Bigsmiles as E&S awards boosttheatre

JOHN CORSER

Business Editor

TheExpress &Star Business Awards once againprovedabig hit with both winnersand thosewho missed outon taking home aprize.

Theawards, attended by 320 smiling guests,wereheldinthe EBCTechnologySuite at WolverhamptonRacecourse wherecomedian AaronJames wasthe host for thesecondyearinarow

Theevening raisedmorethan £2,350 forthe Wolverhampton GrandTheatre charity.

Director Adrian Jacksonsaidthe theatre,which celebrates 130years in 2024,did alot ofworkinthe community andineducating young peopleabout theatre,including school visits andperformances. He said thetheatre also hadanimportant Memory Cafe whichworks with people sufferingfromdementia.

Part of thefundraising funinvolved aPlayYourCards Right competitionfor everyone whomade adonationonthe night

Neil Richardson from voestalpine Metsectookhome the£150prize

The2023BusinessPersonofthe Year wasRob GittinsofPalletwaysUK.

Themanagingdirectorofthe palletisedfreight delivery networkreceived theaward from Paul Faulkner of category sponsors Richardson

Judges were unanimous that Mr Gittinsshouldbethe winner

They said that he hadapositiveinfluenceona largeworkforce andwas equallycomfortable on theshopfloor andinthe boardroom.

Mr Gittinssaidhewas “humbled”to have wonand that theaward wasfor allthe people whoworkedfor himat Palletways UK

Thebusinesshas itsheadquartersat

FradleyDistributionPark, near Lichfield.

Palletways has850 people working in theUK. Thewider Palletways group hasits headquarters in Switzerland andapresencein 19 countries.

“Thisaward is alldowntothe people whoworkfor me.Itisreallytheir award–not mine,” said Mr Gittins, whobecamemanagingdirectorin 2017.Heled thecompany throughthe pandemic andhas seen Palletways UK achieverecordyears forbothvolume andrevenue in 2021 and2022.

Mr Gittinshas hand-pickeda strong senior management team andworks closely with thewider team.