“Isn’t
it time we had another Conference?” It had been three years since our last
event when our UK Support Director came to me with this leading question. A
question that would be the catalyst to a very proud day in the history of our
Support organisation.
Whilst
our Conferences have always been business focused, it was tradition for us to take
part in some sort of team building activity too. This time we wanted to Dare To
Be Different. Feedback from our annual engagement survey told us that we could
do more to give back to the community. So instead of investing in an organised
group activity, we decided to put our money and time towards a really worthy
cause and began the search for a charitable organisation that could use the
help of over 70 willing hands. You’d be surprised by how difficult it is to
find a project on this scale, but after much research we contacted The
Amelia Trust Farm, a
care farm charity based near Barry, South Wales. They were delighted by our
offer and over the next few months we finalised the plans for the day – which
included more than one preliminary walk around the muddy farm!
This
was an exciting period for both us and the Trust, as neither party had done
anything quite like this before. As the day approached I became somewhat
obsessed with checking the weather forecast. Sunny would be perfect (but
totally unrealistic I know, given it was September in Wales); cloudy but dry I
could live with. BUT PLEASE DON’T LET IT BE POURING WITH RAIN!!
As
the day arrived and we headed to The Trust after another excellent conference,
I thought our luck was in as the sun was shining…..but not for long!
We
were greeted by the Education & Site Manager, Mal Sanchez-Jones, with some
of his volunteer team, and Coco the donkey. Mal gave us an introduction to the
Trust and explained the tasks we would be doing in our teams. We then split
into three groups; Tee-Pee Tastic (building wooden Tee-Pees in a green play
area), Team Theatre of Dreams (re-vamping a natural amphitheatre), and Team
Speedy Snails (creating a woodland path with wooden snail sculptures). At this
exact moment, the heavens opened and it began to rain….torrentially!
For
three rain-drenched hours we dug, we chopped, we sawed, we scythed, we
hammered, we levelled, we hauled, we painted, we fetched and carried and we
didn’t stop for breath. We were soaked to the skin, covered in mud, and very tired
by the end! But… we were all smiling. Everyone threw themselves into their
tasks with 100% enthusiasm, and no one cared about the weather. I saw the
absolute best that we as a team could give during these few hours, it was
fantastic! No one really wanted to stop but of course, when we finally did, so
did the rain! The last drops fell as we congregated in the Trust courtyard
ready to climb aboard the coaches back to our hotel.
The
feedback I received after the event was 100% positive. Many said they would
love to return to the Trust – I am one of them – and felt that activities of
this nature did more for bonding teams than other traditional team-building
activities we’ve done previously. OK, so it took a few weeks for our boots to
dry, and the day did bring on a few coughs and colds, but you know what? We
don’t care. We loved the Trust, we loved the work, and we are immensely proud
of what we achieved.
Taking
a day each year to volunteer is something we’ve always been able to do in the
UK, and it’s great to see that this has now been rolled out internationally,
giving all employees around the world the opportunity to make a difference for
a fantastic cause. I would absolutely recommend that people take advantage of
this… and if you can do it with your team, even better!
Roll
on next time!







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