Rowley’s score with BIBAs catering bid

Rowley’s Offside, which is run by chef and hotelier Paul Rowley, has been appointed the official caterer of this year’s Be Inspired Business Awards, the BIBAs.

It will cater for the more than 1,000 people expected to pack the Blackpool Tower Ballroom for the awards’ prize-giving ceremony on Friday, September 11.

Brett Davis, events manager at Rowley’s Offside, said the awards night would be one of the biggest events the company had handled.

He said: “We are absolutely delighted to be catering for the Be Inspired Business Awards in 2015.

“This will be one of our largest events to date and we are thrilled to be providing hospitality for so many business professionals in the prestigious Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

“The awards, dubbed ‘the one they all want to win’ recognise the cream of Lancashire businesses and we are proud to be associated with such a well-esteemed event.”

Rowley’s Offside provides catering for a number of Lancashire’s leading venues, including at Blackpool Football Club, Lytham Hall, Hoghton Tower and Cartmel Races.

The awards have now opened for applications with 15 prize categories for businesses from across Lancashire to enter.

Last September, Blackpool-based Chelsom collected the Exporter of the Year and Creative Business of the Year awards, with Blackpool Zoo named Leisure Business of the Year, Jane Thornton, of Kirkham-based Inspired Energy, named Business Woman of the Year, and Lytham’s Tangerine Holdings picking up the Manufacturer of the Year prize.

Meanwhile, the charity set up by the business awards to boost enterprise among the county’s young people has put over £30,000 up for grabs.

The BIBAs Foundation, a body created by the annual awards and the Lancashire Community Foundation, will make grants of up to £2,000 available to 16 to 24-year-olds in the county to develop skills and expand and build businesses. Its opening balance of £30,961 comes from the profit generated by the awards’ prize-giving ceremony last September, along with donations pledged at the Tower on the night.

Karen Morris, a spokesman for the Lancashire Community Foundation, said the charitable body would “create an enterprising legacy” for the young people.

From this week, youngsters will be able to make applications via www.thebibas.co.uk or www.lancsfoundation.org.uk websites.