THEY were the big winners at this year’s Winchester Business Excellence Awards.

Richard Steel and Partners, the family owned funeral directors, have been serving Winchester and the wider Hampshire community since 1860 through four generations of the Steel family.

The blacktie event, now in its 15th year, saw the company win the Service Excellence Award, as well as being crowned Simply Health’s Business of the Year.

Richard and Iain Steel, together with their team of staff, offer a truly personal 24-hour service and firmly believe that every funeral is unique.

Through their extensive experience they offer help and guidance on the style and location of the ceremony from a simple unattended committal for a few hundred pounds to a personalised religious or non-religious celebration that reflects the individual.

Iain Steel said: “We were honoured to be awarded the Service Excellence Award for 2017, as it was nominated by the public. It reflect the tireless care of our long serving team. “They give of themselves all day, every day, to help bereaved families in Hampshire.” Richard Steel said: “My father, Stanley Steel, twice mayor of Winchester, would be exceedingly proud to know that his dedication to local service excellence continues to this very day.”

Recommended by The Good Funeral Guide, Richard Steel and Partners are members of The National Association of Funeral Directors. and members, by invitation, of Selected Independent Funeral Homes.

Iain added: “The additional recognition of Business of the Year 2017 was a complete surprise, as voted by the judging panel from the Winchester Business Excellence Awards. I feel this reflects our long association with Winchester including the wider community and the privilege we feel it is to be part of the community.”