Community Heroes Winner Announced
31 May 2006
The winner of the Association of Convenience Stores’ (ACS) inaugural Community Heroes Awards has been announced at their annual conference, Summit 06.
The Awards, sponsored by Procter and Gamble, have been set up to recognise publicly the work that neighbourhood retailers do in their local communities.
David Rae, ACS Chief Executive, Carl Davies of Procter and Gamble and Charles Morrissey of Independent Retail News, judged the high quality entries.
The judges were looking for a retailer who could show that they and their staff have achieved something that has made a real difference within their community.
The winners of the Awards and the £1000 prize were Martin and Jillian Smyth, who have owned their SPAR store in Belfast for the past two years. The Smyth’s version of customer care extended far beyond their store and this was recognised by the judging panel. They organised Clarawood in Bloom, ran a “Check up at the Checkouts” day to focus on healthy eating, cooked free Christmas dinner for the local pensioners, and brought a youth club back into the community. In all of this work, the store worked with other local groups and showed itself to be an integral part of the community. All of the initiatives are run annually, ensuring the lasting impact of the Smyth’s community spirit.
ACS’ Community Heroes Awards winner Jillian Smyth said: “I was completely shocked to win the award and absolutely thrilled. At our store we put a lot back in to the community with our events so to win an award which recognises this is really special. We plan to put the prize money towards our next community fun day on the 1st July.”
The two other finalists, who won free places at ACS’ gala dinner and Summit 06, were Nigel Dowdney, an independent retailer from Stalham, Norfolk, and Jonathan James, a Budgens retailer from Soham, Cambridgeshire.
David Rae, ACS Chief Executive said: “This is our first ever Community Heroes Awards and the standard of entries has been incredibly high. We set up the Awards to acknowledge and reward the fantastic work that local retailers do in their communities and all three finalists are excellent examples of this.”
The Awards, sponsored by Procter and Gamble, have been set up to recognise publicly the work that neighbourhood retailers do in their local communities.
David Rae, ACS Chief Executive, Carl Davies of Procter and Gamble and Charles Morrissey of Independent Retail News, judged the high quality entries.
The judges were looking for a retailer who could show that they and their staff have achieved something that has made a real difference within their community.
The winners of the Awards and the £1000 prize were Martin and Jillian Smyth, who have owned their SPAR store in Belfast for the past two years. The Smyth’s version of customer care extended far beyond their store and this was recognised by the judging panel. They organised Clarawood in Bloom, ran a “Check up at the Checkouts” day to focus on healthy eating, cooked free Christmas dinner for the local pensioners, and brought a youth club back into the community. In all of this work, the store worked with other local groups and showed itself to be an integral part of the community. All of the initiatives are run annually, ensuring the lasting impact of the Smyth’s community spirit.
ACS’ Community Heroes Awards winner Jillian Smyth said: “I was completely shocked to win the award and absolutely thrilled. At our store we put a lot back in to the community with our events so to win an award which recognises this is really special. We plan to put the prize money towards our next community fun day on the 1st July.”
The two other finalists, who won free places at ACS’ gala dinner and Summit 06, were Nigel Dowdney, an independent retailer from Stalham, Norfolk, and Jonathan James, a Budgens retailer from Soham, Cambridgeshire.
David Rae, ACS Chief Executive said: “This is our first ever Community Heroes Awards and the standard of entries has been incredibly high. We set up the Awards to acknowledge and reward the fantastic work that local retailers do in their communities and all three finalists are excellent examples of this.”