A NOT-for-profit organisation which has been providing healthy dinners to schoolchildren for more than a decade has been named as one of the best businesses in the south west.

Bridport's Local Food Links won the award for Scale-Up Business of the Year at the Federation of Small Businesses' (FSB) Celebrating Small Business Awards 2019.

The south west finals of the FSB contest took place at Somerset County Cricket Ground and were designed to find the best small businesses in the region.

Caroline Morgan, from Local Food Links, said the firm was thrilled to have won the competitive category after what had been a ‘very challenging year.'

“We have helped to re-introduce school meals to many schools, sourcing locally and striving to give the kids a really good hot meal which for some might be the only one they get in the day,” she said.

“This really means the world to us and we thank everyone who helped us. I even tweeted our bank to say ‘thank you for the loan, look what we did with it.’”

The winners go through to the national FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards final in London in May.

Roger Tarrant, FSB regional chairman, said the event highlighted the strength, creativity and wide-ranging nature of the local small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector.

“It really was a fabulous day and it was amazing to hear all about the fantastic nominees," he said. "The businesses in the south west are just so diverse - they really do cover the whole spectrum. I hope we can now go on to see some south west winners at the national finals in London.”