Cee-Jay Williams, the manager of the Junction Tap, on Chertsey Road in Woking, has been awarded the British Institute of Innkeeping’s (BII) Heart of the Community Award in recognition for his hard work supporting frontline NHS staff during lockdown from March to July this year.
 
Cee-Jay bought himself a 3D-printer using his bonus money at the start of lockdown and was quickly churning out hundreds of units of PPE a day. He raised funds to help pay for the filament he needed to print and also bought his own sterilising kits and packaged everything in Ziplock bags ensure maximum efficiency.
 
Over the lockdown period Cee-Jay is estimated to have produce more that 4,000 units of PPE, including, face shields, ear savers and nose clips needed for masks, depending on what was most in demand at the time.
 
The Heart of the Community award is uniquely not about competing companies or individuals against each other and recognises all those the industry body believes have gone above and beyond for their communities. Cee-Jay is one of just 22 national recipients to have been recognised this year.
 
Cee-Jay said: “I’m honoured to have been awarded this accolade by the British Institute of Innkeeping! It really means a lot to both me and my friend Tim, who was also part of our printing initiative. When we started printing way back in March, I had no idea we would achieve so much.
 
“It devastating to be going back into a second lockdown, but rest assured we will be working hard to support our community as we go through this another difficult period.”
 
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