Anglo Recycling saving youth club rewarded

Photo: Liz Henson Photography

Employer of the Year winner Anglo Recycling, managing director Andy Hall with Alison Driver of sponsor Metis HR Ltd

A company that saved a youth club by setting up a charity was awarded the first ever business award for corporate social responsibility.

At the eighth Rossendale Business Awards at The Riverside in Whitworth, Anglo Recycling, based in Tong Lane, Whitworth, was awarded the Rossendale Free Press award along with the coveted title of Employer of the Year.

Chairman Simon Macaulay said: “We have a company charter which says we are committed to investing in the community.

“As a business we have to make a profit but, if we are serious about our role in the heart of the community, we can also give back.”

Whitworth Youth Club was forced to close in April because of Lancashire County Council cutbacks, so the company stepped in and formed a charity - Friends of Whitworth Youth - and employed and trained a youth worker Sarah Corke.

The club relocated into 41st Whitworth Scout Hall and now meets every Monday for up to 40 high school age children. Anglo Recycling is now paying for an assistant to be trained to help Sarah run the club.

The company, which will celebrate 80 years in business in 2019, converts carpet off cuts normally be destined for landfill and reuses the waste material to create underlay and felt.

Anglo Recycling employs 50 local people who mostly live in the town or surrounding areas, so it is important for the company to invest in the community.

Managing Director Andy Hall said: “We run this company on moral Christian values, which Simon is a strong advocate of.

“We realised that there were several different denominations in Whitworth and so we introduced a monthly meeting in the mill for the whole faith community when local residents join us – it is called ‘Pie with the Pastors’.

“Every couple of weeks we have a local Methodist Minister come into the mill and she is available for any member of staff who needs a chat, counselling or pastoral care.”

When the Boxing Day floods of 2015 devastated businesses and residential premises, the company used spare rolls as sandbags to divert water which was streaming into houses and set up Whitworth Flood Forum.

The forum, involving businesses, residents and councils, holds the Environment Agency to account and takes action to prevent a recurrence.

Andy said: “We have also formed a strong link with Whitworth Community High School and have attended mock interview sessions for students.”

The nominee’s citation said: “They are putting back time and money with a community focus. Anglo not only feels like a successful business in its own right, but is a business that cares for the community it operated within.”

A German felt manufacturer who had been on a sales visit to local footwear companies established the company in August 1939.

Being Jewish, he was advised not to return home and his customers clubbed together to buy him Bridge End Mill, where the company is still based.