A TIMBER business is celebrating two pieces of good news.

Duncombe Sawmill in Helmsley has just acquired one of its competitors and owner Emma Woods has been shortlisted in the Entrepreneur of the Year category of the Yorkshire Rural Awards. The company has bought Dales Timber of Whitby Road, Pickering, and taken on two new staff.

Mrs Woods said: "It means customers visiting Pickering will now be able to buy timber cut to any size, bespoke gates and fence panels made to any style or size, as well as having timber treated and an installation service."

Phil Storey - whose brother manages the Helmsley sawmill - has been appointed foreman at Pickering where Matthew Bernstein has also been taken on.

The acquisition means Duncombe can now sell and deliver timber in an area from Middlesbrough to York and Thirsk to Hull, as well as Whitby and Scarborough.

Mrs Woods bought the former Duncome Estate sawmill when it closed five years ago. She saved the jobs of eight staff, has turned the business round, and has now been shortlisted in the Yorkshire Rural Awards.

Terry Fletcher, chairman of the judges, said: "Duncombe Sawmill is an object lesson in how a traditional rural business can be made to thrive by an entrepreneur with drive and imagination."

The winners will be announced by BBC Look North presenter Harry Gration at a gala dinner in Harrogate on Thursday.

The evening will end with the Yorkshireman/Woman of the Year Award presented by shadow foreign secretary and Richmond MP William Hague.

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