{"id":5081,"date":"2015-07-28T16:31:47","date_gmt":"2015-07-28T16:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ballymenachamber.co.uk\/?p=5081"},"modified":"2015-07-28T16:37:59","modified_gmt":"2015-07-28T16:37:59","slug":"2015-ballymena-business-excellence-awards-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/?p=5081","title":{"rendered":"2015 Ballymena Business Excellence Awards Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The 2015\u00a0Ballymena\u00a0Business Excellence Awards were launched at a reception in the Braid on Tuesday 28th\u00a0July. This is the 13th\u00a0year of the awards which are organised annually by Ballymena Borough Chamber of Commerce and Industry.\u00a0Mid and East Antrim\u00a0Borough Council is the principal sponsor for this year\u2019s awards.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-5082\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BA_LAUNCH15_STORY.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"679\" height=\"479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BA_LAUNCH15_STORY.jpg 679w, https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BA_LAUNCH15_STORY-300x211.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 679px) 100vw, 679px\" \/><\/p>\n<h6>L-R: Anne Donaghy (Chief Executive Mid and East Antrim Borough Council), Cllr. Billy Ashe (Mayor), Alan Stewart (Chamber President) and Cllr. Timothy Gaston (Deputy Mayor)<\/h6>\n<p>Chamber President Alan Stewart\u00a0welcomed everyone to the reception.<\/p>\n<p>He said <em>\u201cLittle did we think that when we organised the first awards in 2003 that they would become such an important and prestigious event. Just looking around this morning, this is the largest attendance I remember at an awards launch \u2013 this demonstrates that the interest in the Business awards is stronger than ever. \u00a0These awards help to celebrate the huge contribution made by our business community. The economic environment has been very tough in the last year, and these awards show\u00a0the commitment of individuals and the business excellence that exists in the Borough.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I would like to thank Mid and East Antrim\u00a0Borough Council for agreeing to\u00a0be principal sponsor\u00a0this year.\u00a0The former Ballymena Borough Council was\u00a0always\u00a0a great supporter of both the awards and Chamber in general and\u00a0I assure you that Chamber will do everything to make this year\u2019s awards the most successful yet. I would like to thank all other businesses who have sponsored awards or taken an advertisement in the awards brochure \u2013 without your support there would be no awards.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The judging this year will again be carried out by Insight Mystery Shopping \u2013 it is entirely independent of Chamber thereby ensuring the integrity of the awards.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The\u00a0awards brochure\u00a0will be circulated throughout the Ballymena area and\u00a0I would also ask everyone here this morning to encourage your customers and business contacts to enter the awards. There are 21 awards this year so there is a category to suit everyone \u2013 large or small businesses, retail, hospitality or industrial and individual awards as well.\u00a0I look forward to the\u00a0Gala Evening on Thursday 1st\u00a0October\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Mayor of Mid and East Antrim\u00a0Borough\u00a0Council, Councillor Billy Ashe said\u00a0<em>&#8220;Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is delighted to sponsor\u00a0the Ballymena Business Awards.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We work hard with our stakeholders to ensure we maximise the potential for all the Borough and our sponsorship of the Ballymena Business Awards &#8211; and specific support for the Commitment to Ballymena Award category \u2013 recognises Ballymena Chamber of Commerce and Industry\u2019s dedication and hard work.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Awards symbolise Mid and East Antrim Borough Council\u2019s close working relationship with the Chamber and recognises the achievements of our local businesses and business people in working towards building a strong economy for the benefit of all\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-5085\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BA_LAUNCH15_STORY2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"679\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BA_LAUNCH15_STORY2.jpg 679w, https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BA_LAUNCH15_STORY2-300x188.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 679px) 100vw, 679px\" \/><\/p>\n<h6>Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council Cllr. Billy Ashe and Chamber President Alan Stewart with special guests and the sponsors at the launch of the 2015 Ballymena Business Excellence Awards<\/h6>\n<p>The Gala Awards Evening this year takes place on Thursday 1st\u00a0October in Tullyglass House Hotel. This is now a major event in the Ballymena business and social calendar, so put the date in your diary now. Gene Fitzpatrick will be the compere this year and the entertainment will be provided by the fabulous Ritchie Remo and his band. Last year over 400 guests attended the Gala Evening and this year will be another great evening.<\/p>\n<p>Awards brochures are now being distributed around the Ballymena area. If you have not yet received a brochure, you can view the brochure and download an entry form by clicking <a title=\"Awards Brochure and Entry Form \" href=\"http:\/\/www.ballymenachamber.co.uk\/?page_id=4290\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. If you have any queries, or to book your\u00a0tickets for the Gala Evening, please contact Chris Wales at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:office@ballymenachamber.co.uk\">office@ballymenachamber.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0or by telephone 07876 758797.<\/p>\n<p>Ballymena Borough Chamber of Commerce and Industry would once again like to thank our sponsors for their help in making the 2015 Ballymena Business Excellence Awards possible.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-5088\" title=\"SPONSORS\" src=\"http:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/SPONSORS.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"679\" height=\"649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/SPONSORS.jpg 679w, https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/SPONSORS-300x286.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 679px) 100vw, 679px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2015\u00a0Ballymena\u00a0Business Excellence Awards were launched at a reception in the Braid on Tuesday 28th\u00a0July. This is the 13th\u00a0year of the awards which are organised annually by Ballymena Borough Chamber of Commerce and Industry.\u00a0Mid and East Antrim\u00a0Borough Council is the principal sponsor for this year\u2019s awards. L-R: Anne Donaghy (Chief Executive Mid and East Antrim [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5081"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5081"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5093,"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5081\/revisions\/5093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ballymenachamber.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}