Doncaster team take the limelight at awards bash attended by John Lennon's former assistant

Members of staff from St Leger Homes with their award.

The seven-strong team of personal assistants at the firm, which manages Doncaster Council’s housing stock, won the title of Best Executive Support Team in recognition of providing excellent support to the company’s executive management team.

The team was praised by a panel of expert judges for working hard to gain the confidence and trust of town councilors who are now able to call up directly to deal with a constituent complaint whereas in the past they have called asking to speak directly to a director.

The ceremony was held at Leeds United’s Elland Road football ground and headlined by May Pang, former PA to John Lennon, who gave a speech about her work, and BBC Look North presenter Tanya Arnold.

The judges included international executive assistant consultant Adam Fidler, executive assistant at William Grants and former Scottish PA of the Year award winner Kelly McAulay and last year’s Yorkshire PA of the Year and executive assistant at Clarion Solicitors Sarah Caswell.

They praised all of the finalists and added in a statement: Choosing a winner is never an easy decision to make, and definitely not one that we took lightly.

“After hours of deliberation, and an evening of interviews for a selection of the categories, we came to an agreement for each category.

“The executive support team at St Ledger Homes go over and above to invest in understanding the business better with a word shadowing program.

“They have their own tailored strategic plan to ensuring service is tailored to meeting the needs of the business – a great example of looking at the organisation as a whole and working together to find the right solutions.”

Marion Lowrence, director at The PA Hub, organisers of the awards ceremony, said the standard of nominees was extremely high, adding: “We really are overwhelmed by the phenomenal calibre of entries from across Yorkshire this year.

“We started the awards last year, in a bid to put Yorkshire PAs on the map, and really give them a voice.

“What has happened since has astounded us. Yorkshire PAs have not just found their voice, they have found their feet, and joined forces as a united network, challenging their roles and actively taking up career development programs to be the best support teams across the region.

“Yorkshire businesses truly are very lucky to have such a highly motivated, ambitious network of Assistants taking the reins and helping to take Yorkshire forward.”