FURNITURE components manufacturer and distributor Hill’s Panel Products (HPP) is supporting an awards night to celebrate the best public sector workers across the borough of Oldham.

The firm is sponsoring the Oldham Top Awards which take place at Queen Elizabeth Hall on February 7, 2020.

From its base in Scottfield Road, Oldham, and second distribution centre in Sheffield, HPP supplies the national kitchen and bedroom fitting industry, manufacturing its own products and additionally distributing others from international brands.

It has more than 2,000 UK trade customers and employs over 200 staff in roles including manufacturing, factory maintenance, warehousing, logistics, financial accounts, IT, website development, sales and marketing.

Oldham Council organises the annual Oldham Top Awards to celebrate the outstanding efforts of public sector staff across a range of roles including local authority services, schools, libraries, GP clinics, health centres, leisure centres and sport services.

Judges are looking for examples of individuals and teams who really make a difference to the lives or experiences of Oldham residents or their colleagues at work. Awards categories cover improved health and wellbeing in the workplace, front line services, leadership, team-work, employees, young employees and community engagement.

The awards can include staff in "arms-length" organisations such as Unity Partnership, the NHS Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group and Oldham Community Leisure, which operates gyms, pools, health and wellbeing services on behalf of the local authority.

The ultimate winners will be those people who best represent the council’s values and behaviours. These include accountability, working together, respect and democracy, working with residents’ needs to the fore, commitment to the borough, taking ownership, promoting change and delivering high performances.

Dan Mounsey, marketing manager at HPP, said: “The Oldham Top Awards celebrate great performances of individuals and teams at work across the public sector locally. Although HPP is a private sector manufacturing business, we also recognise the importance of celebrating good work in the public sector locally through sponsoring these awards.

“As a proud Oldham-based company employing many local people, we play a vital role in the local economy and the community. So, we are delighted to support great initiatives like the Oldham Top Awards and look forward to the ceremony at Queen Elizabeth Hall in February.

“We are also looking forward to catching-up with the Leader of Oldham Council, Cllr Sean Fielding, who will be greeting sponsors at the awards ceremony. He visited HPP’s Oldham base earlier this year to officially open our second production facility for vinyl-wrapped doors.”

Family-owned HPP and its staff support a range of community and charity projects through sponsorship, fundraising, volunteering, education and skills programmes.

For example, it recently supported the Oldham Jobs Fair at Queen Elizabeth Hall, where employers highlighted careers, apprenticeship and training opportunities to people of all ages. Other recent community-focused activities have included HPP staff taking part in sponsored walks and runs for good causes.