Nostalgia along with excitement was the mood of the evening at this year’s Medway Business Awards gala evening when sponsors and finalists celebrated 25 years of celebrating Medway’s best businesses. Born out the dockyard closure, the awards have grown to the prestigious level of today.

This year has seen an even stronger entry list and it wax a tough call for the judges. There is no doubt the quality of companies in the area takes some beating. The finalists’ profile film this year was produced by sponsor Montrose Media, which regularly works with Sky, Wembley Stadium and rugby union events as well as being experts on making company profiles and guarantees to even make cement sexy.

 Compered by TV personality Geoff Clark, the first of the winners Education Sense, came up for the £500 "Making a Difference" award. Finding the right staff and especially in the special needs sector is the job of Education Sense. Director Carl Gannon said he operates the safest agency in Kent and his dream is to set up a camp for special needs children Next for £500 was

The "Q" Award appropriately named for HDH Security Systems Limited. This innovative company protects cash in transit with state of the art security systems and also produces covert cameras and tracking systems. This 007 type firm has some top clients including Middle Eastern royal families.

Third prize worth £750 was Medway’s Best Kept Secret Award which went to Navigator Productions Limited. This Strood-based media company offers video and web content creation. It also well specialises in technical training presentations, provides online learning via a learning management system and customers include BAA, Nestlé, Honeywell and MHS Homes

Runner up for the Light Bulb of the Year Award and a £1000 handsome prize went to a young company, Virtualgym TV. Running the first global live broadcasting fitness programmes VirtualGym TV has brought an ‘on demand’ online gym to over 63,000 people in homes and offices and dared to face the dreaded online Dragon’s Den with its service. .

A company with a long Medway history captured the £2000 first prize. Celebrating 100 years of business, Passmores Portable is one of Medway’s oldest companies. It manufactures, sells and distributes timber garden buildings, garages, stables, carriage houses, garden offices and sports pavilions Director Stuart Slaughter said he was stunned at winning the top prize and it would give the firm the push to do even better. It was an acknowledgement of the time they’d operated successfully in Medway.

To mark the awards 25th birthday which it shares with The Historic Dockyard, special prizes were given to two companies with strong dockyard connections. Dockyard Trust chairman Admiral Sir Ian Garnett presented trophies to Waterman Offshore and Base Event Production.

Having a founder who was a former dockyard worker, engineering firm Waterman Offshore specialises in steel structures, pipework and vessels. The company takes on a number of work experience youngsters and customers include Costain and the London Underground.

Situated in The Historic Dockyard, Base Event Production can offer concert sound and lighting as well as musical rehearsal facilities. The company has worked with a number of stars and customers have included local boy Billy Childish, Ester Rantzen and group Imagination.

Sir Ian said the transformation that had taken place at the dockyard over the past 25 ears was staggering. It now enjoys 150,000 annual visitors, is landlord to 112 small to medium sized firms and there are 400 residential homes on the site. It was truly a breathing example of regeneration.

Sir Ian also made a special presentation of a caricature to the Medway Business Awards founder, former KM deputy editor David Jones. Mr Jones, who spent 37 years at the Kent Messenger Group, said that when the dockyard closed it seemed like the end of the world. So he started the awards because people had the skills to start up small businesses. He added he would never have believed the awards would still be going strong today. Amusingly he concluded saying he remembered the award evening 25 years ago when the meal consisted of sausage rolls and chicken wings, a far cry from the black tie event of 2009.

Other finalists included: Beeline Sameday, Intouch 4U, Medway Safety, Norma’s Catering, Optimum Fitness UK Limited and Take Care (SE) Limited