2023 was a busy year for Verner Wheelock. We trained over 2000 delegates in HACCP, food safety, auditing and other specialist subjects and completed 250 SMETA ethical audits. There were therefore several standout delegates and companies to consider for the annual Verner Wheelock Excellence Awards. As you can imagine, it was a difficult task to select the eventual winners.
The Excellence Awards were first introduced at our 25th anniversary celebrations in 2015 and recognise outstanding students in HACCP, Auditing and Food Safety. In addition we award prizes for Individual Excellence, Company Excellence and Ethical Excellence. The winners are…
Excelling in Food Safety
The award for Food Safety Student of the Year 2023 went to Victoria Phipps, Product Launch Team Leader at AB World Foods. Victoria achieved an amazing 98.5% in her RSPH Level 4 Food Safety examination and was an excellent student. “I am extremely grateful to have been awarded Food Safety Student of the Year after completing my Level 4 course and achieving a great exam result, thank you again to all at Verner Wheelock for their support,” she said.
HACCP Student of the Year
HACCP Student of the Year 2023 was awarded to Sara Hardacre, a Technical Manager at Warburtons, who also impressed the trainers with her ability. Sara was “thrilled” to receive the award and said, “The Level 4 HACCP course was outstanding with great content and discussion led by Nigel Robertshaw. Nigel brought an energy and enthusiasm to HACCP which he supported with a breadth of industry knowledge. I really enjoyed it and I cannot recommend it enough.”
Prize for Auditing Excellence
Ben Morrison of Avara Foods was the recipient of the Auditing Student of the Year 2023 award, having attended the FDQ Lead Auditor course back in February 2023. He said, “It was a lovely surprise to win the award. I really enjoyed the course structure, content and delivery – the location, premises and staff at VWA only enhanced the experience further, encouraging me to relax, learn and contribute freely. Thank you to trainer Peter Clarke & the Verner Wheelock team for this award and for such a rewarding learning experience.”
Individual Excellence
The individual Excellence Award is given to somebody who has shown a real desire to develop through learning. This year it was awarded to Trevor Gane of Beatson Clark, who attended our Delivering Training course. At the start of the four days he was a little unsure of his capabilities but underwent a huge transformation in terms of self-belief. By the day of the final presentation he proved himself to be not only confident and competent but an excellent trainer too.
Trevor said, “I would like to thank Verner Wheelock for giving me the confidence in myself from feeling that I could not achieve what was required to pass the Delivering Training course and very much out of my comfort zone to delivering a presentation that even I was amazed by, and will be using for future customer visits here at Beatson Clark.
This award just gives me more confidence to carry out what I have set out to do and deliver training to a very high standard. For anyone considering any course through Verner Wheelock, just go for it. What an amazing place to do it!”
As well as a trophy and certificate, the individual winners received vouchers for £250 towards their next training courses with Verner Wheelock.
Company Excellence
The award for Company Excellence went to James Hall & Co. Ltd, who have trained with Verner Wheelock for several years across different subjects. They have shown a commitment to continual staff training to ensure that the products they produce and distribute are safe and compliant. Lee Smith, HR Director at James Hall & Co. Ltd, said, “We’re extremely pleased to be recognised by Verner Wheelock as the winner of their Company Excellence Award for 2023. We have a fantastic working relationship with them, and they play an integral role in ensuring our workforce are skilled in their roles, enabling our business to maintain exceptional standards.”
Ethical Excellence
The Turmeric Co. was awarded the Ethical Excellence Award for 2023 following their first SMETA ethical audit. Not only did they have a good audit, but the auditor and VWA’s ethical team were extremely impressed with how proactive the company was throughout the entire audit process. “We are very proud and delighted to have been named the winner of the ‘Ethical Excellence Award 2023,’ as voted by the Verner Wheelock team!” said Virginija Antanaviciute. “We are looking forward to using our voucher for training courses this year”.
Each company winner received a certificate, trophy and £500 towards their next training courses with Verner Wheelock.
Congratulations to all our winners!