BRADFORD businesswoman Margaret Miller has received a furniture industry lifetime achievement award in recognition of more than 50 years in the sector.

Mrs Miller, who is chairman of Knightsbridge Furniture where she began her career in 1959, was honoured by the British Contract Furnishing Association (BCFA) at its annual lunch attended by 500 industry representatives.

She was recognised for her role in steering the development of Knightsbridge into becoming a leading designer and manufacturer of furniture for the healthcare and hospitality sectors. She is also keen to encourage young people to pursue careers in industry and at least ten per cent of Knightsbridge’s Bradford workforce are apprentices.

Mrs Miller has held many industry positions and is currently a BCFA director, a council member of the Furniture Industry Research Association and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers. In 2008, she was appointed Master of the Furniture Makers Company, the first and only woman to hold the office. She said: “I’m both honoured and humbled to receive such a tribute. It’s particularly moving to be honoured by one’s peers in this way in front of such a large gathering, many of whom I have come to regard as personal friends.”

Mrs Miller, who lives in Shipley, was co-founder and trustee of Bradford’s War on Cancer charity which raised more than £4 million for research at the University of Bradford into the causes of cancer and its treatment at Bradford Royal Infirmary.