THE deadline is looming for entries to the first Westmor-land Gazette 2010 Business and Tourism Awards.

And one of South Lakeland’s top businessmen is urging as many enterprises to enter as possible before Monday’s closing date.

Charles Crewdson, chief executive of Gilbert, Gilkes and Gordon, award sponsors, said: “I strongly back the Westmorland Gazette’s Business Awards and Gilbert, Gilkes and Gordon will be sponsoring the green category.

“We’d encourage everyone – from big businesses to taxi drivers – to apply.

“We’re a green company, perhaps the oldest in the Lake District because we have been making renewable electricity since 1888.

“I think the world lost sight of green energy in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s when everything was being made cheaply.

“But the need for better ways of working has become very pressing because what we do now will affect every-one.

“It’s the core of our business.”

The awards are open to all businesses regardless of size and they can enter one or more of the 11 categories covering every area of business achievement and enterprise.

Groups and organisations are also eligible to enter categories such as Team of the Year or the Social and Community Development Award. The awards list’s highest accolade will be the Business of the Year award, which will go to the enterprise that can demonstrate a succ-essful track record of excellence and achievement.

A panel of judges will whittle entries down to a shortlist of finalists for each category and the ultimate winners will be announced at a glittering ceremony at The Castle Green Hotel, Kendal, on Friday, September 17, hosted by North West Tonight presenter Dianne Oxberrry.

Guests will be entertained by one of Britain’s top after-dinner speakers, consultant physician Dr Kevin Jones.

A former member of the heart-lung transplant team at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, Dr Jones has built a reputation for his hilarious hospital humour, which he delivers at dozens of events every year.

Dr Jones qualified in medicine from Liverpool University in 1977, then worked on Merseyside for three years, during which time he was medical officer to Huyton Rugby League Club.

He then moved to Cambridge and worked for four years on the Papworth team before becoming a senior registrar at the famous St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London until 1992.

Dr Jones, who also spent some time in Denver, Colorado, researching lung transplantation, now works as a consultant physician at a general hospital in Lanca-shire and is medical officer for Salford Rugby League Club. He said: “I’m looking forward to coming to Kendal to be part of the Gazette awards. They’re a great idea.”