Businesswoman takes out major award

A Woy Woy businesswoman has taken out major awards at the Business Professional Women Central Coast's Woman of the Year 2016 awards night.

Ms Patricia Hardcastle from Crystal Clear Pools won the Entrepreneur Award.

The 120 BPW Central Coast members and guests attending the dinner heard that the Crystal Clear Pool Shop was founded in 1979.

"Trish has been involved in the business since 2002," said awards organiser Ms Chris Levis.

"Trish has a daughter and five step children to her late husband who died in 2009.

"Her husband's death brought about a huge upheaval in Trish's life as such events always do.

"But Trish says she was brought up to be resilient, stand on her own two feet and not give up.

"So Trish took over the running of the business and has given it 110% ever since.

"She decided the best way to understand every aspect of the business was to train up as a pool technician herself.

"In the early days, she said she often stood in front of equipment looking at all of the pipework, trying to work out what led where and often sought devine intervention from her her late husband.

"However, she said patience and a determination helped her through.

"Trish is a great believer in innovation to maintain her competitive edge and superior service."

Some of innovations Ms Hardcastle introduced included a pool school to empower women to troubleshoot pool problems themselves, text reminders, accurate photometer pool analysis, and over-the-phone troubleshooting.

"It has all paid off.

"She has tripled the service vehicles in operation and recently won the award for the Focus 2015 National Pool Shop of the Year."

Email, 29 Feb 2016

Chris Levis, Business and Professional Women Central Coast

Reporter: Jackie Pearson