Lifetime Achievement Award for Cheese Exporter

Nigel White, secretary of the British Cheese Board, presented the award to Glyn Woolley, chairman of Coombe Castle, at the Royal Bath and West Show in Somerset last week in recognition of the significant contribution the 68-year-old has made to the British cheese industry though his work over 38 years.

Responding to the honour, Mr Woolley said, “Coombe Castle has won many awards over the years but this one means more than anything else because it’s recognition by my friends and comrades in the industry of the ambassadorial role I’ve always tried to play for British cheese.”

Mr Woolley, who grew up on a farm in West Wales and began his career in 1965 as a management trainee with Unigate, added “I have always appreciated the hardships that farmers go through. That’s why nothing gives me greater pleasure in exporting than getting an order from Japan, Korea or the United States for a British West Country farmhouse cheese. The order might be small in the great scheme of things, but that farmer’s pride knowing his cheese is being bought overseas is immense.”

Coombe Castle produced its own cream and in partnership with British dairies, exports products including Stinking Bishop and Colliers Welsh, a range of creams plus butter from Devon, Wales and goats’ butter to over 40 countries.

Coombe Castle International was founded by Mr Woolley in 1980 and based on his farm in Corsham, Wiltshire. In 1984, the company acquired the Double Devon Cream Comapany from Unigate. Mr Woolley’s award comes only two months after Coombe Castle won their third Queen’s Award for International Trade.