The Excelcare and Guildmore Awards returned this year to bring people together and celebrate the achievements of team members across the family. For the first time ever, this year’s event received a festive makeover as Braxted Park Estate was transformed into a winter wonderland.
This annual event had been put on hold for the last two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, but with restrictions eased and team members able to socialise again, Excelcare and Guildmore were able to join together once more to host this spectacular event!
On Friday 25th November, team members from across the family arrived at Braxted Park in Essex to find it adorned with frosty decorations and a magical walkway to the winter-themed gardens.
Each person was welcomed with a smile from themed characters and greeted by the Ertosun family; Ozzie, his two children Sami and Leyla and his brother Engin, who posed with the team for photos. As guests made their way around the winter garden, they helped themselves to canopies and cocktails, all of which had a festive twist.
Guests sipped on their drinks as they caught up with colleagues from across the Excelcare & Guildmore family, before being led to their seats inside the marvellously decorated pavilion. Chief Operating Officer, Sam Manning then welcomed people to the Excelcare and Guildmore Winter Wonderland Awards with a short speech and invited some team members on stage for a Christmas carol performance.
Sam then welcomed the Ertosun Family into The Pavilion to get the show on the road! Compere duties were handed over to celebrity guest, Paulus, who entertained the crowd with his flamboyant and comical style.
Excelcare’s Got Talent was the first order of service, where one talented act from each region was invited on stage to perform. There were a variety of acts, from acrobatic dances to some wonderful vocal performances. It was truly remarkable seeing talented people from across the group.
Paulus then welcomed Excelcare’s Masked Performers onto the stage – a festive act performed by ‘reindeer’s’ Rudolph and his long-lost sister, Ruby! The pair got the whole crowd singing along to ‘Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer’, and it wasn’t hard for the team to guess this double act – Excelcare’s own Dementia Care Lead, Ann-Marie Harmer and Cambridge Regional Learning & Development Lead, Petrina Faulkner!
It was then time for a short break, which presented the opportunity for everyone to get some loaded fries a festive cocktail and cast their vote for winner of Excelcare’s Got Talent.
The awards ceremony followed the break, which was a chance to bring team members together and thank them for the dedication and commitment they show to Mr Bailey and his friends. Celebrating the achievements of team members across the family was the main purpose of the day, so making sure everyone felt valued and thanked for their efforts was a main focus.
The awards started with a speech and touching video from Sam Manning, who expressed feelings of gratitude to each person in the room for the hard work they do, and her own experience of when her father moved into Park Avenue Care Home in Bromley. Using her experience as a COO and relative, meant Sam could relate to each person in the room and thank each and every one of them exceptional care they provide to people, as they had done for her dad, Steve and her family. It was incredibly moving and provided people with a window into the life of our COO outside of her important role at Excelcare.
Paulus shared a short speech too, thanking the teams for the caring work they do each day before starting the awards! During this time, award winners from Excelcare’s care homes, homecare service and Central Support Office, Guildmore, Stephen Bradbury Architects, were welcomed on stage to receive their awards and have a picture with their CEO, Ozzie or Engin.
This was a particularly special time of celebration for everyone in the Excelcare family, as the awards ended with an extra special award - the Mr Bailey Award; a surprise award picked by Ozzie & Sam, for someone they knew had truly gone above and beyond to show ongoing commitment and dedication to the Excelcare family. This was won by Project Lead, Simona Petrehus for always stepping up and helping out whenever she has been called upon.
At this moment, it was time to vote for the Winner of Excelcare’s Got Talent, which was decided by the loudest cheer when an acts name was called out. It was a very close call, but Essex’s very own Faith Jones was declared the winner and welcomed on stage to receive her award!
With the awards ceremony and entertaining acts now over, it was time for people to head to out to a Winter Wonderland themed Bavarian village, which had been kept hidden for the duration of the day. People were amazed to see all the fairground rides, food trucks, the live band and other exciting venues to visit, such as The Orangery which hosted a cinema room with a hot chocolate table, tarot readers and face painters, and the Breakfast Room, which was showing the England VS USA World Cup match. It was a truly spectacular evening, which ended with music and drinks inside The Pavilion, which had been transformed into a winter wonderland style club!
It was a truly magical day filled with sparkle and celebrations, which was reflected by Sam in an email after the event, she wrote, “Yesterday truly reflected how supercalifragilistic everyone is, and how committed and dedicated you all are, so thank you and we look forward to many more celebrations with you all OUR Excelcare and Guildmore family.”
Excelcare and Guildmore would also like to thank the kind event sponsors - VM Elevators, Beaucare, Furncare and Franklins Trainers alongside our wonderful event partner, Cupid Creative for making the whole day so spectacular.
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