Hypnos Chairman receives lifetime achievement award

Royal warrant holder and award-winning luxury bedmaker Hypnos is celebrating after Peter Keen, who owns Hypnos with his family, was awarded the Panaz BCFA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Peter is the chairman of the holding company Keen & Toms, which includes Hypnos Limited & Hypnos Contract Beds Ltd. This year’s Panaz BCFA Lifetime Achievement Award was presented by Tony Attard OBE, CEO of Panaz, to Peter for his significant contribution to the furnishing industry. In his presentation, Mr Attard applauded Peter Keen’s longstanding influence on the industry, having previously been chair of BCFA, a Master of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers and President of the Windsor Royal Warrant Holders Association. He is also the current chair of the southern region fundraising division for the WCFM and Trustee of the Bucks Community Foundation.

An active participant in the bed industry, Peter has also recently celebrated 50 years with Hypnos. Having secured Hypnos’s first retailer in 1988, he has helped expand its retail and contract divisions into the successful multi-million-pound global brand it is today.

Peter Keen said: “I’m delighted to have received this award from the team at BCFA. I would like to thank my family, the entire team at Hypnos and the many suppliers and clients we’ve worked with over the years, all of whom have shaped Hypnos into the company it is today. As a family-run business now into its fifth-generation of family members, Hypnos has grown from strength to strength over the years. In fact, we’ve celebrated some amazing achievements over the past couple of years alone, from the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade, to achieving carbon neutral status for the seventh year running. This award has also made me reflect on all the decisions and organisations I’ve been involved with throughout my career and it’s wonderful to have all of that effort recognised.”

Jeremy Stein, the Managing Director of the BCFA, added: “Peter Keen is undoubtedly a highly deserving and popular recipient of this accolade. With a career that has seen great changes in the industry, his successes are something that deserve to be celebrated. Hypnos has an outstanding reputation as a holder of a Royal Warrant, with this success and reputation mirrored in its commercial enterprise in hospitality, all of which Peter Keen has been a key part of.”

Steeped in history, Hypnos is an award-winning, family-run, British bed manufacturer; with the Keen family having held a Royal Warrant since 1929. Hypnos was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade in the 2017 honours list, in recognition of its substantial growth and commercial success in international business, as well as driving strong year-on-year growth in overseas sales and export activity.

A multiple award-winner for its sustainable actions, Hypnos also takes the environment and its social responsibility extremely seriously. All its beds are 100% recyclable at the end of their life. Hypnos was the first carbon neutral bedmaker in the world and is the only bed manufacturer to have held this prestigious award for seven years.

Triple nomination for Cube Video in the Thames Valley Business & Community Awards

Cube Video, a full-service video production company based in Maidenhead, have been nominated for three awards in the Thames Valley Business & Community Awards. Cube Video have been recognised and nominated for both ‘Business of the Year’ and ‘SME of the Year’, whilst CEO James Hakesley has been nominated for the ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ award.

Nominees for the prestigious awards will gather at The Hilton, Reading on January 31st 2019 to find out who the lucky winners are at a formal dinner and awards ceremony.

Christian Briggs, former head of internal affairs at Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce is part of the judging panel and said: “Judging this year’s awards will be tough. Every entry is of a very high standard and each one is unique, which makes the decision harder. I’m very proud of the quality of businesses that we have in this region and these awards give them the true recognition that they deserve.”

Being shortlisted for these awards marks the end of an amazing year for Cube Video who are still growing and innovating month-on-month. James Hakesley said: “We have added some new team members this year which has given Cube Video a broader range of skills and capabilities. To be shortlisted again for another award is great for the whole team and it’s a strong testament to all the videos we produce for local businesses in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and nationwide. We’re especially excited about being nominated for Business of the Year as it’s a huge accolade just to be nominated and we know we’re up against some strong competition!”

This time last year, Cube Video were shortlisted for the Thames Valley Awards Business & Community Awards in the start-up category so to be recognised as an SME is a fantastic achievement for the young business, demonstrating their growth, both in terms of their team and their national brand awareness. In 2018, Cube Video worked on some international projects as well as those locally and nationally. They are working with more and more diverse industries and constantly growing with some even bigger goals for the business next year.

New kitchen at Buckmoorend Farm Shop

Buckmoorend Farm Shop is now Buckmoorend Farm Shop and Kitchen with the addition of a brand-new kitchen serving hot food using their super tasty fresh home-reared meats. State of the art facilities include a hob, oven, fridges and storage in what co-owner Daniel is calling their ‘Tardis’ – it’s all neat wood panelling on the outside but once you open up – wow! it’s a ‘professional’ kitchen.

It won’t take you to another time dimension, but it will enable co-owner Steph to cook a freshly prepared daily special hot dish including hearty soups – and some of their delicious handmade Scotch eggs and sausage rolls too. They hope there will also soon be a new and improved coffee machine to offer more styles and to complement the teas and soft drinks available. Steph says: “The new kitchen adds so much to what we can do – we are so excited about all the possibilities for offering our fantastic customers great tasting freshly prepared hot and cold dishes.”

Popular with shoppers, cyclists, walkers on the Ridgeway and families alike, Buckmoorend Farm Shop on the Missenden Road on the Chequers Estate at Butlers Cross was established in 2016 as an outlet to sell meat of known provenance actually raised on the farm, together with the best in carefully selected local produce from the Chilterns and surrounding areas. Steph and Daniel are passionate about their meats but also about reducing food miles and packaging, including plastics, as much as they can.

The new kitchen is open at weekends. The farm shop is open five days a week, Wednesday-Friday from 10am to 6pm, and weekends from 10am to 4pm.

For more information, call 01296 622472 or pop by for a visit using the sat nav HP17 0UT.

Send us your news

Remember to send us your fabulous news throughout 2019 and we will be happy to feature it in a member news round-up in our newsletter. Email news@bbf.uk.com with the details.