Stray Ferret Business Awards: Does your sustainable business practises deserve an award?

The Stray Ferret Business Awards 2024 are for businesses across all sectors in the Harrogate district.

Over the next few weeks we will reveal what our judging panel is looking for when it comes to each of the 10 categories.

Next up is the Sustainable Business Award, which is sponsored by the York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub.

This award recognises those businesses that have put sustainability at the top of their agenda.

These businesses are helping drive change and leading the way by reducing their impact on the environment no matter the size of the business. Implementing these practises for small businesses can be a bigger challenge than for larger businesses but every effort makes a difference.

Companies looking to enter for the Sustainable Business Award need to provide details of the changes the business has made, the impact the changes have had on the business and wide community with any details of any planned changes.

By giving vital recognition to those who have sustainability at the heart of their business, we hope others will follow their example.

Does your business deserve to win the Sustainable Business Award at the Stray Ferret Business Awards? Entries close on January 19. It’s simple and quick, so enter today!

Click here or the banner below to enter for the Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis.

 

Business Breakfast: Mother Shipton’s Cave wins special recognition

The Stray Ferret Business Club’s next meeting is a breakfast event on Thursday, October 26 at Banyan in Harrogate from 8am to 10 am. 

The Business Club provides monthly opportunities to network, make new connections and hear local success stories. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

Mother Shipton’s Cave in Knaresborough has been awarded a Welcome Accolade from VisitEngland following its latest VisitEngland Quality Scheme Assessment.

Among the 91 exceptional attractions recognised, Mother Shipton’s Cave is one of only two in Yorkshire to receive the = welcome accolade, acknowledging its commitment to excellence in visitor service. The attraction team’s customer service, professional demeanour, and warm approach were specifically highlighted.

Fiona Martin, owner of Mother Shipton’s, said:

“We are over the moon to have received such special recognition from VisitEngland. Our team are passionate about providing exemplary customer service and preserving the magical story of Mother Shipton for generations.”

This latest achievement, alongside the team’s achievements in various local and regional award schemes, such as Attraction of the Year at the Knaresborough Business Awards, adds to the reputation of Mother Shipton’s Cave as an outstanding tourist destination.

Mother Shipton’s Cave is open every day until November 5, as well as on selected dates throughout November and December for its Magical Christmas Experience. The next family event is Halloween Creepy Carnival, running through October half term from October 28 to November 5.

Harrogate asset management firm wins award

Cardale Asset Management took home the first-place awards in two categories at the prestigious Citywire Investment Performance Awards.

The annual awards showcase the firms and strategies which delivered top risk-adjusted returns over a three-year period.

Cardale, which is based at Cardale Park in Harrogate, won the Aggressive Shortlist award for the performance of its equity model. It also won the prize for the Best Medium-Sized Firm in the UK.

Ian Wood, chief investment officer at Cardale, said:

“We are incredibly proud to win this award. It is testament to our investment philosophy, experience and approach and is truly a team effort.

“We have over 3,000 clients within Cardale Asset Management, with total assets under management of over £2 billion. Our ethos is to provide investment options to a broad spectrum of investors, therefore enabling more people to access the strong performing and experienced Cardale Asset Management team.”

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Farm Dairy retains title of Knaresborough’s best business

The Farm Dairy retained its title of Knaresborough Business of the Year at an awards event that celebrated the town’s independent traders last night.

The deli, cheesemonger and sandwich shop took the title at Knaresborough Business Collective‘s inaugural event last year.

The team retained it at a sell-out awards event at the Worlds End Pub following a public vote.

The Farm Dairy celebrates. Pic: Brian King

Natalie Horner and Annie Wilkinson-Gill organised the awards for the collective, which was set up to stage events and promote the town’s businesses.

Speaking about the Farm Dairy afterwards, Ms Horner said:

“They have a huge fan following in town and a massive customer base, they are such lovely ladies and I think not only provide a great service but also have time for anybody who goes in there.

“They’ve built great relationships with most of Knaresborough over the years.”

Five businesses or individuals were shortlisted in each of the 18 categories.

Freedom Performing Arts, which has just expanded into new premises at the former Castle Girls School, won two accolades for favourite class or workshop and favourite inspirational business.

Number Thirteen won favourite coffee shop, Mother Shipton’s was named favourite attraction, Harriet’s claimed the favourite retailer award and Claire Baxter Art Gallery received the accolade for favourite new business.

Claire Baxter Art Gallery is the town’s favourite new business.

