FOUR members of staff at Matfen Hall are in the running for a top North-East hospitality award.

The employees from the Tynedale hotel have made the final shortlist of the North East Hotel Association Excellence Awards which will be held at the Hilton, in Newcastle-Gateshead, on February 25.

Organised by the North-East Hotels Association, the awards reward individual staff members for their achievements in 10 categories, including inspirational leadership and service excellence.

Matfen Hall, which was voted large hotel of the year at the 2015 VisitEngland Awards for Excellence, is the only Northumberland hotel to feature on the shortlist.

Its sales and marketing director Sarah Barber has been shortlisted in the sales excellence category, while spa, sales and retention manager Carole Crowe is competing in the leisure excellence section.

Rates and revenues manager Leila Reed has been shortlisted in the shooting star category for up-and-coming employees, while greenkeeper Derek Millar, who has almost 20 years of experience in the golf department, has been put forward in the inspirational leader category.

Matfen’s managing director Bernard Bloodworth said: “These awards, quite rightly, honour people whose work is integral to the success of the hotel and the wider industry here in the North East.

“I am delighted that Matfen Hall is representing Northumberland at the awards and to have been shortlisted in four categories.”