In what is proving to be a great month for Wold Top Brewery, the Wold Newton microbrewery has been shortlisted for two Red Ribbon Awards for family businesses and has won a place in the final of the Chairman’s of East Yorkshire’s Business Award for Businesses with Under 50 Employees .
Hosted by Family Business Place, the Red Ribbon awards are the UK’s only national awards that recognise the achievements of family-run companies of all sizes and across all sectors.
Wold Top Brewery has been shortlisted in two awards categories; ‘Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)’ as a result of the brewery’s green credentials and Alex Balchin has been shortlisted for the ‘Young Gun’ award that recognizes a talented next generation member who has celebrated incredible achievements beyond their peers. The Yorkshire brewery faces stiff competition from other family businesses including Bastows and last year’s CSR winner, The Entertainer.
Of the success, Kate Balchin, a fourth generation family member and Alex’s wife, said: “We were delighted to win the Red Ribbon award for ‘Innovation’ last year and to be shortlisted again is something that we’re all very proud of.
The Red Ribbon awards are great for smaller businesses like ours (just 15 employees) as they enable us to compete against big brands. At the end of the day, we’re all family run businesses and face similar challenges, albeit on a different scale.”
Anita Brightley-Hodges, Managing Director of Family Business Place says:
“This year has been another record-breaking year for Red Ribbon Award entries. We have been overwhelmed by the quality and variety of the nominations which just goes to prove there are some real hidden gems out there who deserve to be recognised.
It’s no secret that family-run businesses are the backbone of the UK economy. In times of uncertainty they are the last ones to make redundancies, keep a long-term view for the business and stay true to their founding values of integrity, trust and loyalty.”
At Family Business Place we are honoured to present the Red Ribbon Awards to some of the best the sector has to offer and look forward to welcoming some of the UK’s most loved family business names as well as small, undiscovered gems and announcing the winners in London on 20th June.”
The winners will be announced at the 2014 Red Ribbon Awards Ceremony at the Goldsmith’s Hall where finalists and their guests will enjoy a champagne reception, fine dining, live entertainment and a Charity Auction.
Farm based Wold Top Brewery is part of the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme for environmental initiatives and is also working closely with the RSPB to promote its birdlife. It brews traditional real ale from home and Wolds grown malting barley, the finest hops and chalk-filtered water from the farm’s own borehole. Its range of award winning ales is also available through the website, independent, family owned retailers, farm shops, delis, hotels, pubs and off licences throughout Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.