A Worksop man has won a national business award at a glittering award ceremony in London, to recognise leadership, achievement and impact across industry and business.

Lee Metcalf, 39, received his award in the Manufacturing category of the UK 40 Under 40 Awards, at the Hilton Hotel, Paddington, on October 8.

The senior operations manager for four years at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners' Wakefield facility, the largest soft drinks manufacturing site in Europe, grew up in Worksop.

A pupil at Prospect Hill Infant and Junior School, he attended Valley Secondary School, then studied engineering at North Nottinghamshire College.

Worksop's Lee Metcalf, who was successful in the UK 40 Under 40 Awards.

placeholder image — Worksop's Lee Metcalf, who was successful in the UK 40 Under 40 Awards.

He began his career locally, with Central Bottling in Bircotes.

He said: "At Central Bottling, my role allowed me to travel throughout the UK and internationally, developing valuable technical and leadership experience."

He later joined Solway Foods, part of Northern Foods, as a maintenance engineer, and after two years moved to Greencore, where he spent almost 11 years progressing to project management roles across Britain.

Prior to his current role, he was site engineering manager at Greencore's Selby facility, and now oversees ‘hundreds of colleagues responsible for producing millions of cases of soft drinks each year, helping keep shop shelves stocked with one of the world's most recognised beverage brands.’

He added: "Throughout my time at both Greencore and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, I have dedicated significant effort to coaching and mentoring colleagues, supporting apprentices, and helping young people build successful careers within manufacturing and engineering.”

He named his three biggest supporters as wife Rachel, who accompanied him to London, and children Phoebe, nine, and Teddy, five.

Mr Metcalf said: "One message I’m passionate about sharing is that, as a child, I was incredibly shy and quiet at school.

"The thought of standing up and presenting in front of a class of 20 people filled me with dread. Fast forward 20-plus years, and I now regularly present to audiences of more than 600 people on conference stages.

"For me, that’s proof we’re often capable of far more than we give ourselves credit for. More often than not, the biggest thing standing in our way is ourselves."

He added: "In my acceptance speech, I acknowledged things like this don’t happen to me...a lad from a small town in North Notts. It was extremely surreal and humbling, to be honest."