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Volume 1, No. 9. June 1, 2001

Lording over the competition
At first Angela Wright was flattered. The owner and manager of Crealy Adventure Park near Exeter, Devon, was entered by one of her staff, Brenda Hill, into the United Kingdom's Best Boss competition. The 2-year-old nationwide contest is run by PARENTS AT WORK with sponsorship from Lloyds TSP, one of Great Britain's largest banks. "I said, 'National contest, OK, we can have a go,'" recalled Wright, who had to submit a statement explaining why she thought she was nominated.

Even when she got the phone call that she'd been short-listed, Wright figured she was one of dozens. Turned out that she was one of a baker's dozen, and last week she learned she had been named one of the four winners of the competition. "They didn't say it, but there was a winner and three runners up. I was a runner up."

But nonetheless honored. The winners were treated to a lunch and ceremony at the House of Lords in Westminster. Angela and her husband, David, along with nominator Hill, took a train to London and made a grand trip of it: a show and dinner, and the next day entering the opulence of Parliament's upper chamber. "Very grand, incredibly ornate, lots of gold," Wright said. "We had lots of photos taken."

To eat lunch in the Attlee Room where the Parliamentarians dine, one must be the guest of a lord, and Wright's own representative, Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, was on hand to do the honors. "He was introduced to us as Fred. 'This is Fred.' We kept calling him Fred. We didn't realize he was my lord until later." After a tour of Parliament the trio went for a ride on the London Eye before heading back home to their own little family park, where Wright manages a seasonal staff of 300 and year-round staff of 40.

Wright received a "nice plaque" and flowers, and Hill received a bottle of champagne for the winning nomination, though Wright insists that was not the subordinate's motivation for entering her boss. "The champagne was a surprise." Though she was pressed hard to admit it, Wright is apparently a great boss. "Our team motto is 'Work hard, play hard.' Life's too short, so you have to enjoy your work because it makes up so much of your time. You need staff you're happy to see every morning. And I guess that goes both ways."

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