During the course of the evening, Dennis Taylor, minus snooker cue and dancing shoes, presented the awards to the winners of the competition (after hot footing from the BBC studios).

Gold Medals and Certificates are awarded for the outstanding products in each class of the competition, and Silver Medals and Certificates awarded to high attainers in each of the classes. Diplomas of excellence are awarded for other especially meritorious products in each class.

The BBI were delighted to award Gold medals in Various Classes of the competition to:

Sangs (Banff) Ltd.Three gold medals; for MacB Sugar Free Strawberry & Kiwi, One Fruit Raspberry and for MacB Sugar Free Range (for bottle dress).

Spadel UK. Two gold medals for Brecon Carreg Natural Mineral Water, Still and Sparkling.

Cott Beverages. One gold medal for ASDA Spanish Red Grape Still Crush.

Hall & Woodhouse. One gold medal for Rio Tropical Light.

Luscombe Organic Drinks. One gold medal for Organic Hot Ginger Beer.

The Sangs team with Dennis Taylor and Colin Barker

A further ten Silver medals were awarded as well as seven Diplomas of excellence and these awards, which are judged by blind tasting, reflect the high standards that are being achieved within the Soft Drinks Industry.

Also, as part of the evening’s celebration, the BBI Achievement Award, sponsored by Krones UK Ltd, was presented to Andrew Marsden, Category Director of Britvic Soft Drinks, in recognition of their achievements in new product development particularly the Britvic J2O and Robinsons Fruit Shoot Brands. It is also awarded to recognise the ongoing investment that has been made at Britvic Factories in order to achieve the remarkable success and impact these Brands have had within the Market Place.

Phil Tappenden from Soft Drinks International initially outlined the thinking behind the BBI Councils decision for this award.

J2O is 50% juice drink, available in five flavours: Orange & Passion Fruit, Apple & Mango, Apple & Melon, Orange & Cranberry and Apple & Raspberry. Initially launched in the on-trade in 1998, J2O has made a successful transition into the take-home market. It has effectively defined a new category of adult juice drinks and is now worth over £193 million at retail value.

Robinsons Fruit Shoot was launched in 2000 and has proved to be highly popular with both children and their mums. It is now the No 1 kids drink in the UK, worth £72 million at retail value and is still recording double digit growth. Fruit Shoot comes in five flavours: Blackcurrant & Apple, Orange & Peach, Apple, Strawberry and Tropical, with a kids friendly sports cap.

On acceptance of the Achievement Award Andrew Marsden gave an explanation of how the Britvic Juice business had been developed over the years, and how the entrepreneurial nature of Britvic, as well as innovation being at the heart of their company philosophy, combined with investment in packaging and bottling, had brought about the development of J2O.

A review of their products in the ready to drink sector resulted in a fundamental rethink, and hence Fruit Shoot was developed using resealable packaging in the form of a sports cap which was introduced after considerable testing.

Of course Andrew was unable to expand on any issues of future company activities since, coincidently, on the day of the dinner, the owners of Britvic had announced the first steps of Flotation of Britvic as a separate company.

Colin Baker presents the BBI Achievement award to Andrew Marsden

In responding to the toast to the BBI, the National Chairman, Colin Barker, firstly complimented the high standard of the competition entries and then highlighted more significant changes the Institute has gone through during the last twelve months. These included new arrangements for the administration of the Institute; this is now being organised through a BBI Management Team. Colin noted that the Institute is most appreciative of the efforts of John Yates taking over the Secretary/Treasurer role. The BBI had stands at Interpack and the PPMA Show and also organized a series of very successful visits to prestigious companies during the last twelve months. It was pleasing that a number of the hosts were present on the evening. Colin paid tribute to the hard work put in by the Section Co-coordinators Jeremy Browne, Cedric Pettitt, Colin Mclellend and Brian Gibbs, in organising these visits.Colin also expressed thanks to Andrew Broadbent for organising the Dinner acknowledging the hard work that has to be put in to make such an event a success.

The primary role of the BBI is to foster networking opportunities for its members and we do greatly appreciate receiving as much feedback as possible both to the events which the Institute organises and to thoughts on any future events.

Dennis Taylor rounded off a very enjoyable evening by regaling us with anecdotes and stories from his times at the Snooker Table and in the commentary box, and more recently his exploits in the TV Programme “Strictly Come Dancing”,

Judging by the high degree of networking, during and after the dinner, the event was seen as successful by the hosts and guests.

Brian Gibbs