A retired Army major from Thirsk has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the 2022 Soldiering On Awards.
The awards also recognised the achievements of Thirsk businessman Lee Harris-Hamer, from the White Horse Cleaning Company, who was the business of the year – scale up award.
Fourteen winners were announced at the 2022 Soldiering On Awards across a diverse set of categories, recognising the hard work and achievements of individuals and organisations from the armed forces community, including serving personnel, veterans and family members.
650 guests gathered at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge on Thursday.
The 12th annual ceremony was the biggest in the Soldiering On Awards’ history as finalists from the last two years, who had been restricted to virtual celebrations, were invited to join their 2022 counterparts to celebrate with representatives from all three services, military charities, and corporate supporters.
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer MP joined Ministry of Defence leaders at the event, which was hosted by journalist and television presenter Lucrezia Millarini and former Army Reservist and plane crash survivor Jamie Hull.
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer said: “Congratulations to all the recipients of the Soldiering On Awards. The recipients of these awards highlight the incredible values that our armed forces bring to civilian life. I’m delighted to have celebrated these fantastic successes in person with award winners and nominees.”
English football legend David Beckham OBE added his praise in a video message, apologising that he could not be present.
He said: “I’m really sorry that I can’t be with you this evening at the wonderful Soldiering On Awards. I know that you’ll be having an amazing night listening to so many inspirational stories of remarkable individuals from across the armed forces community.
“To you the finalists, the work that you do is so vital; your dedication and commitment is truly incredible. I believe that each and every one of you are winners.”
Lifetime Achievement Award WINNER: Sip Powers
Sip Powers recently retired as a Major from the Armed Forces after 34 years’ of service. Alongside a distinguished career, during which he suffered his own significant health issues, Sip dedicated much of his spare time to support wounded, injured and sick (WIS) service personnel.
Sip devoted over a decade to the BattleBack initiative as an adaptive senior instructor, and established the Help4Heroes Para Climbing Team. After two years of planning, he completed Enduro7 to raise funds and awareness for Combat Stress. This personal endurance challenge demonstrated the effects of sleep deprivation linked to mental health issues and highlighted veterans suffering in silence. Sip remained awake for 185 hours, completing seven different 24-hour endurance events. Following this, he became Combat Stress’ County Representative for Lancashire, supporting 300,000 veterans.
Inspirational Sip has completed 17 Ironman competitions, including the gruelling BattleBack1000, coordinated and completed the Everest Charity Climb, tackling the height of Everest twice over five days, and is now coordinating a new guide route on Mount Kilimanjaro. Sip also personally oversaw the MoD Adaptive Home project, ensuring 120 homes met the clinical needs of seriously wounded and injured service personnel. This inspired him to form the H4H Paraclimbing team, working closely with Team GB.
Sip has now created his own business, ‘EXtreme Outdoors,’ enabling WIS personnel and veterans to access the great outdoors to assist with mentoring, coaching and wellbeing development.
Through the numerous gruelling endurance charity events he’s instigated and participated in, Sip has raised awareness and generated more than £40k for military charities.
Business of the Year – Scale Up Award WINNER: Lee Harris-Hamer – White Horse Cleaning Company
Lance Bombardier Lee Harris-Hamer’s story is one of triumph over adversity. Lee joined the Royal Artillery In 2008, aged 17, but suffered a devastating back injury that cut short his Army career. He was medically discharged in 2016.
Living in Thirsk, Lee saw an opportunity to become a self-employed carpet cleaner. ABF The Soldiers’ Charity supported him with funding for cleaning courses and the purchase of specialist cleaning equipment. After a few months, Lee expanded his business to offer general cleaning and became the Managing Director of White Horse Cleaning Services. Then, in 2017, he was offered a contract to clean a factory. It was a massive jump for a fledgling business, but Lee’s Army career had taught him to take risks. He signed the contract, employed staff and was helped with a business expansion loan by X-Forces Enterprise.
The company thrived, and in 2019 Lee made his business more sustainable and financially secure by focusing on commercial contract cleaning rather than domestic clients. Today, he has 42 employees and aims to become the number one specialist commercial cleaning contractor in Yorkshire. His eclectic customer base includes a castle, food and steel manufacturers, crematoriums and local government contracts. In 2021, White Horse Cleaning Services gained Silver accreditation in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, a great achievement!
Lee has a very strong belief in developing an environment where all staff are supported and valued, adopting the military team approach; they are ‘family’.
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