As trailed in the June print issue of Professional Security Magazine, the ACS Pacesetters ran a lunch on Wednesday, June 4 at Windsor. Guarding sector veteran and Pacesetters partner Terry O’Neil writes.
In over 30 years in the contract manned guarding industry, I have never seen an audience brought to its feet, in this case in unanimous applause for Allen Parton, the Gulf War Veteran, whose long held dream and his partnership with a Labrador, Endal, formed the basis for the foundation of the high profile “Hounds for Heroes”, the chosen charity of The ACS Pacesetters. The inaugural ACS Pacesetters Achievement Awards Luncheon, held at The Royal Windsor Racecourse on Wednesday, June 4, in turn managed to raise £1410 for the charity, a quite outstanding contribution from the 125 guests attending the ceremony.
The awards luncheon, which will now become an annual event, brought together some of the best manned security companies in the industry. Contract Companies, which had been admitted to The ACS Pacesetters as a result of achieving a place in the top 15 per cent in the annual ACS inspection, and were able to attend, were rewarded with an engraved plaque commemorating their achievement in 2013-4. In addition a significant number of end-users were invited as guests, by the organisers, FM Contract Watch, as evidence grows that more and more clients are now using The ACS Pacesetters “Hall of Fame” from which to select their list of potential suppliers when going out to tender.
The organising committee for the awards luncheon, under the chairmanship of Lynda Moore, Partner in FM Contract Watch, had produced a 16-page commemorative brochure so that the guests could easily follow the order of events. More than that there was proper space to pay a genuine tribute to the sponsors of the event—something that can be all too often forgotten by regular organisers, who take sponsorship for granted and consequently may only pay lip service to those that offer financial support to their event.
We would again like to thank our main sponsors, namely, SSAIB; Sutton Specialists Risks Limited: Eurotech Monitoring Services; Cobia Limited and The Security Watchdog, part of Capita Plc. Wilson James and Interr Security sponsored the pre-lunch and table drinks respectively and Sodexo Limited provided one of the four raffle prizes, a Bateau Thames Cruise for two, including a four-course a la carte menu.
Details of the ACS Pacesetter companies which were able to attend the ceremony were shown in the Commemorative Brochure and can be found at www.acspacesetters.co.uk
FM Contract Watch used the ceremony to launch their new ‘Security Officer of Distinction’ award and had invited the five main sponsors to decide who, of the many nominations submitted, should receive one of the ten awards on offer. Each recipient received a personalised engraved plaque and two tickets to an event of their choice over the next year at The Royal Windsor Racecourse.
Bill Butler, the CEO of the SIA, agreed to present the individual awards and these went to the following very worthy recipients:
Sophie Cook of Axis Security Services Ltd – Nominated by Woking Shopping Centre
Paul Hodgson of Equinox Security Management Ltd – Nominated by Cambridge Assessment
Muhammad Butt of Interr Security Ltd – Nominated by Smyths Toys
Stuart House of Kingdom Security Ltd – Nominated by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Stephen Newall of Oakpark Security Systems Ltd – Nominated by Colchester Borough Council
Nicholas Jansen of Shield Security Services Ltd – Nominated by Vertu Corporation.
Christopher Lowe of Sodexo Ltd – Nominated by Unilever UK
Dumitru Didu of TSS Security UK – Nominated by Novus Leisure
Douglas Johnson of Ward Security Ltd -Nominated by MJ Mapp
John Taylor of Wilson James -Nominated by Tate Britain.
Details of the “Security Officer of Distinction” awards will have a permanent page on The Pacesetters website.
The luncheon concluded with an address by Bill Butler at which he outlined the future of both business registration and the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS), as he saw it; a fitting finale to a memorable occasion.
ACS Pacesetter companies attending: Advance Security UK Ltd; Axis Security Services Ltd; Contract Security( United Kingdom) Limited; Corps Security; Danhouse Security Ltd; Equinox Security Management Limited; First Response Group Limited: GBM Support Services Group; Hard Hat Logistics: Incentive Lynx Security; Interr Security; Kingdom Security Ltd; Oakpark Security Systems Ltd; Octavian Security; Shield Security Services Limited; Sodexo Limited; Specialist Security Co Ltd; The Keyholding Company; The Shield Group; TSS Security UK; Ward Security and Wilson James Limited.
About Terry O’Neil: He goes back to Argus Shield in the 1980s which was acquired by Pinkerton (itself acquired by Securitas). Terry was chief executive of Pinkerton. In 1998 he founded the guarding audit body The Security Watchdog, sold to Capita plc in 2012. That sale didn’t include the Silver Fox audit scheme and Pacesetters.