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List of winners

Knaresborough Business Of The Year Farm Dairy

Favourite Female Led Business Sheer Bliss

Favourite Male Led Business Tommy’s Barber Shop

Favourite Family Run Business Greenwood solicitors

Favourite Healthcare Business The Crystal Buddha

Favourite hair and beauty clinic Divine Hair

Favourite Retailer Harriet’s

Favourite Place To Stay Custard Creams cottage

Favourite Attraction Mother Shipton’s

Favourite Coffee Shop Number Thirteen

Favourite Place To Eat Two Brothers

Favourite Place to Drink So! Bar

Favourite Tradesman Brian King

Favourite Class or Workshop Freedom Performing Arts

Favourite Party Provider Painting Pots

Favourite New Business Claire Baxter Art Gallery

Favourite Member of Staff Connie Li (Yorkshire Trading)

Favourite Inspirational Business Freedom Performing Arts

Here are some photos by Brian King from last night’s event.

 

Knaresborough businesses prepare for glittering awards night

Knaresborough Business Awards will celebrate the town’s commercial heroes this weekend.

The event, organised by Knaresborough Business Collective, will take place at the Worlds End Pub at Bond End on Saturday night. Tickets sold out in 48 hours.

Five companies have been shortlisted in each of the 18 categories, which range from favourite attraction to favourite coffee shop.

The most prestigious category is Knaresborough Business of the Year, which was won by The Farm Dairy last year. The  deli, cheesemonger and sandwich shop on Market Place is among this year’s nominees.

Annie Wilkinson-Gill, who organises the event with Natalie Horner, said the awards had generated an “amazing response”.

“We feel it really is a wonderful way for the gorgeous businesses of Knaresborough to get together, and for the Knaresborough community to vote for their favourites.

“It’s also a wonderful way to promote the businesses Knaresborough has to offer.”

Like last year’s inaugural event, the event uses local suppliers: flowers have been provided by River and Rose, balloons by Balloons and Confetti, brochures by Sid Horner and Sons, the desserts are from the Black Mulberry, and the trophies are from Wayne at If.

The collective, which was formed in 2022, consists of Knaresborough business owners who work together to promote the town and its businesses.

Here are some photos of last year’s awards, taken by Brian King.

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This year’s shortlisted businesses and individuals are:

Knaresborough Business Of The Year

Freedom Performing Arts, Farm Dairy, Wild Thing, Wildstyle tattoo and Greenwood solicitors

Favourite Female Led Business

Freedom Performing Arts, River & Rose, Sheer Bliss, The Lash Gallery and Kat’s Dogs

Favourite Male Led Business

The Music Bank, Wildstyle Tattoo, Barber Asylum, Zig Zag and Tommy’s Barber Shop

Favourite Family Run Business

Two Brothers, Greenwood solicitors, Sid Horner and Son, Hirst Bakery and Hutton Butchers

Favourite Healthcare Business (not hair & beauty)

Castle Clinic Chiropody by Louise, The Crystal Buddha, Natural Choice, Sarah Chisem Podiatry

Favourite Hair and Beauty Clinic

Aimed Health & Beauty, Kelly Teggin Hairdressing, Orchis Escape, Swish Beauty and Divine Hair

Favourite Retailer

Wild Thing, The Clothing Store, Harriet’s, Stomp and Sheer Bliss

Favourite Place To Stay

The Groves Inn, Gallon House, Custard Cream Cottage, Teardrop Cottage and Newton House

Favourite Attraction

Mother Shipton’s, Blenkhorn’s Boats, the Kiosk at Conyngham, Knaresborough Rescue and Knaresborough Painting Pots

Favourite Coffee Shop

Number Thirteen, The Black Mulberry, McQueens, Cafe Nero and No Place Like Home

Favourite Place to Eat

Two Brothers, Farm Dairy, So! Bar, Six Poor Folk and Carriages

Favourite Place to Drink

The George and Dragon, Six Poor Folk, Blind Jack’s, Half Moon and So! Bar

Favourite Tradesman

Neil Watts, TG Plumbing, Thistle Handyman Services, Dave Bebb DB Roofing and Brian King

Favourite Class or Workshop

Clubbercise with Gilly, Freedom Performing Arts, Bounce with Georgina Sands, Emergy Fitness and Wellbeing and Judi Does Yoga

Favourite Party Provider

Painting Pots, Rascals Entertainment, Bórn of the Forest, Petite Boutique and Studio 3

Favourite New Business (last 12 months)

No Place Like Home, Number Thirteen at Silver Street, Berry’s Tavern, Claire Baxter Art Gallery and Lawai Spice

Favourite Member of Staff

Connie Li (Yorkshire Trading), Lindsey Ruthen ( Farm Dairy), Maisie Withnell (The Clothing Store), Tom Robson (Vapour Worx) and Miles Lazenby (Berry’s Tavern)

Favourite Inspirational Business

The Crystal Buddha, Painting Pots, Sid Horner and Son, Freedom Performing Arts and Greenwood solicitors

 

Business Breakfast: New B2B networking event for Ripon area

The Stray Ferret Business Club’s next meeting is a breakfast event on Thursday, 27 July at Banyan in Harrogate between 8-10am. 

