With two major awards won on the same day, a homegrown business founded in 1876 that now employs 500 people celebrated in style.
The Lord Lieutenant of East Yorkshire presented the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity at a royal breakfast with Sewell Group.
This year, a company delegation arrived by executive coach in London to participate in The UK’s 100 Best Companies to Work For Awards, appearing at number 45 this year.
According to Lord Lieutenant, Jim Dick OBE, Sewell Group was one of only 18 businesses in the country to win a Queen’s Award in 2021 for Promoting Opportunity.
He said: “This is one of those moments when we give an award to a company which absolutely deserves it. I know from working with Sewell Group in other ways that promoting opportunity is in your DNA.
“You help people develop and it’s fantastic. This is an award from the monarch and there’s not a higher award than that.”
Dr Paul Sewell OBE, Chair of the business which he joined in 1978, said: “These are the sort of milestones which make you realise how far you have come.
“We had never won a Queen’s Award before and although we’ve been very successful in the Sunday Times Top 100 over the last 14 years we are now in the large company tier. We’ve grown the business in terms of adding new disciplines and geographically and this tells us we are going in the right direction.
“We had a lovely morning and a great night but then you wake up and it’s the next morning and you have to reset and go again. We don’t rest on our laurels.”
As part of its red carpet celebration, Sewell Group invited the Lord Lieutenant, Vice Lord Lieutenant Christopher Oughtred, the High Sheriff of the East Riding of Yorkshire Jacky Bowes and the Leader of Hull City Council Cllr Mike Ross to its headquarters in Geneva Way, Hull. Over 50 employees from across the Sewell Group attended the event as guests of honour.
As a member of the senior management team at Smith & Nephew in Hull, the Lord Lieutenant won two Queen’s Awards. Hull’s William Jackson Bakery was also awarded a Queen’s Award by the Vice Lord Lieutenant.
The Lord Lieutenant also urged other businesses to enter the awards and said: “The awards had a big effect on our business. In terms of the credibility of the company, it certainly helped sales and it’s great for staff morale as well. It comes from the monarch. It’s very prestigious and should be seen as so.
“In this region, we have some fantastic people and organisations and we need to make sure that more of them get recognised. It’s a case of really promoting them and encouraging people to enter – 90 per cent of our award winners are SMEs.
“Some companies with just two or three employees have won awards and there isn’t anybody who is excluded. It can appear daunting but we hope to help people and provide the mentoring to help them go through the process.”
A Queen’s Award trophy and an official citation signed by Her Majesty and Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister at the time the honour was announced, were presented by Mr Dick.
Mr Dick said: “It’s a very significant moment and I would like to congratulate all of you because I know the way that Sewell Group works. Everyone is important in getting this award. It’s the team that all make Sewell Group the company that it is.”
Paul added: “It sets the bar and we are now judged by that bar, as a Queen’s Award holder.
“We are united behind the principle that talent is spread equally within our community but opportunity isn’t and we have a great team here because they come from very different backgrounds.
“Just because you have had a disadvantaged start in life it doesn’t mean you can’t get to the top and if you are given the opportunity your duty is to pass that opportunity on to others. It’s not a do-good thing, it’s a business strategy and when you see the people you know it’s the right strategy.”
The Lord Lieutenant was joined on the stage for the presentations by Emily Jones, Retail Manager at Sewell on the go, and by Dieter Franks, Construction Site Supervisor, as other colleagues followed the proceedings on a live stream.
Emily, who has worked at Sewell on the go stores in Pocklington, South Cave and Willerby, added: “I’m really touched that I’ve been invited here as it’s such a special occasion. I know everyone back at our site is watching the live stream and celebrating. We have flags flying and it’s really nice for customers to be able to see that and for them to ask us about it. I work for a place that’s been given an award by the Queen!”
Jo Taylor-Standley, who lives in Beverley and works at Sewell Group’s headquarters as Office Manager, joined the audience for the celebration.
Jo said: “We were in there listening to the Lord Lieutenant and it got quite emotional because it meant so much to the staff, the people, and that’s why it was nice sharing it with colleagues and getting everybody involved. It means so much and I’m very proud to wear our new pin badge!”
