The BICSc Annual Awards took place on the 18^th of September 2014 at the Forest of Arden Hotel & Country Club, Birmingham, and this year saw a Hollywood themed event to recognise and reward those that have excelled in maintaining high standards via training and assessment across the industry.

The day started with the BICSc  Annual Golf Day on the Arden Championship Golf Course (Sponsored by BICSc Council Member Bob Vincent’s organisation, LCC Support Services).

The Awards celebrations came later in the day. Guests were greeted by Hollywood themed walk about characters at the drinks reception (Sponsored by AsepTech); characters included a human awards statue and an elegant Marilyn Monroe character handing refreshments to guests from her white feathery table dress. This year the cocktail sponsors Katrin also provided an interesting twist to the evening by offering guests the opportunity to sample their branded cocktails ‘The Katrin Martini’ and  ‘The Katrin Mock Mojito’.

The Annual Awards Ceremony followed shortly afterwards with inspired speeches from CEO of BICSc Stan Atkins and the Chairman of the Institute Bill McMillan. One of the key messages was furthering the dignity of the cleaning operative. ‘A cleaner is something that you clean a table with, the person participating in the act of cleaning, is known as a cleaning operative.’ Stan Atkins later stated that ‘Anybody can clean, but only people that have been trained correctly have the ability to clean properly’.

The evening then celebrated achievements of the award winners of 2014 by presenting various plaques and trophies. A banquet dinner followed shortly afterwards, along with the Chairman’s Charity raffle and entertainment from Lisa Martin and the Vegas Show girls.