The Business Club provides monthly opportunities to network, make new connections and hear local success stories. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

A new promotion and networking event is being launched in Ripon to help companies connect and trade with each other.

Moot Ripon will follow a ‘business market’ format with exhibition stands of companies showcasing what they offer. The one-day event in October is open to all businesses in the area who are looking for local B2B opportunities.

Following advice from Ripon BID, the Federation for Small Businesses (FSB) and the North Yorkshire Growth Hub (LEP), the event is being organised by Ripon-based marketing and events firm Colour It In.

Managing director Mark Lancaster said:

“The Ripon area has a wealth of companies of all sizes operating across a huge variety of sectors.

“We wanted to bring them all together to get to know each other, re-establish connections, and do business together in a traditional face-to-face environment.”

Mr Lancaster is a former president of the Harrogate District Chamber of Trade and helped launch the Harrogate Business Market in 2005. He said he created Moot Ripon after struggling to find a similar local exhibition-style event to showcase his company to other businesses in the area.

Moot Ripon takes place at Ripon Racecourse on October 2.

Businesses of all sizes are invited to exhibit or attend the event but they must be based in the Ripon, Thirsk, Northallerton, Bedale, Masham, Pateley Bridge, Boroughbridge, Knaresborough and Harrogate areas.

Exhibitor spaces start from £250, and visitor entry is free.

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The owners and founders of Crown Jewellers In Harrogate have been nominated for an award by Professional Jeweller Magazine.

Crown Jewellers on Commercial Street is one of six companies in the country to be nominated for ‘Jewellery Team of the Year’.  Steve and Sue Kramer were nominated anonymously.  The winners are decided by retailers and suppliers who will cast their votes at the end of the month. Winners will then be announced in September.

Steve Kramer said:

“This is a fantastic accolade for Sue and I, one which we were surprised and delighted by. To be nominated independently for this award by our peers is testament to our hard work and dedication over the years.

“We genuinely love working together, even after all these years, and looking after our customers too – many of whom we have known now for a very long time! In fact, we have been invited to many of their weddings which is an honour!”

As well as running Crown Jewellers, Sue Kramer is president of the Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce and plays a lead role in promoting the Commercial Street family of shops.

 

Business Breakfast: Award for Harrogate carer 

It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club!

The second in our series of networking events in association with The Coach and Horses in Harrogate is an After Work Drinks event on February 23 from 5.30pm. Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district, get your tickets now by clicking or tapping here.

Karen Crampton, a live-in carer at Carefound Home Care in Harrogate, has received the home’s PLATO award for her work with dementia sufferers.

The PLATO award is named after the company’s values – personalised, local, accountable, together and outstanding.

Karen earned the award for helping people living with dementia to live safely at home.

Carla Hainsworth, registered brand manager at Carefound Home Care, said:

“Some of the examples of [Karen] going above and beyond as a live-in carer are amazing and her efforts have directly helped prevent her clients being admitted to hospital …”

“She’s taken clients on day trips to the seaside and to see their loved ones who live further away, held tea party celebrations and even applied for a platinum wedding anniversary surprise message from the King.”

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Bill Plant Driving School wins national awards

Bill Plant Driving School, based in Ripon, has won two awards at the 2023 Intelligent Instructor Awards.

The organisation was named training provider of the year, as well as national driving school of the year at the UK-wide award-ceremony.

Bill Plant also took home the same awards in 2019 and 2020.

CEO Adam Pumfrey said:

“We are humbled to be recognised as not only the best national driving school for learner drivers, but also the best driving instructor training provider in the UK. For us, both of these awards go hand-in-hand”.

In the national driving school of the year category, Bill Plant overcame two of the biggest names in industry, Red and AA Driving School.

The company now has more than 820 instructors who have access to continuing professional development courses and a dedicated support team.

Mr Pumfrey said:

“Our driving instructor training academy, operated by a team of highly experienced trainers with a relentless focus on quality, has led to the development of a nationwide network of world-class driving instructors”.

 

Stray Ferret Business Awards: Does your business deserve the Digital Innovation award?

The Stray Ferret Business Awards 2023 are for businesses across all sectors in the Harrogate district.

Over the next few weeks we will reveal what our judging panel is looking for when it comes to each of the 10 categories.

Next up is the Digital Innovation Award, which is sponsored by ASE Computers.

