A SOUTH Zeal woman is celebrating after scooping a top award at her company?s ?Oscar? ceremonies last month. Vicki Mills, who runs Slimming World classes in Okehampton, saw her team win the Team of the Year award during a glittering ceremony at the ICC in Birmingham ? beating more than 300 other teams from throughout the country. Vicki said: ?It was fantastic ? we?ve worked so hard so it?s really nice to be recognised for it and it actually means I am one of the top twelve consultants in the country ? it?s brilliant.? Vicki joined Slimming World after she had a baby and lost three stone in weight with the group. She was asked to work as a consultant for the company and re-launched the classes at the Ockment Centre on Wednesday evenings in 2003. Last year, she started an additional class at Fairplace Church on a Tuesday evening. Vicki said: ?I now have about 40-45 members in each class. I absolutely love what I do ? I?ve done jobs before where you are working to make money for a company and that?s it, but I get so much out of what I do now.? Vicki said seeing members lose weight and gain confidence was ?wonderful?. ?I?ve had people coming in who just don?t want to be seen or looked at, but then over the months they gain confidence and they feel 100% safe in the class. There?s no humiliation and it?s completely confidential. We never say what anyone?s weight is out loud, it?s always about weight loss.? Vicki said her team, North Devon and Cornwall, might not have been the biggest in the country, but won the award based on retention of its members, its average weight loss over the year and what they have done to develop the group. She said the team knew they had been nominated for the award ? but it was still a complete surprise to have actually won it. ?It?s so nice to think we are the top team ? it was great,? she said.
