CELEBRATE the region’s business successes at the Liverpool Daily Post’s sparkling Regional Business Awards later this month.

Taking place in the splendour of St George’s Hall, hundreds of business leaders and owners will be there to congratulate those who have defied the current difficult economic conditions by continuing to thrive.

Businesses can still book their places at the awards dinner on Wednesday, June 24.

The guest speaker is Sir Richard Needham, who is no stranger to working in difficult circumstances, being a central player in some of the major regeneration and industrial challenges of the last three decades.

He was the minister responsible for redesigning and rebuilding Northern Ireland’s shattered towns and cities during a seven-year tenure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

He then spent three years as Michael Heseltine’s deputy at the Department for Trade and Industry and overhauled the UK’s export strategy.

Sir Richard has been with Dyson as the company shook up the vacuum cleaner market in the last decade, and he was largely responsible for the development of the company’s operations in Europe and the Far East.

The evening will be hosted once again by Peter Sissons. The Liverpool-born broadcaster was educated at the Liverpool Institute for Boys – alongside Sir Paul McCartney – before studying at Oxford and entering journalism.

He was wounded by gunfire reporting from Biafra. He stayed in the front line of broadcasting, presenting ITN’s News At One before moving to Channel 4 News, then the BBC, where he became a household name during his 16 years there.

The awards will see eight business recognised for their successes and one award for an individual judged to have had the biggest impact on the region in the past year, which was won last year by the Duke of Westminster for his investment in the Liverpool One shopping development.

To book tickets, priced £95+VAT each, call 0151 472 2570.