Anthony Crowned North East Employee of the Year 2019

We’re absolutely delighted to announce that our General Manager, Anthony Hunter, has been given much deserved recognition after being named North East Employee of the Year!

Anthony has been quietly working away here at Ellingham Hall for the past 10 years.

He was chosen to lead the way in turning the Hall into an ad-hoc place for weddings at the age of just 23.

Our owners, Aidan and Helen, told judges they spotted something special about Anthony when they first met him working for an outside catering company.

Helen overheard him talking to a fellow, older employee about the importance of his appearance. It was this attention to detail that helped them decide to offer Anthony the job as General Manager.

In the past decade, Anthony has led the Ellingham Hall family and helped turn us into a destination that has become renowned for its weddings and, in the past 12 months, one that is becoming known as a first-class corporate events venue.

It’s all part of his vision to help Ellingham Hall become a real beacon in the Northumberland community and in his time, we’ve grown from a team of three to a family of 40.

But it’s for a very personal reason that Helen and Aidan decided to put Anthony forward for the Outstanding Service category of the awards.

Just over a year after taking the reins, owners Aidan and Helen suffered a personal loss when their daughter tragically passed. Just 12 hours later, they were told that the Chapel at the Hall was on fire. The blaze ripped through that historic part of the building and meant weddings that were booked that summer were at risk.

But Anthony stepped up and took control, ordering a marquee that was placed on the lawn so that couples who were booked here would not have to find last-minute alternatives if they didn’t want to. He also went the extra mile to help those couples and their families and it became a wedding season to remember.

After picking up the Outstanding Service accolade, Anthony along with the other category winners, was put forward to the overall category of North East Employee of the Year and he won it unanimously.

We know Anthony is a great boss as well as a fantastic employee, but for his work to be recognised around the region is much deserved.

Anthony is very humbled by his award and says he didn’t expect to win his category let alone the top honour.

For us, he’s always been a winner and we all congratulate him and look forward to him leading us on to bigger things with plans for future builds in 2022!