POOL & SPA INDUSTRY

An Awards With A Difference Determined to acknowledge the quality installations from across the industry, BISHTA and SPATA produced a digital British Pool & Hot Tub Awards with great success!

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n Tuesday 2 February, during SPATEX Virtual, the British Pool & Hot Tub Awards took place as an online event for the ‘first time’ since the SPATA Awards began in 1978. With 29 categories to be contested, this year’s winning and highly commended entries demonstrated the breadth of talent and commitment to quality and service in the industry, even when faced with the restrictions of a pandemic! BISHTA and SPATA were delighted to welcome online their special guest of honour, Danielle Brown MBE, to present the top

industry awards. Gina Mellotte was also welcomed as this year’s awards compere. The online awards ceremony was opened by Chris Hayes (BISHTA / SPATA Managing Director), and it began with the re-presentation of the ISPE Awards 2020 by Phil Barlow, the ISPE President. BISHTA and SPATA have been very grateful to Phil Barlow, Jamie Smith (BSPF President), Pete Grinnall (BISHTA Chairman) and Richard Carrington (SPATA Chairman) for their muchvalued support in announcing their respective awards. Thanks are warmly offered to all of the 2021 British Pool & Hot Tub sponsors –

without their support, the awards ceremony would not have been possible! All winners received a personalised press release and local press distribution, digital awards badges, digital awards email/web banners and their framed certificates and trophies (where applicable). A number of them can be seen on this page celebrating their wins in a safe environment. If you could not join BISHTA and SPATA for the presentation ceremony, it is still available to view on the BISHTA and SPATA YouTube channel or from the website homepages www.bishta.co.uk / www.spata.co.uk.

Danielle Brown MBE: Why I’ve Signed Up For A World Record Attempt It began with a new follower on Instagram. @claw_global stumbled across my account, so I fired off a quick message to introduce myself. Within minutes they got back to me, and it became clear that we had similar beliefs around sport’s potential to inspire change. Over lunch, I found myself speaking to the team, and by the end of the call, I had signed myself up for a World Record attempt. I will be part of the largest team of disabled people to scuba dive in the open sea. I’ve never been scuba diving in my life, so this is a big step out of my comfort zone. So why did I decide to team up with CLAW? Sport is a powerful vehicle for change, and the world badly needs changing. Disability is still one of the most marginalised populations in the world. Barriers touch all aspects of disabled people’s lives, which are propped

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up by grossly outdated stereotypes and misunderstanding. All that truly matters is ability – what a person can do – but the sad reality is that this often gets overlooked. Instead, people focus on the wrong thing, judging disabled people by what they can’t do. Without changing our attitudes towards and understanding of disability, we cannot hope to challenge the stigma, prejudice and isolation that still exists in the world. The World Record attempt is just a start, one piece in a complex jigsaw. It is a catalyst for change, a chance to see disability as it truly is. It’s a tough time to set a challenge like this – learning how to dive and finding sponsorship in the middle of a pandemic is hard. I’m excited, and nervous, and determined to see it through. To find out more visit: www.daniellebrown.co.uk

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