

Love Local Trust Local is fast becoming the food & drink movement to be part of, campaigning for British food and fair treatment for our farmers, food producers and fishermen and support from our government, local and national.

Get in touch at awards@ lovelocaltrustlocalawards.co.uk or call 07831 184920 and talk to Barbara Cossins, the founder of Love Local Trust Local