A MANAGER of a Hereford company has won a national award recognising her organisational skills and innovative ideas.

Michelle Skyrme, a manager at Sun Valley foods, was named achiever of the year by the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), beating off competition from more than 80,000 other ILM learners to win the award.

Judges cited Michelle's passion for improvement and her interest in the welfare and development of her staff as what made her stand out from the crowd.

Michelle left school 16 years ago with no qualifications and started work at Sun Valley on the shop floor. After completing ILM training levels 3, 4 and 5 she is now a front-line manager and initiated a new process of de-boning chicken which saves the company £160,000 a year.

Michelle said: "When I left school I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my career. I started working at Sun Valley to earn a living and support my daughter, Holly.

"During my time there I found I was highly motivated and capable of organising which encouraged me to take on a role in management. The company have supported me and helped me achieve something I never thought I could. I am really honoured to have won this award and my advice to others is that if you have the passion, drive and commitment to succeed, you can achieve anything you want in life."