After spending a day in Blackpool this weekend, I was thinking about the EVA awards later this month. As I was passing time while my daughter and her friend were thrill-seeking at the Pleasure Beach, I went for a mooch about. I love the way Blackpool has embraced its vaudeville heritage and spent ages reading all the comedy quotes on the prom in front of the tower. This is a place to have fun and be entertained and it’s still got it!
For all Blackpool is faded, there is definitely grandeur! The architecture is stunning, these buildings still have “good bones” just waiting for some TLC. The glory days may still return and locating the EVA awards at the Winter Gardens Empress Ballroom is one way of supporting this old dame of the seaside towns. Just like Strictly and the Tower Ballroom, the EVAs are synonymous with the Winter Gardens. The Empress Ballroom opened in 1896 and is a beautiful example of the period. Built by architects Mangnall & Littlewood, with plasterwork by J. M. Boekbinder, with a floor area of 12,500 sq. ft., made it one of the largest ballrooms in the world. I was glad to read last month that funds have been allocated to improve the exterior of the Winter Gardens and surrounding shop fronts which will really give it the façade it deserves. There is no better setting for a sparkling, glamorous evening and we can’t wait to be there!
Outside London, the EVAS are now the largest business awards dedicated solely to women. We did not set out to be a female led company, it’s just how it happened. We are a family business and our Dad didn’t have any sons! We haven’t always made much of this, it was never intentional or planned, however being part of Pink Link (the north west women’s networking organisation behind the EVA’s) has been rewarding and perhaps there really is something valuable about a space to celebrate and support each other.
Not only are we sponsoring the Beauty Industry category, we’re taking 10 of our team to celebrate on the night (both men and women). Our MD Liz Beavis is in the final for the Family Business category. Me (sister Ruth) and Son Ali, who also works at FMB, will be in attendance to cheer her on.
Usually, we have entered awards as a company, rather than individual people. We are really rooting for Liz who has been MD since 2008 and seen us through some really challenging times, both for our family and FMB. It’s her time to shine.
The EVA awards are about glamour, glitz and fun just like Blackpool. They are exciting and very different from other business awards we have entered! Bring it on BLACKPOOL!
Ruth Power (Director of Business Development)