Congratulations to all the 2015 Bray Endeavour Award Winners:
- Niall Benson named Person of the Year
- Joe Duggan named Lifetime Achievement Award winner
- Special Chamber Award for Ciaran Megannety
- 15 Awards presented by Bray Chamber to Bray’s commercial, civic, cultural, and community heroes
- Over 200 attend Gala Awards ceremony at The Royal Hotel
Niall Benson has been named Bray Person of the Year at the 2015 Bray Endeavour Awards, presented by Bray & District Chamber and sponsored by Commscope and Royal Hotel and Merrill Leisure Club. The Awards were presented tonight (Friday 22 May 2015) at a gala awards ceremony in front of an audience of over 200 guests at The Royal Hotel, Bray.
Awards Chairperson Phyl Farrelly commented:
“We were extremely proud tonight to be honouring our local heroes here in Bray. We enjoyed an exciting as well as emotional night – we celebrated the achievements of our award winners in front of many members of our local community who joined us, as well as the winners’ friends and families, for this special celebration.
“We are absolutely delighted with the success of this year’s awards and in particular with the superb reaction which each of our winners received, especially our Person of the Year Niall Benson and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Joe Duggan along with every single one of our award winners. The Bray Chamber Endeavour Awards are unique in that all recipients are nominated by the people of Bray, making the annual Endeavour Awards the premier public accolade that our community can bestow upon that great band of heroes that we have in our town. There is no doubt this year’s winners are some of the most remarkable achievers in our community.”
Bray Chamber received a large number of public nominations for this year’s Endeavour Awards. The nominations from across the community were made following a public awareness campaign, during which the people of Bray were invited to nominate their civic, cultural, community and commercial heroes. A total of 15 awards were presented at the 2015 Bray Chamber Endeavour Awards. These include:
• Person of the Year – Niall Benson
• Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient – Joe Duggan
• Special Recognition Award – Ciaran Megannety
• Sports Achievement of the Year Award – Bray Emmetts
• Civic & Community Affairs Award – John Ivory
• Culture & The Arts Award – Bray One Act Drama
• Open Category Award – Ger Crowley
• Young Achievers – Presentation College Bray Transition Year Students, Adela Hunt and Matthew Tindell
• Retailer of the Year Award – Get Fresh
• Restaurant / Bar of the Year Award – Mt Everest of Kathmandu
• Outstanding Contribution to Tourism Award – Bray Summerfest
• Outstanding Small Business of the Year – SAMs Cookies
• Outstanding Large Business of the Year – Kelly Recovery
Speaking at the Awards, Chamber Vice President Mick Glynn paid tribute to all those who have been honoured in this year’s awards. “At Bray Chamber, we see these awards as our opportunity, and the opportunity of the community, to say thank you to the countless unsung heroes for the tireless efforts that they’ve made to better the business and community life of our town in our community! We also see these awards as reflecting what we in Bray Chamber are all about: promoting business, and supporting the community”
Each award winner was presented with a trophy specially-commissioned by Bray Chamber. Following a prosecco reception and a superb gala dinner prepared by the team at The Royal Hotel, tributes were paid to each of the award winners during a Gala Awards Presentation Show, presented by MC for the evening Katrina Farrelly-Cooke. The celebrations continued after the awards as the 200 guests danced well into the night.