The awards were held last week at the lovely Bramshaw Golf Club in the New Forest. It was the first year of the awards which were launched to celebrate women in the golf industry across all fields.
You may know that Suprizeshop is very much a family business. Jason and I set up the business 25 years ago 2 months after our son Haidan was born. It started in our home where at one point the only place that wasn't stacked with boxes was the hall! It became apparent that office space needed to be secured or divorce was on the cards!!! And the rest is history! Now the children Haidan and our daughter Chloe work in the business, as does Haidan's girlfriend Gemma. It truly is a family business. The team has grown over the last 25 years and is now made up of an amazing team of individuals that are our extended family. We joke that working in Surprizeshop is like being in the family lounge especially with Nova the dog head of security - she isn't very good at security though because she could easily be bribed with a sausage!

It was an amazing honour and shock to be announced the Winner of Brand of The Year as voted by lady golfers themselves. We were up against 34 brands from major global brands to smaller new start-up businesses. Pure Golf also got a short-listed nomination which we were delighted with as it's such a new brand to the golfing world.

On a personal level, it was an emotional week. On Monday we said goodbye to Jason's Mum who sadly passed away a few weeks ago. She always had faith in us and without a moment's hesitation lent us her life savings and the money to start up Golf 2 Golf, the home of Surprizeshop. Without her support and the support of my Mum in those initial days, Surprizeshop would not be here and we wouldn't be able to employ all the lovely people we do. Of course, we had to recognise and thank them at the awards for their faith and trust in us.

Because of the emotional week we had, the awards were more emotional. We were so touched that our hard work had been noticed and recognised. We know we don't always get it right but I do know that we always try - sometimes external forces let you down, or tech does what tech does and glitches, there are many challenges running a business but I know that the family and the team care so much about doing the best we can, every day. At Surprizeshop Faith, love, and respect underpin all we do. Thank you to all the members of Team Surprizeshop, we value you so much. When the awards were being presented several of our customer's actual reasons for nomination were read out and they touched our hearts they were so kind about what we do. 

We had a very memorable evening for sure, it was Chloe's birthday so winning the award was the best birthday present. On our way to the awards we were delayed by a herd of cows walking down the road and a donkey on the way home - love the New Forest! We also met the most amazing people from all over the golfing industry. The women at our table were so warm and fun, too many to mention here but such a pleasure to spend the evening with. We also shared our table with another award winner - the women's initiative award that went to The R & A Women's Leadership Development Programme and Project Ukraine. We also sat with our Surprizeshop Ambassador Alice Davis and it was great to have her there to share the experience

Most of all I want to thank our customers for voting for us, without you none of it would be possible. It's you we do it for and we are grateful that you choose us and put your trust in us when purchasing your prizes, gifts, and items for yourself. Thank you to all those that took the time to vote. We are so very grateful.

Christina