Slurpy’s Managing Director, Aaron Wood, was invited to a 10 Downing Street reception by the Rt Hon Matthew Hancock MP onTuesday 6th December to celebrate Aardman’s 40th anniversary and the wider successful UK animation industry.

Minister of State for Digital and Culture Matt Hancock said:

The creative industries are a great success story for the UK, contributing a staggering £84billion a year to our economy and supporting 1.9million jobs. British animation plays a central part in that success, and is renowned all over the world for its innovation and distinctive humour.

I look forward to working with the UK Screen Alliance to ensure the ongoing strength of our screen industries, and am pleased we have recognised Aardman’s contribution to animation with this event at Downing Street.

The UK Animation industry is worth an estimated £1.5 billion a year to the UK economy and brings in around £300 million of investment a year.

Animation UK, and the newly formed UK Screen Alliance, highlighted that since its inception, the children’s animation industry has doubled in size, thanks largely to the tax credit, which the group successfully campaigned for and came in to force in early 2013.

David Sproxton and Peter Lord, co-founders of Aardman said:

It was extremely generous of Matt Hancock and Number 10 to host a celebration of British animation and Aardman’s 40th anniversary. Those gathered at Number 10 represented the many forms of animation produced in the UK, including feature films, games, TV series, commercials and many other forms of animated content. It highlighted the range and depth of talent the UK has in the sector. With the launch of the newly formed UK Screen Alliance announced at the event, it also marked a great opportunity for the government to understand the strength of the industry for the UK economy and to hear about how the future growth of sector could be realized. Our thanks go to Matt and has team for organizing the event.