AN AWARD-WINNING Scarborough businessman is frying high after one of his fish and chip shops was named the best in the UK.
Matthew Silk, twice winner of the Scarborough Evening News Fish and Chip Shop of the Year competition, is celebrating after Fish and Chips at 149 in Bridlington, which he runs with business partner Tracy Poskitt, battered the opposition at the 23rd annual National Fish and Chip Awards.
Mr Silk opened his first chippy in Newlands in 1997 before moving to Crossgates in 2004 and opening his shop there. He is also a director of Silks in Castle Road, which opened in 2008. Viat Scarborough Evening News
Via BBC News
Thomas Hinderwell was born in the resort in 1744. In later life he was instrumental in establishing Scarborough's first lifeboat.
He is probably best remembered for his 'History of Scarborough', which was first published in York in 1798.
The plaque, in the Sunken Gardens, was unveiled on November 17, the anniversary of Hinderwell's birth.
Self-made man
Thomas Hinderwell was born in 1744 at 28, The Cliff, later known as Granby House, on St Nicholas Cliff. The property has long been demolished.
He was educated in Scarborough and at Coxwold grammar school, near Helmsley. Aged 11, he went to sea spending 20 years as ship's boy, master and eventually owner.
By 1775 he was rich enough to retire and settle ashore in Scarborough becoming a prominent public figure.
Hinderwell also supported many charitable causes and was instrumental in establishing the town's first lifeboat, the second in Britain.
He is best known for his 'History of Scarborough', the first edition appeared in York in 1798.
Hinderwell's collection of books, manuscripts, pictures, fossils and other items formed the basis of the Rotunda Museum which opened in 1829.
Thomas Hinderwell died in October 1825 and is buried in St Mary's graveyard, a short distance from the resting place of Anne Bronte.
'Remarkable man'
Chairman of the Civic Society, Adrian Perry, said: "We are very pleased to mark Thomas Hinderwell's place of birth with a blue plaque.
"He was a remarkable Scarborough man who made a major contribution to the development of the town. His 'History of Scarborough' is still a main point of reference for those interested in our past."
A TRIO of parks in the Scarborough area have been successful at the Green Flag Awards.
Falsgrave Park in Scarborough, Filey's Glen and Crescent Gardens, and Whitby's Pannett Park have all been awarded a Green Flag as a mark of their quality. The scheme aims to recognise and reward the best green spaces in the country. Falsgrave Park chairman Dorothy Russell said: "It's a fantastic achievement which we hope to repeat in the future. "I would like to thank all of the people who have put great effort and hard work into the park, especially the hands-on gardeners who have been working all year round." It is the sixth time in a row that Falsgrave Park has received the award and the third successive time for Glen and Crescent Gardens, but it marks the first time Pannett Park has been recognised. Scarborough Council parks and countryside manager Roger Burnett said: "All of these areas are an inspiration to everyone and achieving this prestigious award signals the very high standards and individual parks are attaining. "It is a great credit to the type of partnerships the Government is working towards and demonstrates exactly what the 'Big Society' means to local communities." Via Scarborough Evening News
Judging of the White Rose Awards is undertaken by a panel of independent judges chaired by Barbara Woroncow OBE.
Shortlisted finalists will now be mystery visited with the results being presented to the panel for final judging in September, which will further support the entry material already submitted. We are a finalist in "Large Hotel Of The Year" with the follow nominees: Crown Spa Hotel Best Western Premier Mount Pleasant Hotel Oulton Hall The Leopold Hotel, Sheffield The Royal York Hotel & Events Centre Leeds Marriott Hotel Last year we were awarded the "Sustainable Tourism Award", and hope to continue this success. More information can be found here
The Crown Spa Hotel's green credentials impressed the Enjoy England judges enough to pick up the Sustainable Tourism Award.
When you stay at a hotel, do you leave the lights and TV on in your room when you go out (like many guests do) because you feel it’ll be cosier when you return?
Well, at the four-star Crown Spa Hotel in Scarborough, you can’t do that any more because special switches installed in its 116 rooms make sure that when you remove your key card on leaving, everything is automatically switched off.
