Enterprising couple win top award

Award winning franchise company Puddle Ducks which teaches over 16,000 babies and children to swim each week across its national network, is delighted to announce the winner of their Franchisee of the Year award.

Suzanne and Gary Horton are celebrating after being presented with this top award at the 2016 Puddle Ducks annual franchise conference held in February. They received the award in recognition of their commitment to the company, exceeding expectations and being truly enterprising.

A few years ago Suzanne and Gary Horton both had successful careers in the legal profession, but they had always wanted to set up business together. Suzanne initially launched their franchise, as it would have been too big a financial step for them to both leave their careers. Today, the husband and wife team own and run the Puddle Ducks Greater Manchester franchise, teaching babies and children to swim.

Their business has gone from strength to strength, with the enterprising couple now seeing one of their largest projects coming to fruition. All Puddle Ducks owners hire public and private pools where they hold their swimming lessons, but Suzanne and Gary have taken the step of developing a ‘pool build’ business plan and have even sold their home in order to build their own swimming pool in new premises.

Jo Stone, Puddle Ducks co-founder commented “Suzanne and Gary have set the bar so high when it comes to exceeding expectations and being enterprising, that it is hard to imagine greater commitment to the brand. We feel honoured to name them our Franchisee of the Year.”

Puddle Ducks was founded by Tracy Townend and Jo Stone, both mums with successful corporate backgrounds, who shared a love of swimming with their babies and a common desire to launch a business. They opened their first Puddle Ducks class in 2002 and began franchising in 2007 and now have over 33 successful franchisees.

Puddle Ducks specialises in providing swimming lessons for babies from birth and children up to the age of 10. They also provide aquanatal classes for mums to be.

Taught by highly qualified teachers who encourage and nurture the children, Puddle Ducks classes ensure that they have fun whilst learning critical water-safety skills and a love of swimming for life.

If you would like to learn more about becoming a Puddle Ducks franchisee you can join them at one of their Discovery Days, the next ones are on Friday 11th March 2016 & Friday 6th May 2016.