This award is designed to highlight those businesses which are leading the way in the digital world.

These businesses have embraced digital and grown the business as a result.

This innovation can come in many forms, including putting your business online, developing an app or using other digital applications like social media.

Companies looking to enter for the Digital Innovation Award need to provide examples of the success your business has had with digital, including any statistical data to support.

Do you know a business that deserves to win the Digital Innovation Award at the Stray Ferret Business Awards? Entries close on January 16. It’s simple and quick, so enter today!

Click here or the banner below to enter for the Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis.

Is Harrogate ice cream van the best in the country?

Harrogate ice cream seller John Taylor is in line for another industry award.

Mr Taylor, whose van is parked outside Victoria Shopping Centre most days from March to September, is one of the most familiar faces in Harrogate.

Besides selling in Harrogate town centre, he takes his van to events across the district and to the streets of Harrogate, Ripon and Boroughbridge during summer.

He has now been named in the final three in the mobiler of the year category at the  Ice Cream Alliance‘s Ice Cream and Artisan Food Show, which will be held at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate in February.

The mobiler category recognises all aspects of running an ice cream van. Last year Mr Taylor scooped the gold award at the same event for the taste of his Mr Whippy ice cream but he thinks winning the mobiler category would top that.

Although the number of vans has decreased significantly in recent decades, Mr Taylor, who runs C and M Ices, said there were still about 3,000 to 4,000 operating and he was thrilled to be recognised in the top three by his trade association:

“This is our equivalent of the Oscars or the Premier League. It is the highest accolade you can win.”

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The three finalists will go in front of a five-person judging panel.

Harrogate born and bred Mr Taylor, whose family has been selling ice cream since 1889, said 2022 had been a better year due to the warm summer and he hoped to be back outside the Victoria Shopping Centre in spring. He added:

“The weather is our kingmaker. Whatever happens to the economy, and things like covid, if the weather is not good you can’t make a living.”

Owners of Harrogate trophy store retire after 40 years

A Harrogate couple who have run a small independent trophy store for 40 years are to retire.

Martin and Jane Newton have operated Trophies and Engravings out of their small shop on Valley Mount since the early 1980’s.

Before his career in trophy making,  Mr Newton worked for ICI at Hornbeam Park but left to set up a darts shop.

A keen dart player, he was running a number of darts leagues across the district at the time.

When he was asked to run a competition for Theakston’s Brewery and make the trophies, it marked the start of a new business that would soon take over his life for the next four decades.

Now at the age of 72, he said. it’s time to hand the business over to people younger.

“I was busy up to covid and I was worried afterwards that we wouldn’t have enough business but we’ve had queues since then and we’ve not stopped running. Once you hit 70  it is hard work.

Making trophies for the Great Yorkshire Show starts early in the year and goes onto June. We also have school presentations at that time of year and all the winter sports leagues ending, it’s manic. ”

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The trophies the Newtons have made and commissioned come in all shapes, sizes and budgets, ranging from £5 for a school award to hundreds of thousands of pounds for a bespoke trophy plated in silver or gold.

Whilst the couple have worked with local organisations such as the Army Foundation College, Harrogate Swimming Club and Yorkshire Gymnastics, they also have contracts much further afield.  Their bus awards – a gold coloured bus on a plinth- are popular in Australia and America.

Jane Newton has run the business with her husband. Even in a world now obsessed with social media, she said, there’s nothing like winning an actual physical trophy:

“People are really proud when they get their name on a trophy – they’re beaming”

The Newtons have now sold the business to Paul and Linda Shreeve who will soon be creating  moments of joy for award winners everywhere.

The Stray Ferret launches 2023 Business Awards

Does your business or workplace have a good story to tell? We’re looking to recognise the best and the brightest in the Harrogate district’s business community.

On March 9 next year, the Stray Ferret Business Awards will celebrate those businesses at a glittering black tie ceremony in the Pavilions of Harrogate and we want your entries.

The Stray Ferret Business Awards 2023, sponsored by local financial advisers Prosperis, are for businesses across all sectors in the Harrogate district including Ripon, Masham, Boroughbridge, Harrogate, Pateley Bridge and Knaresborough.

We are delighted to announce four of the region’s most influential leaders are on the Stray Ferret Business Award’s judging panel:

There are 10 award categories − from Dynamic Leader to Business Growth and Inclusivity.

It doesn’t matter if the business is large or small − the awards are to recognise excellent organisations, their leaders or unsung heroes.

It’s free to nominate and we will profile the great work of all the winners, so we would encourage you to put forward your business today.

You can see a full list of award categories on our Awards page. Entries close January 16.

In tough times we need, more than ever, to celebrate success and give individuals and teams the recognition they deserve.