Angus Soft Fruits are thrilled to announce that we won 3 awards at the MDS ceremony, held on 17th January.
Darren Schlosser and Lucy Stephens both won the ‘MDS Special Recognition’ Award.
Angus Soft Fruits also took home the ‘Peter Shepherd award for Continued Support’.
The awards were presented alongside a very heartfelt and appreciated commentary from previous MDS student Libby Richards who worked in the technical team during her placement.
Congratulations to all!
Please take 5 minutes to read Libby’s commentary below…
“I would like to nominate Angus Soft Fruits for the Peter Shepherd award. Angus Soft Fruits treat their MDS trainees as valued members of the team and more importantly, members of the Angus family. Whilst I worked there, I was given an immense amount of responsibility. I spoke to almost everyone within the company – whether that be the Midlands office, Scottish office, Spain, Chile and Morocco. I was included in all meetings – whether that be daily morning meetings, department meetings, customer meetings or seasonal reviews. I was always asked to give my input and assist with significant decisions.
Whilst at Angus, I took part in multiple exercise challenges – the whole company was organised into teams to compete against each other. The aim was to cover the most miles within a given month. This built team cohesion and brought out the competitive side in everyone! I also ran the Edinburgh half marathon for the company, raising money for charity. Angus makes sure that everyone is involved in these challenges and there is always something fun going on– whether that be exercise challenges, cooking classes, gin tasting or bake-off competitions!
I also got the opportunity to go to Scotland with my manager, Darren, to visit out Scottish growers. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I feel so fortunate to have had this experience. I made friends for life at Angus, and I keep in contact with all of them now.
I wanted to give a special mention to Darren Schlosser, my manager, who goes above and beyond for his team. One member in our team was unable to come into the office for Covid reasons, so Darren arranged for all of us to go to her house for a cup of tea on her birthday. He also went to her house to deliver and set up a new desk for her. Darren was ever-present as a leader, a manager and a friend. I am so grateful to have worked alongside him. Even through the worst days, he would always manage to make you smile or laugh. Some of his signature moves would be hurtling blueberry-shaped stress balls across the office or coercing people into running marathons…
I also wanted to give special mention to Lucy Stephens who was a fantastic role model throughout my time at Angus. Having completed the MDS scheme herself, she motivated me through some tough days and gave me the reassurance that hard work pays off. She puts her life and soul into the company and is such a brilliant ambassador for women in fresh produce. “
