Team of the Year
Category criteria
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This category is open to teams of employees working within any sector and within any size of business.
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The team could form a department with a business or, within smaller organisations, perhaps the entire workforce could be classed as the team.
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The team will have proven success in encouraging one another’s strengths and leveraging these to achieve results.
ChattyDuck Creative
Team of the Year entrant
A Stoke-on-Trent creative agency has given more than 600 hours of free-of-charge services to local charities and non-profits – equivalent to more than £50,000 of work at its standard hourly rate.
ChattyDuck Creative, based in Fenton, has a team of four staff working across writing, multimedia content creation and quality assurance.
Since the business was founded in 2021 it has donated more than £2,300 to local causes, representing more than 4.5% of its post-tax profits for FY 2021/22 and FY 2022/23.
It works with clients in sectors including real estate and construction, manufacturing and industrial, automotive, logistics, energy and utilities, infrastructure, technology, travel and tourism, education and R&D, charities, non-profits and government.
Set up by Managing Director James Morgan, the company works with clients across the UK as well as in Europe and the Middle East.
James said: “Our modest size makes it easy to ensure we champion charities and non-profits that are close to our employees’ hearts, with each team member having a say in the causes we support.”
ChattyDuck is accredited by the Living Wage Foundation and is committed to having a healthy work environment.
All members of staff receive 30 days of paid annual leave plus the period between December 23 and January 2, no one other than the MD has access to work emails on their mobile phone and everyone is told to not work other than during their allotted work hours.
James added: “We understand that work-related stress is not only preventable, but also an organisational issue as well as a personal one.
“We appreciate that operating in a high-pressure, client-centric industry with exacting standards and tight deadlines can have a detrimental impact on employees’ mental wellbeing if not managed effectively.
“To this end, ChattyDuck has implemented a stress evaluation and mitigation tool that identified a series of mental health-related risk factors based on team members’ responses to an in-depth questionnaire. We then developed an Employee Wellbeing Policy designed to mitigate these factors and ensure a healthy work environment for everyone at ChattyDuck.”
ChattyDuck Creative has entered the Team of the Year and Business in the Community categories of the Staffordshire University Business Awards.
Hewitt&Carr
Team of the Year entrant
A Staffordshire-based group which encompasses three separate businesses is celebrating the best year yet for each of them – breaking through the £1 million turnover mark with plans to double it over the next three years.
The Hewitt&Carr Group, based in Cheadle, encompasses Hewitt&Carr Architects, Hewitt&Carr Services and Hewitt&Carr Developments.
Across the group turnover has increased by more than 60%, Architects has increased by 53%, Services by 93% and Developments by 44%.
Staff numbers have grown from 12 in 2021 to 23 now with two new team members due to start soon and plans to recruit further this year.
Success has been achieved in a number of ways including expanding the Services arm of the business which has taken on more staff. This has enabled the creation of an enhanced offering to clients, delivering on a larger scale and increasing its client base.
The Architects arm of the business, founded in 2011, has celebrated some huge client wins over the last 12 months and is currently working on commercial projects for GivEnergy, Broxap, the Wrights Food Group as well as on student accommodation in the city.
2023’s bumper figures and client wins come as Hewitt&Carr Developments celebrates DaisyBank’s sixth birthday. The serviced office accommodation was set up to provide a social lifeline and communal base for rural enterprises in the area.
The first of its kind in the Staffordshire Moorlands its currently home to 12 units, with plans underway to attract more businesses as well as offering hot-desking facilities.
This year the Group has also moved into other areas with virtual offices in Wilmslow, Matlock, Nantwich and Whitchurch to expand their client base into Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire.
Having broken through the £1 million turnover milestone across the group in 2023, the main focus will be to double turnover to £2 million by 2027.
Natalie said: “It was fantastic to see the growth across each of our businesses last year. The figures for the Services arm of the Group were phenomenal and we are in a very strong position to exceed these results this year and hit all our targets to continue our sustained growth.
“Our Group performance is something that as a team we are all incredibly proud of. To reward them and celebrate our results, each of the team has been given an extra day’s annual leave to do with what they want. We do what we do because of the people we work with and the people we work for, and our biggest mantra is that we are all about teamwork.”
Fellow Director Mark Carr added: “We’ve got to where we are with strong leadership, hard work and sheer grit and determination. We pride ourselves on the level and quality of service we deliver and want to make our clients’ lives easier, but we couldn’t do it without the fantastic team we have, and I want to thank them for all their support. We’re already looking ahead and planning beyond 2024.”
Hewitt&Carr has entered the Small Business of the Year and Team of the Year categories of the Staffordshire University Business Awards.
Mitchell Arts Centre
Team of the Year entrant
Nearly 70 years after it opened as a tribute to the designer of the Spitfire, The Mitchell Arts Centre continues to be a hub of the community and to support and entertain thousands of people.
