Marian Dewson
One of our Hazeldene employees has been getting in the festive spirit and baking up a treat!
Marian Dewson, Senior QA Inspector from Goods In, has shown great talent making this fantastic Christmas cake.
Marian started carefully crafting the cake in September, and is now looking forward to sharing it with all the staff at Hazeldene.
Well done Marian!
Congratulations to Hazeldene colleagues Ken McLoughlin, Vlad Lukjanciks, Debbie Paterson and Victoria Kennedy who received a prize last week for raising the highest amount of money in The 2011 Outward Bound Trust’s Charity Challenge.
Set in the Lake District, the team took on a series of outdoor adventure challenges over 2 days, competing against 14 other companies.
On Wednesday 30th November, the 4 colleagues attended a prize-giving ceremony in London and were each presented with an award.
Ken McLoughlin, team leader, said “We were really happy to take part in this fantastic challenge and raise money for this great charity. We would like to thank everybody who sponsored us and helped us raise almost £6,000.”
L-R: Ken McLoughlin, Lee Hopwell, Stuart Seaton and Steve Lynch
Last month, four members of the Hazeldene team took part in a charity event held by Iceland at the Carden Park Golf Club near Chester.
Stuart Seaton, Ken McLoughlin, Lee Hopwell and Steve Lynch each participated in a one day golf tournament, competing against a number of other Iceland suppliers. The Hazeldene team performed well and did the company proud, gaining a high score and making it a tight competition!
The event itself was a fantastic success and raised just under £150,000 which will be divided between Iceland’s two benefiting charities, Alzheimer’s Research UK and The Prostate Cancer Charity.
Hazeldene were delighted to be involved in the event and show support to these fantastic charities. Well done everyone!
L-R: Lucille Bailey-Llowarch, Louise Massey, Darren Bowden, Sue Croft, Tomas Benda, Dariusz Merchelski
Fourteen members of the Hazeldene team returned to Wigan and Leigh Hospice to help with preparations for their annual garden party! The Hazeldene employees put up marquee style tents, moved furniture and set up stalls. They also supplied salad for sandwiches and onions for the BBQ on the day!
The team had a tour of the Hospice facilities and learnt about the incredible work the charity does for their patients. Staff were happy to help out and support this great charity and the service they provide to the local community.
The Hospice said: “We would just like to thank Hazeldene for all their help with the fair. It is much appreciated and they were a grand bunch of ‘volunteers’. We hope to see them again in the future!”
Hazeldene have carried out volunteer work with Wigan and Leigh Hospice on a number of occasions and over time have developed an excellent relationship. Despite the typical English rain fall, staff showed great team work and had lots of fun. The garden party itself was a huge success, and managed to raise over £4,000 for the charity!
With social media becoming ever more prevalent in business, Hazeldene felt it only made sense to venture into the viral world as well! Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many more are proving to be a key way of interacting with the wider environment, getting closer to customers, suppliers, consumers, growers, employees and even competitors.
Throughout 2011 Hazeldene will be focusing heavily on improving both their internal and external communications via Facebook, Twitter, and a website re-vamp! The exciting new improvements will feature a weekly blog, competitions and prizes, heaps of interesting salad facts, tasty recipes and plenty more!
Keep up to date with all things salad and follow Hazeldene on Facebook and Twitter now!
Debbie Paterson, Ken McLoughlin, Victoria Kennedy and Vlad Lukjanciks
Teamates from Hazeldene have raised more than £5,000 for The Outward Bound Trust by completing the charity’s 2011 Challenge.
Ken McLoughlin, Vlad Lukjanciks, Debbie Paterson and Victoria Kennedy took on 13 other teams and braved a number of outdoor tests to complete the two-day challenge in the Lake District in June.
The weekend began with a gruelling game of kayak polo, followed by the rock climbing event with the braver team members tackling the rock face blind folded. Other activities included a zip wire challenge, mountain biking, orienteering, fly fishing, canoeing and a ghyll scramble.
Team leader Ken said: “We had great fun completing the challenges and taking part in this event and we’re delighted to have raised so much for the Outward Bound Trust and would like to say a very big thank you to our colleagues, customers, suppliers, friends and family for their donations.”
The Hazeldene colleagues will find out if they have won the challenge at an awards ceremony at St James’s Palace in September.
Hazeldene were delighted to be named finalists at this year’s Re:Fresh Awards on Thursday 19th May! The spectacular Oscar-style event took place at The InterContinental London Hotel and was attended by over 550 people. The evening was organised by the Fresh Produce Journal and Fresh Produce Consortium, and celebrated the wealth of expertise and talent with the industry.
