STAFF and managers at Oxford Wood Recycling based at Milton Park, near Didcot, are celebrating being voted European Social Firm of the Year.

The company, which employs people from disadvantaged backgrounds, has also won a Social Enterprise mark and £1,000 of free advertising.

Chief executive Richard Snow said he was delighted with the double honour for the company, which collects, recycles and re-sells waste timber which would otherwise go to landfill.

He added: “It is so important to have received the recognition of our peers.

“It gives us confidence to know that we are doing something right and that we are achieving our social aims. We are a small business that sees the value in giving opportunity to people who have been out of work for a long time, often through illness.”

Judges at the European Social Firms of the Year Awards said: “Oxford Wood recycling meets an environmental and social bottom line and has almost tripled turnover in three years without any subsidies. Though small, it is highly effective.”

Set up five years ago by Mr Snow and Helen Porter, its turnover rose by 20 per cent last year to £125,000 and it recorded a pre-tax profit of £10,000.