And this practical innovation is not a trifling matter. Along with other environmentally friendly initiatives, this simple idea has already slashed the hotel’s energy bills by an astonishing £250,000 a year.
Judges for the awards were also impressed by the way the hotel substituted regular light bulbs with light-emitting diode (LED) lights, started harvesting rainwater from the hotel roof to run laundry and toilet facilities, how they composted their kitchen waste and ran wood-burning stoves to heat the foyer.
“I’m an evangelical ‘greenie’ and I’m proud to be one,” says David Frank, the hotel’s administration director. “We don’t ram our message down people’s throats but sustainability is efficiency and it makes good economic and business sense to think about sustainability.”
Staff are trained to switch off lights and computers when they go for lunch and non-toxic chemicals are used in the hotel pool which hold in warmth overnight.
Now the Crown Spa, which has already dramatically reduced its C02 emissions, aims to drop them a further 50 per cent by 2015. The rest of England, indeed the world, take note!
Via The Telegraph
St George’s Day, the great and good from the UK Tourism Industry gathered in the historic Dome and Corn Exchange in Brighton for the prestigious Enjoy England Awards for Excellence. The annual award gathering meets to formally recognise the very best of English tourism.
Flying the flag for Yorkshire and Scarborough the Crown Spa Hotel earned the coveted Gold Award for Sustainable Tourism, David Frank Administration Director said "This award is official independent recognition of our working team and their commitment "beyond the call of duty" to all things Crown Spa! Further, that any business can reduce its carbon foot print by at least 25% without having to embark on expensive projects as long as you communicate good awareness and the management team implement a well thought out training plan."
David Frank added that "UK businesses should take note that this approach is based firmly in economic benefits, in the last 5 years our power light and heat costs have reduced overall by over £250K and the costs have been no more than £25K over that period, Simples!"
When you first arrive at the Crown Spa Hotel the most noticeable sustainable statement you will see is the solar panels, but these were only installed after the Hotel had already achieved a 25% CO2 saving, from implementing simple stuff first like behavioural changes resulting from good staff training in awareness of the sustainable agenda, purchasing more efficient plant and equipment on a replacement basis (like LED lights, efficient refrigeration units etc..), bedroom master switches.
Richard Frank Managing Director said "If you can achieve these types of savings in a building which is grade 2 listed and over 165 year old you can do this anywhere, there is no justifiable business reason not to embrace the sustainable agenda as there a sound economic benefits to be had in these difficult times."
www.CrownSpaHotel.com
TWO Scarborough businesses have been shortlisted for a series of prestigious tourism awards. As part of this year's Enjoy England Awards for Excellence, Lebberston Touring Park is featured in the Caravan Holiday Park category and the Crown Spa Hotel is up for the Sustainable Tourism Award. Representatives from both businesses will be attending a glittering awards ceremony in the Corn Exchange at The Brighton Dome on Friday. The awards dubbed the "Oscars of English tourism" celebrate the best of England and include categories such as the Hotel of the Year award and for the first time this year the "Where Else but England" award which celebrates English eccentricity and will be voted for by the public via The Sun newspaper. David Frank, a director of the Crown Spa Hotel, said: "We're really pleased that we can now compete at a national level. "We're really pleased to be flying the flag for Scarborough. This is the culmination of a lot of years of hard graft." Mr Frank added that one of the reasons the hotel is up for the sustainable tourism award is because it has reduced its carbon footprint by 25 per cent since 2005. Mark Bozeat, owner of Lebberston Touring Park, said: "We're really pleased to be in the top three. "It's the first time we've been shortlisted for the Enjoy England awards and we were really chuffed when we heard the news." Lady Cobham, Visit England chairman and chair of the judging panel, said: "Our tourism awards really showcase the wealth of high quality and affordable holiday experiences on offer in England today. "The judges were impressed with the huge, continued investment made by tourism businesses across all categories in spite of the recession. "These finalists demonstrate how successful that commitment to quality has been." The finalists were selected by a board of tourism industry judges including the Gold winner of the hotel category in 2009, Sue Williams, and travel journalists Alison Rice and Sally Shalam. Also on the judging panel was Brian Richardson, executive secretary of The Caravan Club, who said: "Once again, The Caravan Club is delighted to support these prestigious awards which recognise excellence across the whole spectrum of English tourism."
