TD Williams and Bespoke Kitchens overcom the odds to reach the grand final of Remploy's Leading the Way Awards
17th October 2007
Bespoke Kitchens, Swansea: Anthony Jones and Fiona Butcher
T D Williams, Ammanford: Sheila Williams and husband Tommy WilliamsRemploy, the country’s leading provider of employment services for disabled people, launched this year’s awards back in January and hundreds of entries soon flooded in.
The awards, run this year in association with The Times, recognise outstanding employers and individuals who have made significant efforts to actively encourage diversity within their organisations and both TD Williams and Bespoke Kitchens both overcame the first obstacle by making it onto an early shortlist.
Six regional finals were then held around the country and Bespoke Kitchens was judged best small organisation in Wales and TD Williams was judged best medium organisation in Wales.
They were presented with their regional awards and thus joined the elite and qualified for the national Leading the Way final at the Victoria Plaza hotel in London (on October 15).
Entrepreneur and former Dragon’s Den TV show “dragon” Richard Farleigh was on hand to present the awards but both TD Williams and Bespoke Kitchens narrowly missed out in the final round of judging and was pipped to the post in the race for the national title.
Richard congratulated everyone who had reached the final and said that it made business sense for companies to be inclusive and a caring working environment generated respect.
He added: “We should be looking at all angles to get the right people. It is the mark of a good business that it is able to do that.”
Awards were also presented at the ceremony to the winning Large (1,000+) organisations as well as for Learning, an award sponsored by the Learning and Skills Council, for Retention, for Innovation and to both the outstanding Jobcentre Plus and Business individuals of the year.
Remploy chief executive Bob Warner told the audience at the awards: “It is always a privilege to applaud those businesses and individuals that go the extra mile in the employment of disabled people.
“Thanks to the example that many of you in this room have set, more employers are understanding the benefits of employing disabled people and helping to create a level playing field for disabled job seekers.”