The Stoke-on-Trent city centre venue is home to a theatre auditorium, dance studio and café plus various spaces it offers for corporate hire.
Education and community outreach play a key role. MAC Education was launched in September 2022 and in its first year supported 528 families with accessible arts and committed 1,270 hours to education.
In 2023 the centre partnered with the Hubb Foundation to provide 240 free workshops across the year for children receiving free school meals.
Other key programmes have included the cultural project You Are Here and the creation of a Youth Board.
In 2024 MAC Education is doubling its public workshops in half term and working hard behind the scenes applying for funding to provide more opportunities for the community.
Mitchell Arts Centre Education Officer Caroline Sherratt said: “Our strengths blossom from the legacy of the venue. The venue was paid for by public money in 1957 and the community spirit has continued to shine through ever since.
“The venue is used by local amateur dramatics groups, community groups and children’s theatre groups and within these connections we have made strong relationships which helps the venue stand tall in Stoke-on-Trent.”
The Mitchell Arts Centre has entered the Small Business of the Year, Team of the Year, Growth, Skills For the Future and Business in the Community categories of the Staffordshire University Business Awards.
Art UK
Team of the Year entrant
Art UK’s 33 staff and 150 volunteers are scattered around the UK but their collective impact is vast – including more than five million people visiting the charity’s website over the past 12 months.
Based in Stoke-on-Trent, Art UK’s mission is to connect anyone anywhere with the nation’s art – from schoolchildren to scholars and from teachers to tourists.
It provides a vital service to 3,500 UK art collections, ensuring they have a chance to engage digital audiences with their artworks. Over the last 12 months Art UK has developed a new Art UK Shop platform to help collections generate critical revenue, launched an education programme that will transform young lives and begun planning to add millions of object records to its site as its Museum Data Service gets underway.
Meanwhile Art UK’s staff continue their day-to-day work of adding artworks to the database, publishing fascinating stories, solving art mysteries and engaging with a wide range of people and communities.
With a distributed workforce and volunteer network, maintaining support, communication, transparency and wellbeing are key. Art UK policies help its team achieve a work-life balance and ensure they feel valued, through regular 1-2-1s and annual work reviews, wellbeing surveys and opportunities for flexible working.
It runs a variety of initiatives and activities to unite the team so they don’t feel isolated working from home. An internal newsletter, State of the Art, provides news about the achievements of staff and volunteers and highlights the work that different departments have been doing.
In its most recent annual staff survey 100% of Art UK employees agreed that the organisation treats all employees fairly regardless of ethnic background, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age, and 97% said they are proud to be associated with Art UK. 100% said they know how their work contributes to the organisation’s objectives and 100% agreed that they are trusted to do their job.
Katey Goodwin, Deputy Director of Art UK, has nominated the organisation’s employees and volunteers in the Team of the Year category of the Staffordshire University Business Awards.
She said: “Although we don’t see each other in person every day our shared values and goals, and our collaborative working practices, mean that a small, distributed team can achieve a lot.”
The Hearing Centres
Team of the Year entrant
A business launched during the pandemic has grown to have 16 members of staff, a projected £1.6 million annual turnover and bases around the region.
The Hearing Centres was started by audiologist Clare Kewney in January 2021 with a premises in Bollington, Cheshire. By June the same year she had opened a centre in Leek and a year later expanded into Biddulph.
In April 2023 Clare merged the business with another local home visit hearing care provider and has gone on to open three more hearing care practices with another two planned for this year.
“We are passionate about ensuring people remain able to communicate with loved ones and involved in the community, helping to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia due to lack of social stimulation and activity,” said Clare.
“Our team are friendly and knowledgeable. They care about our patients and will go above and beyond to help and assist.
“We aim to deliver the very highest standards of service, care and expertise to our patients. Primarily we love to solve our patients’ hearing problems and to see their quality of life transformed.
“Above all we will listen to their concerns, explore treatment options and support them through every step of their hearing recovery.”
Services offered by The Hearing Centres include wax removal, hearing screening tests, full hearing assessments with speech audiometry, tympanometry, tinnitus assessments, hearing protection and hearing aid triage.
As the business is independent it has a full portfolio of hearing aids available to best suit the patient’s lifestyle, hearing and budget, all of which come with full after care service for the life of the hearing instruments.
Clare added: “Not only is there business growth but also within that we love to offer and support personal growth. An example of this is the first member of staff who was originally employed as a receptionist, then went on to train as a Hearing Care Assistant and then Wax Removal Specialist and is now Group Practice Manager.”
Clare has entered The Hearing Centres into the Small Business of the Year, Growth Award and Team of the Year categories of the Staffordshire University Business Awards.
Ten Count Boxing Gym
Team of the Year nominee
Ten Count aims to use exercise and boxing to improve the self-esteem, confidence and health of children and adults.
It organises free or subsidised family day trips and offers nutritional and wellbeing advice alongside fun fitness classes.