Posted via: www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk
www.CrownSpaHotel.co.uk
A SCARBOROUGH Hotel has scooped a national award – proving it is a "beacon" in the country for the welfare of staff.
The Crown Spa Hotel was named the winner of the Health, Work and Well-being for Small Business category at the National Business Awards. The ceremony at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London saw 17 organisations and businesses rewarded for their contributions to business success in Britain.
The judges said they were impressed with how well staff are cared for at the Crown Spa in Esplanade, Scarborough’s only four-star hotel. Head judge Robert Janes said: “Clearly demonstrating how improving the health and well-being of their staff has resulted in many positive outcomes for the business, the Crown Spa is a beacon operator that the hospitality sector should take notice of. “Staff turnover and absences through illness are significantly down while the take up of healthy benefits and treatments are well up in staff of all ages. “The judges deemed this to be a healthy and well business in every sense.” The Crown Spa was up against stiff competition from nine other finalists in the category. Richard Frank, the hotel’s managing director, said: “The team at the Crown Spa Hotel are pleased with their recent achievements grown from dedicated hard work over the last four years, culminating in the prestigious Orange National Business Awards finals results. “The assessment process was thorough, fair and in-depth. All team members are very proud that we subsequently passed through the awards process to be announced as national winners. “Overall we are all very proud for our organisation, Yorkshire and for the town of Scarborough in achieving this coveted recognition.” Another company celebrating at the awards was adventure group Go Ape which has a course based in Dalby Forest. The Company, which employs more than 350 staff and has 22 forest courses across the country, was honoured with the Small to Medium Sized Business of the Year accolade. The awards were presented by journalist and TV presenter Kirsty Wark, and were attended by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling.
Via: http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk/news/Hotel-staff-thrilled-after-awards.5842101.jp
Crown Spa Hotel, Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Hundreds of people from the tourism industry gathered at the Royal Armouries in Leeds for the region’s ‘Tourism Oscars’ organised by tourism agency, Welcome to Yorkshire. Over 800 guests celebrated and applauded the best of the industry as the fifteen winners were announced.
Barbara Woroncow OBE, Chair of the independent panel of judges said, “White Rose Award winners are proof of the excellence that exists in our region. Their commitment to raising standards of service and levels of expectation has resulted in Yorkshire’s continuing and rising success as a destination.”
Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said: “The standard of entrants at this year’s awards has surpassed our expectations and I know the judges have had a really tough job. With the current economic climate, prestigious award ceremonies such as this are all the more important – Yorkshire tourism deserves its moment to congratulate the best of its colleagues and peers and as a region we certainly have a lot to be proud of.”
Over the past 4 years, the Crown Spa Hotel Scarborough has become a more sustainable business through sensible investment in affordable technology and innovative behavioural changes.
Richard Frank Managing Director said “Excellent news and confirmation of our last 4 years of hard work by our team, culminating in this year’s renovation works of our Grade 2 Star listed property taking into account the sustainable aims of our organisation and long term directional aims of Scarborough Borough Council’s Officers and Councillors. This year Scarborough won the award for most enterprising town and now we are a leading light in sustainable business”
David Frank Administration Director added, “Since 2005 we have reduced our direct fossil fuel derived Carbon Footprint by 25%.
Lowering your CO2 footprint is relatively easy you just need to
· turn things off when not needed at the mains,
· turn down the heat, and increase your insulation
· invest in cost affective technology (like Led lighting) with fast payback
The most challenging thing is to encourage team members to do the above
Now as an organisation we can afford to invest in more expensive technology with a longer payback (such as solar panels, biomass boilers and sine wave adjusters), and plough back some of the excellent financial savings from previous years for the future environment and further financial savings.”
The Crown Spa Hotel is one of Fourteen of the winners of this year's White Rose Awards will now be entered into the national Enjoy England Awards for Excellence 2010. Last year Yorkshire won three Gold awards beating of hundreds of other national attractions.
Crown Spa Hotel, Scarborough, North Yorkshire
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He was a remarkable Scarborough man who made a major contribution to the development of the town. 
