Ballymena businesses were out in force on 20th October at the Gala evening in Tullyglass House Hotel to celebrate the 14^th Ballymena Business Excellence awards. The awards are organised annually by Ballymena Borough Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the principal sponsor this year was Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

Cllr Audrey Wales MBE (Mayor of Mid & East Antrim) and Ronan McCann (President of the Ballymena Borough Chamber of Commerce & Industry) with their partners and special guests at the Ballymena Business Excellence Awards 2016 in the Tullyglass Hotel. Back row, L-R, Raymond Glass, William Caulfield (Master of Ceremonies), Ronan McCann, Chris Wales, Rev Andrew Campbell (Mayor’s Chaplain). Front, L-R, Niamh McCann, Anne Donaghy (Mid & East Antrim Chief Executive), Cllr Audrey Wales MBE, Allison Campbell.

William Caulfield was the Master of Ceremonies for the evening and his first duty was to invite Chamber President Ronan McCann to speak.

Ronan said “On behalf of Ballymena Borough Chamber of Commerce and Industry, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all here tonight to celebrate our 14^th Ballymena Business Excellence Awards. The fact that there are almost 450 people present here this evening clearly illustrates the high esteem in which the local business community hold this event. 

Tonight is about celebrating the success of the Ballymena Business Community and focusing on the huge contribution made by local Businesses and to highlight the commitment made by individuals. As a Chamber we see this as an excellent event to promote Ballymena to the rest of Northern Ireland as a great place to live, work and do business. 

I would like to thank all our sponsors, especially our principal sponsor Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. Chamber has had an excellent working relationship with the Council in recent years and we look forward to building on that relationship in the future. To our individual category sponsors, many of whom return year on year to support the awards, we really are grateful for your support”.

Mayor Audrey Wales MBE said that she was delighted to represent Mid and East Antrim Borough Council at such a prestigious event. She said “Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is proud to be the main sponsor of the Business Awards and I am delighted that our Chief Executive, Anne Donaghy is also with us this evening.  

I can assure you your Council is fully committed to creating the environment that commerce can operate in.  We recognize the significant benefits commerce brings to an area and as a Council, we lead the way in working in partnership with local businesses to bring mutual benefits to our Borough.

Council are taking a very proactive approach to our local economy. Many of you will have been involved in inputting to our Economic Development Strategy, currently being developed and due for launch early 2017.  It is important to us as a Council that our Strategy is relevant, meaningful and has buy in from the commercial sector. 

We in Mid and East Antrim are setting the bar high and it is right that we do. We are building on our team to ensure that support for business is delivered at the right level, at the right time, with the right targeted outputs. We are committed to our business partners and our aim is to see Mid & East Antrim flourish, for jobs, investment and growth of our commercial sector.

I congratulate Chamber on their organisation of the business awards and as far as I am concerned every finalist here this evening is already a winner. I hope you all have an enjoyable evening”.

Chamber would like to thank Tullyglass House Hotel for their excellent food and service. The highlight of the evening of course was the presentation of the awards and the atmosphere was electric. The evening was rounded off with entertainment and dancing to the Big Kahuna.

During the evening a raffle was held with the proceeds going to the NI Hospice. Chamber would like to thank the following businesses for donating prizes for the raffle:

Ballymena BID

Bank of Ireland

Galgorm Castle Golf Club

Galgorm Resort and Spa

Go Sun Restaurant

K & G McAtamney Butcher & Deli (Greenvale Street)

Michelin Tyre PLC

Tullyglass House Hotel

Chamber is delighted that in excess of £3000 was raised for the Hospice and thank everyone for their generosity.