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LACA’s marketing for National School Meals Week in 2011 has earned a Catey award from Caterer & Hotelkeeper, with national chair Lynda Mitchell hailing the achievement – both for the organisation and its partner for the event AVF Marketing.

The Cateys Awards were presented at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

Lynda said: "LACA is delighted to have been awarded the Group Marketing Catey by Caterer & Hotelkeeper this year for the organisation's National School Meals Week 2011.

“Held annually National School Meals Week involves thousands of Primary, Secondary and Special Schools across Britain and through its www.iloveschoolmeals website engages with hundreds of thousands of children and young people, promoting the benefits of eating healthy school meals.

“Our thanks go to Arnold Fewell and AVF Marketing for making the 2011 event one of our most successful since LACA National School Meals Week first began way back in the 1980's.

“We achieved our highest participation level in 2011 with an estimated 20,000 schools taking part and experienced a 111.5% increase in website downloads over 2010.

“We are pleased that the wider hospitality sector has been impressed by the work of school caterers and has chosen to honour LACA with one of the industry's most coveted accolades."

It was a double night of celebration for Arnold, who won two Cateys in one evening, sharing the Group Marketing award with LACA for helping promote healthy school meals during NSMW through the website www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk.

His second Catey was the Special Award, recognising his achievements over many years, including his time with North Yorkshire County Council when he spearheaded a healthy eating campaign for schools in 1985 that helped the authority save nearly £2 million by increasing meal numbers from 20% to 60% of pupils on roll over a three year period.  

More recently Arnold has been promoting the needs of people with disabilities and making the hotel industry aware of how it can provide outstanding customer service to them.  A former hotel general manager, he became a permanent wheelchair user in 2003 after his leg was amputated.
 
He said: “It was a fantastic feeling to win both of these awards in the same evening, one of which is for the work of the company and the second is a personal one.  I am so grateful to my family for all the help and support they have given me in recent years and especially since my accident.”