The Chairman of Lancashire County Council, Anne Cheetham MBE JP, invited a group of Enterprise Vision Awards finalists to celebrate Lancashire Day at an Evening Reception at County Hall. The Chairman had met the Lancashire businesswomen at the 2018 EVA’s and had extended the invitation to them in recognition of their EVA awards and achievements.

Dignitaries from across Lancashire attended the event to mark the 22nd anniversary of Lancashire Day which was first held in 1996 but which actually dates back to 1295 when Lancashire was first represented at the court of King Edward I.

The Enterprise Vision Awards are known for their glitter and glamour, however it was the turn of Lancashire’s Mayors and Mayoresses to dazzle the ladies with their heavy ceremonial Chains of Office of gold and gems.

The Lancashire Day proclamation was read to the assembled by HM Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire, the Rt Hon the Lord Shuttleworth KG KCVO. A delicious supper included local favourites Lancashire Hot-Pot, Butter Pie, Goosenaugh Cakes and Chorley Cakes and a selection of local cheeses which went down a treat.

The reception was a lively affair with games, a quiz and a recital of Lancashire songs old and new and the poem Albert and the Lion. The Chairman was in fine fettle and amidst plenty of laughter knew exactly how to bring the chamber to order. It was a special moment when she took a moment to pay tribute to the EVA’s, the hard-working women in business and the charitable work that is undertaken by Pink Link and the EVA’s each year.

As the evening drew to a close, the ladies seized an opportunity for a group photograph with the Chairman in the ornately panelled Tudor Room. It was certainly an evening to remember.