There is a youth group, rehab sessions for the elderly and the owners have plans for a soft play area, a music studio, a warm room for pensioners and a library area for people to study.
Ten Count Boxing Gym has been nominated in the Business in the Community category of the Staffordshire University Business Awards by Laura Bailey who runs a youth group from the gym. She has also nominated the seven members of staff in the Team of the Year category.
She said: “The success of the gym at serving its community rests on the fantastic team who work tirelessly both behind the scenes and within the gym to create an inclusive and vibrant environment where children, teens and adults come and thrive.
“Some of the young amateur boxers are now becoming increasingly involved in other gym projects as volunteers and sessional staff, building on the strength that lies within such as Bradley who young people from the youth group actively recruited to join their activities.
“Max has a busy schedule of coaching young people during the daytime who come from specialist education providers and youth offending team referrals and also within schools across the city as a diversionary extracurricular activity.
“Lee selflessly volunteers his time and specialises in teaching children and young people with a broad range of disabilitie, in his BoxSEN classes which see 16 children enjoy adapted boxing sessions weekly to meet their abilities and enhance their physical and emotional wellbeing.
“Ultimately Ten Count’s team comprises of individuals all with a shared goal of supporting people’s wellbeing and development and to be a part of that is so rewarding and motivational.”
Max Maxwell said: “When people think of gyms they think it’s for a particular type of person but it isn’t. I try to make people feel comfortable and to take away any barriers.
“We’re affordable for everyone and I want to bring in children’s soft play for just £1 or £2 so that it’s easier for parents to exercise.”
PCT Coaching
Team of the Year entrant
A football coaching company that began as a one-man-band in 2017 has grown to have 16 employees, including a current professional footballer.
PCT Coaching was set up by former Army mechanic Martyn Irvine in 2017 after an aspiring player asked him to help with training ahead of trials with football clubs.
The business now has Stoke-on-Trent’s largest indoor, private training facility at its base in Longton.
Its team of 16 coaches, including a current Oldham Athletic player, deliver tailored sessions to more than 200 children each week. PCT is also home to six junior football teams.
“If you’d told me my career would be coaching football I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Martyn, who served in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers for 12 years.
“I began by helping one person, coaching them in a park, and then more and more people asked me to help them.
“We support and love every single person that comes through the doors. Most of them are children. They’re not footballers, they’re young people who want to be footballers. We want to help them to be young people who can go out into society and be the best they can be.”
After starting off using a park for training, in 2021 PCT moved into part of the former ceramic factory at Sylvan Works in Longton so that training could continue regardless of the weather.
Martyn’s team of coaches support individuals in developing their social, physical, technical and psychological traits within the world of football.
They often work with children who have been turned down by football teams. So far 62 children have been placed into football teams after being told they weren’t good enough elsewhere and are now thriving under the guidance of the team of coaching experts at PCT.
Martyn added: “We just want to help as many people as we can. The biggest thing for us is that we’ve got experts who have played and coached at a high level or who are still involved in playing football professionally.”
PCT Coaching has entered the Small Business of the Year and Team of the Year categories of the Staffordshire University Business Awards.
Affordable Food Stoke
Team of the Year entrant
Affordable Food Stoke used surplus food to provide the equivalent of 157,687 meals in Stoke-on-Trent last year – but it can only continue this work because of its team of 31 volunteers.
Set up in 2016 by Staffordshire University alumni Duane Barrett and wife Nikki Barrett, the registered charity works to reduce food waste and support communities through initiatives including emergency food parcels and a ‘free food section’ where people take what they need.
Just 12 days into January and Affordable Food had already provided enough free food for 1,136 people.
“It has never been this busy so early in January,” said Duane.
Affordable Food Stoke won two accolades at the 2023 Staffordshire University Business Awards – Team of the Year and Business in the Community (Charity). It has entered Team of the Year in the 2024 awards.
Duane said: “Since the last awards ceremony we have actually taken on more volunteers to offset the demand. We have recruited two more drivers, one more kitchen staff and three lounge buddies.
“The first two positions are self-explanatory but the lounge buddy is a role we created to support our community lounge on a Tuesday and Wednesday. We offer free tea, coffee, toast and cereal as part of our lounges and to co-exist with this we recruited volunteers to just float around and sit with people. Maybe it’s their first time in? Maybe they are lonely? Maybe they are suffering with their mental health? Whatever the reason we make sure everyone is not alone when they come in. People aren’t numbers and we want everyone to feel valued and important…because they are.”
Affordable Food Stoke’s 31 volunteers work across all of the services the charity offers. Duane and Nikki offer them ongoing training and support including team building away days and a work Christmas party.
Duane added: “Our volunteers and our team are everything. They are our heartbeat and their passion and character enables everything we do to happen. It all flows through them.
“One of our core goals when we formed Affordable Food Stoke was to engage with the local community and to create positive relationships. All of our volunteers are (or were) beneficiaries of one or more of our services which just shows how important the community is to the services we provide.”