Spotlight Archive
Southport Ambassador Awards 2007
Southport's annual Ambassador Awards welcomed more than 300 attendees to its Oscar-themed Night at the Ammies which took place at the Southport Theatre & Floral Hall, on Wednesday, April 25th.
The Ammies aim to recognise and reward those in the tourism, hospitality, leisure and retail sectors who work hard to give exceptional service to the public. Guests included Sefton's Mayor and Mayoress, Cllr Tommy Mann and Mrs Jean Lilley, Cabinet Member for Tourism, Lord Ronnie Fearn and Lady Fearn, Sefton's Tourism Director, Tony Corfield and Mrs Jill Corfield, Mersey Partnership Tourism Director, Martin King. The chairman of the Mersey Partnership Tourism Board David Wade-Smith gave the keynote address.
Pupils from the David Bullen School of Dance and Drama acting as paparazzi outside the theatre, greeting arrivals whose entrance was later on shown on a video link. Students from the Hospitality and Professional Food Studies course at Southport College made a considerable contribution to the evening designing and creating the menus, dressing in Oscar-themed costumes and assisting during the awards ceremony. Laurel and Hardy lookalikes Gary Slade and Rob Graham entertained guests before and during dinner.
Raffle tickets were also sold before and during the meal by the representatives of the Ammies-nominated charity, the Southport Off-shore Rescue Trust.
Mikel Bate, from Southport's Tourist Information Centre, emerged as The Winner of Winners on the night and he will now represent the town at the Merseyside Tourism Awards. He will also have the choice of furthering his development by attending one the seven Welcome to Excellence Courses.
Darren Pye from The Royal Birkdale Golf Club was Runner-up Apprentice of the Year. Darren has worked at the golf club for four years. starting as a kitchen porter and progressing to a commis chef. He completed an Apprenticeship in Food Preparation and Cooking level 2 with The Vocational College whilst working at the club. As a result he was promoted to Chef d'Parte and is now working towards his Advanced Apprenticeship in Professional Cookery level 3 with The Vocational College.
Darren was nominated for Trainee/Apprentice of the Year by his manager Julie Sutton. Congratulations go to Darren, Julie and his assessor Lisa (all pictured below). Congratulations go also to the overall winner, Mikel Bate.
A development Day is also planned in June for all of the winners of a Capital of Culture experience.
