A North-East optical practice has taken a top award at a



national ceremony, recognising the best practices within Optometry and

retail optics.Querido and Davidson Optometrists of Heaton, Newcastle upon

Tyne triumphed over 25 other practices nationwide to reach the final

shortlist.Ten awards were presented at the lavish awards hosted by

Optician Magazine. Querido and Davidson impressed the judging panel with

their," clinical ability, business acumen and innovation," to take the

award for, "contact lenses Practice of the Year, 2006, "sponsored by

Johnson and Johnson Visioncare.John Davidson, 35, Optometrist and director

of the practice is delighted to have received the award and believes it

reflects the practice's strong belief in providing customers with, "state

of the art products balanced with an individual, high quality service

where customers receive the very best in today's innovative eye care. "The

practice was established in 1956 and eventually purchased by John and his

wife, practice manager and director Julia Davidson, 32, in 2002. The

couples dedication to their practice has seen the business grow from

strength to strength, now specialising in customers who suffer eye

diseases or require alternatives to laser care procedures.John's

professional dedication leads him to play a role as a part-time senior

Optometrist at Sunderland Eye Infirmary, mainly performing specialist

contact lenses fitting and low vision work. He sees the award as, "

punctuating a new period in the growth of our business and a validation of

the immense hard work since the business was launched over 3 years ago.

"The practice, which now employs several full-time staff, are dedicated to

the future, which includes maintaining exemplary levels of service for

their customers in all aspects of eye care - with a view to producing

products for all types of vision problems.