Being recognised at the Re:Fresh Awards is a real achievement for Hazeldene. Their success is down to the close-knit and invaluable teams in place both internally and externally. Hazeldene would like to thank their customers, suppliers, staff and all those who have contributed to their success at this year’s Re:Fresh awards.
Hazeldene's Richard Fulwell gets a slice of the Festival action!
For the second year in a row, Hazeldene is proud to announce it is sponsoring the Wigan Food and Drink Festival.
The 10-day event, which kicks off on 3rd March, will see Hazeldene sponsor the popular Restaurant of the Year competition, which was last year won by The Wheel Restaurant at Wigan and Leigh College.
Last year’s event was a huge success, attracting over 30,000 people who spent over £200,000.
Simon Ball, Managing Director of Hazeldene, said: “The Festival not only provides food and drink focused entertainment, it also promotes some very positive and valuable messages, such as healthy eating and buying locally. These are messages that we as a company support and willingly buy into.”
Hazeldene is also sponsoring the Food Heroes Day, which takes place on 10th March at the Wigan Market Kitchen Theatre and celebrates the region’s top food and drink legends. The event will be hosted by culinary champion and master chef, Brian Mellor, who Hazeldene worked with at the Festival last year.
As well as Brian Mellor, organisers have announced appearances and events featuring the Godfather of Italian Cooking and TV Chef, Antonio Carluccio, and host of ITV’s Britain’s Best Dish, Ed Baines.
There will be the Wigan Outdoor Market Kitchen Theatre, 17 restaurant events, a Fine Food Trail and a free outdoor concert by the aptly named and popular, Lancashire Hotpots. Kicking off the festival will be the CAMRA Wigan Beer Festival.
Keith Bergman, Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust’s Tourism Manager and Food Festival Organiser, said: “We are incredibly lucky to have so many international food and drink businesses located in Wigan Borough. It is down to them and our restaurant partners that we can put on this event. So we’re delighted they’ve shown such an appetite for the Festival”.
Toasting the New Year in style as Wigan Business of the Year, salad supplier, Hazeldene, is set to bring around 25 jobs to the area after being given the green light for a £1.7m factory expansion.
Simon Ball, managing director of Hazeldene, was delighted to announce the news. He said:
“We’re really pleased about the expansion as not only will it boost the local economy, it also means we are a step closer to our aim of being the preferred choice of ready to eat fresh salad and speciality products.
“Our plans are to expand the factory so that we can install two new lines, bringing the total number up to 10.”
The news of the extension was announced at a positive time for Hazeldene, as it celebrates five years in its current site in Wigan.
Simon added:
“The last five years in the area have been really significant for us; we have strived to embrace the local community and are continuing to make improvements to become an ‘Employer of Choice’. Additionally, since our move to Wigan, we have increased our sales over five years by 176%.”
The expansion is due to be completed by May 2011, to fit in with the start of the summer salad season. Details of employment opportunities will be available here, on Hazeldene’s website.
L-R: Lisa Nandy MP, Ken McLoughlin and Mary Jane McGhee from Hazeldene and Joanne Fletcher from NatWest sponsors of the Business of the Year Award.
Hazeldene has been named Business of the Year at this year’s Wigan Business Awards.
Due to celebrate five years in its factory in Wigan, Hazeldene was awarded the esteemed title on Friday night at the prestigious ceremony in the Kilhey Court Hotel.
The event, which was attended by over 300 people, was organised by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and celebrated the best of Wigan business.
Ken McLoughlin, Operations Manager at Hazeldene, was delighted to be awarded the title, fighting off stiff competition from around 50 local businesses. He said:
“We’re over the moon to have been awarded Business of the Year 2010. It’s such an achievement for us but not without years of hard work and determination to get to where we are today.
“Our move to Wigan has been very successful and our aim to be the preferred choice of ready to eat fresh salad and speciality products is within reach, particularly as we are now 100% owned by William Jackson Food Group. We were also recently finalists in three categories at the Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards 2010.
“Over the past five years at Hazeldene, we have strived to embrace the local community and are continuing to make improvements to become an ‘Employer of Choice’.
“We’d like to thank all customers, suppliers, staff and all those who have helped this year be a success and as a result, be recognised at the Wigan Business Awards.”
The event was hosted by Miranda Barker, President of Wigan Chamber of Commerce and guests included Lord Peter Smith, Shadow Secretary of State for Education Andy Burnham and fellow local MPs Lisa Nandy and Yvonne Fovargue.
A spokesperson for the judging panel commented:
“The high standard of entries this year made judging for the Business of the Year particularly difficult. We were especially impressed by the content and professionalism of Hazeldene’s entry form but it was their presentation to the panel of five judges that convinced us that this company is the right choice for this accolade.”
