| Winners 2005 (continued) |
Category 7:
Community Award
In association with East of England Development Agency
Winner: North Norfolk Railway
Runners-up: Dinosaur Adventure Park, Mundesley Visitor
and Advice Centre; Wells Carnival 2005
 |
Pat Holtom, board member of EEDA, with Chrissie Rayment, North Norfolk Railway commercial manager. |
One of Norfolk’s best known tourist attractions
was the winner of the Community Award.
The North Norfolk Railway runs steam trains along the Poppy Line
between Holt and Sheringham.
Almost all the staff are volunteers who give up their time to drive
the engines or man the ticket office. It’s a big operation
keeping a railway up and running.
Colin Borg, marketing manager of North Norfolk Railway, said: “We
see ourselves very much as part of the community, as the railway
always was for 80 years. This award recognises that, and the part
played in our operation by our local volunteers.
“About 95pc of our workforce are volunteers but we could always
do with more because we are always getting bigger and bigger with
more things planned.
“The service is very popular with children, but this year
the trend has been for more adults to enjoy the service.
“This award is fantastic and it is something for the volunteers
to give something back to them.”
Category 8:
The Sustainable Tourism Award
In association with Kelling Heath Holiday Park
Winner: Pensthorpe Conservation Trust
Runners-up: Brecks Sustainable Tourism Project; Deepdale Farms,
Burnham Deepdale
 |
Mark Durrant, Kelling Heath park manager, with Mark Noble, marketing and communication co-ordinator, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust. |
The Pensthorpe Conservation Trust was the winner of
the Sustainable Tourism Award.
The 500-acre wildfowl and wetland reserve was praised by judges
for its “proactive management which listens to guests and
absorbs their comments”.
Pensthorpe’s care for endangered species and unusual features,
such as filtering water through reed beds, were also singled out
as examples of real excellence.
Mark Noble, marketing and communication co-ordinator for Pensthorpe,
said: “This award will take pride of place in our display
cabinet.
“Winning this award helps recognise the hard work and vision
of the owners Bill and Deb Jordan and the staff at Pensthorpe.
“We are striving to combine nature and conservation for the
benefit of our visitors but also as custodians of the rich and diverse
Wensum Valley. We are working hard to make Pensthorpe accessible
for all to enjoy the park, farmland and gardens.”
Category 9:
Rising Star Award
In association with NatWest Commercial Banking
Winner: Delia’s Canary Catering
Workshops
Runners-up: Collectors World, Downham Market; Norfolkbroads.com
Ltd
 |
Andrew Moss, NatWest Business Development director, with Steve Smith, catering operations manager, Delia’s Canary Catering Workshops. |
Catering has become a real success story at Norwich
City Football Club, and the winner of the Rising Star Award was
Delia’s Canary Catering Workshops.
The workshops attract people from all over the country, offering
participants the chance to learn how to cook a wide variety of dishes
in a fun and relaxed environment.
Judges were impressed with the success the workshops were having
in attracting people from a wide area and acting as an ambassador
for Norfolk.
They also felt the workshops provided an excellent use of facilities,
and were delivered with real energy and enthusiasm.
Steve Smith, catering operations manager for Delia’s Canary
Catering Workshops, said: “The catering side of the business
is something that has grown over the past few years.
“It will be great to go back to the football club with an
award which is not football related! I think when we phone Delia
to tell her she is a rising star, it will take a few years off her.”
Category 10:
Education and Training Award
In association with OTW Imaging
Winner: City College Norwich
Banham Zoo, Great Yarmouth College Boat Building
 |
Darren Marsh, managing director OTW Imaging, with Andrew Chappell, City College Norwich Hotel School programme manager. |
Norwich City College’s commitment to involve
young people in the tourism industry saw it win the Education and
Training Award.
Judges were impressed with the college’s long standing history
of supplying quality staff for the tourism industry.
They praised the college’s approach which gave students a
chance to see the hospitality industry for themselves.
Mick Cooper, the head of the college’s hotel school, said:
“We are very proud to receive this inaugural award. It is
a very pleasing recognition of the quality of our work in training
people for employment at all levels in the industry.
“As a Centre of Vocational Excellence in Hospitality and Catering,
we work in close partnership with local employers to meet the current
and future skills needs of the sector. The Mentorship Programme
is one of the initiatives we have pioneered through the CoVE which
links groups of students with leading local employers such as the
Marriott Sprowston Manor Hotel, The Travel Centre and The Forum.
We believe there is nothing else like this scheme in the country
– it gives employers an involvement in the curriculum and
it greatly enhances the learning experience of our students.”
Category 11:
Best Water-based Tourism Experience Award
In association with Lings Honda – marine department
Winner: Beans Boats
Runners-up: King Line, Horning; Searles Seatours,
Hunstanton
 |
Neil Wragg, dealer principal, Lings Honda, with Graham Bean, joint owner of Beans Boats. |
Family-owned Beans Boats was the winner of the Best
Water-based Tourism Experience Award.
The business has been taking generations of holiday makers on boat
trips all year round from Morston Quay to see the seals at Blakeney
Point.
Beans was praised for providing a very personalised service which
enables visitors to get close to nature. It was described as offering
a traditional Norfolk experience.
Graham Bean said: “We are only a small family business, just
a family concern. We thoroughly enjoy people coming on our trips.
We give people the chance to see nature in the wild and get close
to the seals.
“It shows people just what we have here in Norfolk, trying
to show nature and its beauty and what would happen if the planet
was destroyed. What we have in Norfolk is something special.
“It gives us tremendous pride and satisfaction that our efforts
to provide an enjoyable and educational boat trip have been recognised
as one of Norfolk’s quality tourist attractions.”
Category 12:
Outstanding Contribution to Tourism Award
In association with Signs Express
Winner: Brian Potter
– Potters Leisure Resort
Runners-up: Lloyd Addison, North Norfolk
Railway, The Thursford Collection
 |
Ken Venables, Signs Express Norwich manager with Brian Potter. |
There were loud cheers when the winner of the Outstanding
Contribution to Tourism Award was announced.
Brian Potter, chairman of Potters Leisure Resort at Hopton, has
spent more than 50 years at the helm of one of the region’s
best known leisure resorts.
Potters, which is now the only family-owned resort of its type in
the country, attracts visitors from all over the country all year
round.
Home of the World Bowls tournament, it boasts an impressive range
of facilities including state-of-the art bowling facilities, a theatre,
leisure centre and swimming pool, ten pin bowling alley, bars and
restaurants.
It also has its own hotel – helping lift the old image of
holiday camps.
Mr Potter was praised for his lifelong commitment to the tourist
industry and in putting Norfolk on the tourism map, with Potters
Resort providing a role model for the industry.
Mr Potter said: “Winning this award is a huge honour for me,
and in turn to my wife Judy and family who have supported me throughout.
I am particularly proud to have been considered as these awards
are uniquely Norfolk and therefore represent a vote of recognition
from one’s direct peers in our Norfolk tourism industry.
“It would be amiss of me not to thank all those who have worked
with me over the near half century I have enjoyed at the sharp end,
and also to recognise the hundreds of thousands of regular guests
who have supported us through the years as we continually reinvested
and re-invented the Potters Leisure Resort product to meet their
ever demanding desires.”
All pictures copyright Photo Graphics.
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