The spectacular naming ceremony for the first ship to be built in Portsmouth Naval Base for 40 years has scooped two prestigious national awards after being named live event of the year at the recent Event magazine prize giving.

The naming of the offshore patrol vessel HMS Clyde, built by VT Shipbuilding in the Naval Base, took place in September last year and was an innovative and emotionally charged show combining the formal and religious elements of traditional naming ceremonies with cutting edge audio visual presentation, pyrotechnics and live music in a unique presentation.

The ship left Portsmouth last month and is now on station in the South Atlantic.

Bristol based Richmond Event Management (REM), who created and produced the ceremony, won two awards for the ceremony at the prestigious 2007 Event Awards, organised by Haymarket Publishing.

For the second successive year REM’s managing director Mike Richmond found himself accepting a Gold Award for best event in the maritime and aerospace category but was genuinely surprised and understandably delighted to receive the prestigious Live Event of the Year Award. Over 500 of the UK’s leading event managers and agencies gathered at the Natural History Museum to celebrate outstanding achievements in the live event marketing sector. An independent panel of 20 judges had selected the Clyde naming ceremony from nominations including Innocent Drinks “Fruitstock” Festival, the British Motor Show and live marketing event activities by Microsoft, BMW and Ford.

After a summer of intense activity managing the UK’s premier inland waterways event with British Waterways, organising the Glasgow River Festival, production of Bristol‘s Harbour Festival and Half Marathon and fulfilling various speaking engagements including a national event organisers summit conference in Cambridge, Mike and the REM team are currently working on a number of winter projects and preparing for an equally busy 2008.

Having collected the awards and ordered the customary large round of celebratory drinks, Mike commented:

“This award is a testament to the faith and visions of our client VT and the collective input of a great team which includes some of the most skilled and experienced people in the events industry. It is also a sharp reminder to the corporate world that companies outside of London have a huge amount to offer “



Earlier this year, Managing Director Mike Richmond was voted ‘Event Organiser of the Year’ for a second year running by fellow professionals at the Event Industry Awards.

Investors in People award

We have always believed that one of our greatest company assets are the people who work here. Just to make sure that nothing is being taken for granted, we undertook the rigorous assessment and interview procedures for the Investors in People award. In April of 2006, we received the award and are even more confident that we have the framework to attract, motivate and retain the right people.

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Achilles accreditation

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