Last month, we were celebrating the news that we’d won not one but TWO major business awards!

We were delighted when Angels’ Share Glass was named Scottish Family Business of the Year by The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and that we also scooped their Scottish Business and Product Innovation Award for our whisky water dropper.

We then had a nervous wait to discover whether we’d been selected as one of four firms from across the UK to go forward to the national finals of the Awards.

Happily, we can reveal we are finalists in both categories and four of our Angels are off to London today for the black-tie final of the competition.

“We’re so proud and excited,” says Managing Director Karen Somerville. “To be selected as the Scottish winners of the contest in two categories was amazing but to also be in with a chance of the national prize in each category is phenomenal!”

We face competition from three other companies to be named Best Family Business of the Year in the UK.

They are the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop in the Lake District; Go Below Underground Adventures in Wales and The Elite Fish and Chip Company which is based in Lincolnshire.

And for the Best Business and Product Innovation Award, we are up against Artemis Brew in Yorkshire which produces speciality coffee; Womanzone in Cheshire which supplies post-operative mastectomy bras and lingerie and London’s High Spirit Bags which make theft-proof backpacks.

The FSB Awards are aimed at recognising and rewarding the excellence, resilience and innovation of SMEs across the country and are open to all companies with less than 250 employees.

The Best Family Business Award champions the major contribution family firms make to business and we were delighted our family roots and ethos were recognised by the judging panel.

Meanwhile, the Business and Product Innovation Award highlights innovations which have successfully transformed a company and improved performance.

It was in this category that the ground-breaking whisky water dropper, created by Master Glassblower Tom Young MBE, caught the judges’ eye.

The elegant glass pipette, which allows whisky connoisseurs to add water to their dram one drop at a time, is our best-selling product and has won plaudits from buyers all over the world.

Karen says: “Demand has been fantastic since we launched the dropper which was created following feedback from drinkers who told us they often ended up spoiling their drams by adding too much water.

“We spotted a gap in the market and came up with the dropper which means whisky lovers can now add water to their drink with precision and style.”

We’re now looking forward to the glitzy Awards Ceremony - hosted by the first winner of TV’s ‘The Apprentice’ Tim Campbell MBE - in London on Wednesday May 10, where the national winners will be revealed.

Wish us luck!

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