A CHEMICAL firm in Corsham got the royal seal of approval after the Duke of Gloucester presented them with their Queen's Award for Enterprise for International Trade.

Staff from Glentham Life Sciences, which sources and supplies fine chemicals, biochemicals and raw materials to researchers and developers all over the world, were presented with their prestigious certificate and bowl at the ceremony on Thursday for their outstanding short term growth.

The company, which was founded by school friends Sam White and Nick Zieleniewski in a small facility in Wimbledon four years ago using personal savings and a small government loan, has now developed into a global player.

"It was an honour to have our award presented by the Duke," Mr White said. "The award required us to have three years of accounts and we had just signed them off when the application was due. Although the results were good, we certainly didn't expect to win."

The Duke of Gloucester was given a tour around the Ingoldmells Court premises before the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire Sir Roderick Cordy-Simpson read out the declaration from Her Majesty The Queen.

"It was really exciting to have him here," Mr Zieleniewski added. "The award is really going to improve our recognition and we have already taken several calls from customers in places like Italy and Ukraine congratulating us on the award. It just adds to the prestige of things.

"Looking ahead to the future we would like to reapply again in three years time but we would need to keep up this growth to apply for the same category. We are looking to get some more commercial space in the future and some extra employees, such as a chemist, to increase our product range and customer base and if successful we could apply for something else like the innovation category."

Glentham Life Sciences, who moved to Corsham two and a half years ago, were the only Wiltshire business to be named on this year's Queen's Awards list and the 29-year-olds have their fingers firmly crossed for continued success.