Judi James, 55, from Littlebredy in Dorchester, took her seat on this year’s judging panel to help decide the winner of UK Worker of the Year 2014, a competition run by globally recognised workwear company Dickies.
Judi, alongside four other judges, sat and interviewed this year’s seven finalists at Suzuki GB’s headquarters in Milton Keynes on Friday 26th September, much similar to a dragon’s den scenario.
The farmer, who won last year’s competition, winning a Suzuki Swift car in the process said: “The whole judging day really emphasised what hard work is all about. It felt great to be on the other side of the table, though I was still able to relate to how each finalist must be feeling. I thought they all did a brilliant job and made the judges decision incredibly difficult. It was all quite surreal, almost felt like I was handing over my baby.”
The winner of the UK Worker of the Year 2014 competition will have the luxurious choice between a Suzuki S-Cross car, V-Strom 1000 motorcycle or an ATV Quad bike. Also, the winner, who will be presented their prize at Brands Hatch on the 18th October, will have a chance of securing an additional £100K in cash by predicting the outcome of one of the final races over the British Superbike finale weekend.
Maurice Morton, sales and marketing director at Dickies and fellow judge, said: “It was great to have Judi on the judging panel this year. It’s always good to have someone who knows exactly what the finalists must be going through, having embarked on a similar journey herself last year.”
This year’s finalists came to judging day from all over the country. They were: Andrew Fox-Hewitt – a firefighter from Stoke-on-Trent; Louise Kathryn – a baker from Manchester; Andrew Mitchinson – an autovaleter from Yorkshire; Chris Teale – a plumbing and heating engineer from Barnet Mike Watton – a chef from Cornwall; Francis Williams – a project engineer from Shropshire and Jeremy Young – a landscape gardener and builder from Ceredigion.
