On the 1st of November we celebrated the fourth annual Laundry & Drycleaning Awards – The LADAs – the original and leading industry awards that recognise individuals and companies for dedication within the textile care industry. And what a night it was, receiving an enormous amount of positive feedback from guests attending the event.

This year, over 200 guests from across the industry including launderers, drycleaners, suppliers, hoteliers and associations joined us for the glittering ceremony. In our December issue we’ll be running a feature about the event, including a gallery of photos. Once again, we held the awards at Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey, a venue that truly stands out from the crowd, very much like our award winners.

The Lifetime Achievement – Richard Orford

The evening was a great success with some very worthy winners. The final award for the evening The Lifetime Achievement was awarded to Richard Orford from Blue Dragon Laundry who has over 60 years in the industry and has always been a keen supporter of the industry Trade Associations and sat on a number of committees of the ABLC (now the TSA). He became Master of the Worshipful Company of Launderers in 1997/98.

Our 2018 Sponsors

We would also like to say a big thank you to our sponsors for their tremendous support, Linen Connect, Tonrose, Girbau, HJ Weir, Electrolux, Cole & Wilson, Ecolab, SPOT Business Systems, Fox Energy.

The LADAs Charity

The charity raffle we hold at this event has become a firm fixture of the evening, and we’re delighted to announce that we raised £4,000 this year for Pancreatic Cancer UK. This is a charity we’ve supported every year since the LADAs started. Thank you to all the companies who donated gifts to this wonderful cause this year. In total, since 2015 we’ve raised over £12,500 for this very worthy cause that supports those affected by pancreatic cancer and invests in research and lobbying for greater recognition of pancreatic cancer.

Some of the best moments at the 2018 LADAs