We crossed the finish line yesterday at 5pm. Masssive BBQ and beach party last night. We didnt win any of the awards but had a fantastic time. Fly back today lots of photos to add later. Excellent Run would definitely do it again.
Arrived in Salamanca last night, had a look round the town and had a few drinks with some of the other teams. In Portugal now. We are in convoy with a few teams today as some of them are having engine trouble….
Got into San Sebastian yesterday afternoon and got pulled by the police. They had already seen the A-team car and wanted to take photos. They said we are crazy! Met up with a few teams at the camp site last night and had drinks at the site bar. Didn’t see the town as it was raining. We are in convoy with a team on route to Salamanca. Should be there in 5 hours so back on track.
Fan belt snapped yesterday 50km out of la Rochelle, we spent the night in Lucon The local peugoet dealer got the parts and fixed the car first thing this morning we head straight for san Sebastian now having missed last night’s festivities. We should only be a few hours behind the other teams and will be able to set off with them tomorrow all going to plan.
Wolfestone Translation is sponsoring a team to complete The Sucata Run which is the European charity banger rally tour from France to Portugal and is taking place on August Bank Holiday weekend.
The Sucata Rally consists of teams of up to 4 people driving in an old car worth no more than £250 for 5 days. The tour starts in Normandy’s capital, Rouen and proceeds 2000km through Bordeaux and Spain and ends at Europe’s most westerly point in Portugal. Wolfestone is sponsoring Ghostbusters – a 4 man team from Swansea comprising of Phil Burchell the team captain and co-drivers John Burchell, Steve Gray and Richard Ward from Swansea. We will be following their progress through My Space and SMS daily.
This year there are 66 teams taking part and 100% of the money teams raise goes directly to charity. Benefiting from the tour is a charity called Gemini, a UK charity that encourages children and young people around the world to talk to each other about issues that are important to them. This is to help break down cultural, religious and social barriers. The aim of the programme is to discourage the use of violence against other religions, cultures or states. The Sucata Run also has green credentials as they will be off-setting all the carbon created by the run using carbon off setting companies.
Anna Bastek, Director of Wolfestone Translation said: “We are always happy to support good causes and the Sucata Run is a great and exciting event. I’m sure next year Wolfestone Translation will enter the run ourselves as it is a great team building event and a great opportunity to help people in need.”
At the end of the race the participants have the option to scrap their car in an environmentally friendly way or if they have grown attached to it over the course of the 5 days they can take it back home with them. Wolfestone Translation is all for crossing barriers and boundaries (even in an old banger!) and we wish the Ghostbusters team the best of luck.
For more information visit our website www.wolfestone.co.uk!
I arrived nice and early at Afan Park ready for whatever the day could throw at me. At first it mainly threw rain at me, but fortunately at about midday it stopped. Until then we did the various challenges which could be done in our rather spacious tent. This started with a challenge of what objects would be most useful should we ever happen to capsize our boat in the middle of the Atlantic. Both teams got the exercise largely correct, guessing that water, food and a mirror to signal would be the prerequisites for survival. We then moved on to determining which 6 of our entire team should be rescued in the event of a nuclear winter. This was fun, although we spent so long discussing the issue that the rescue helicopter took off empty.
After this we played a game involving participants writing three facts and one lie about themselves, and then having to guess who had written what, and which “fact” was a lie. There we discovered various interesting aspects of each others’ personalities. Following on from dinner we moved outdoors to attempt to make a square with a piece of rope. This might have been somewhat easier had Anna not decided to blindfold all of us, but the results were entertaining. We then moved on to a slalom race, with one person blindfolded, and another guiding the first person up the course before the pair switching roles for the return leg. The times posted were very competitive, the routes followed occasionally hilarious. We finished off by attempting to make a sturdy robust bridge from old newspapers. Here, we discovered that the one team had missed its obvious vocation as construction engineers.
After all of this, we gathered round the campfire for a sing-song and a nice cup of tea, reflected on the day and had an enjoyable night. I personally enjoyed myself thoroughly, but it wasn’t just me. A good time was had by all, exactly as it should be.
Rendezvous for the team building was at 10am on Saturday morning where we compared waterproof clothing and discussed the fact that it was definitely raining as we all suspected. After getting lost once or twice, driving round the same roundabout a couple of times and admiring the beautiful roadside scenery we finally found the right turning.
When we arrived the next step was to set up base camp, we found a suitable spot and proceeded to dominate the campsite, whoops! By this time it was time for lunch and then the real fun could begin. The first tasks were to take place in the main tent, where there was a large enough sitting area that we didn’t need to get to know each other TOO well. These tasks ranged from a lateral thinking exercise involving plastic forks, to a survival rescue task which involved having a list of 20 items and deciding which were most useful whilst floating on a dinghy in the Atlantic. Needless to say each team’s answers were an interesting insight into the individuals in the team and the way that people think.
When the rain stopped we were able to venture out doors to start tasks testing trust, patience, team work and resilience to constant drizzle! It was interesting to watch the teams working together and to discover people’s strengths and weaknesses outside of the normal working environment.
I believe the team building camping weekend was a success, the whole experience, from setting up tents to making tea and preparing food were team building exercises in themselves, which I believe we all benefited from. The aim was to get to know each other better and have a little more faith in the Wolfestone team and we definitely achieved that.
I can see that this is going well..
Lying in bed listening to the rain battering my window on that Saturday morning, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the prospect of the Wolfestone team building camping experience! Nevertheless I summoned the Wolfestone ‘can do’ attitude and headed for Afan Argoed forest park in as much water proof clothing as I could find.
Once we had found an area big enough to accommodate our physical tasks and set up the tents, (unfortunately surrounding an unsuspecting pair of cycle enthusiasts who had a bit of a shock once they returned from a peaceful day on the tracks!), we commenced the activities. With the rain still coming down strong, the possibility of any outdoor tasks seemed slim to none, so we kicked off with our indoor activities. Once the rain had eased slightly we all braved the elements to complete our more physical tasks. One task which I found particularly interesting was an open mindedness task where we were told there had been a nuclear blast and a helicopter was arriving to take people to safety but it could only carry 6 of us. We then had to evaluate each other and decide on a way to choose who would go who would stay, be it random selection or based on certain criteria, such as if we had to build a new society who would be of more value? One member of the team suggested it would be the six who could run fastest, I won’t name names!
I would certainly recommend this experience to other small companies as a way of getting to know each other better. I can honestly say that when I saw the rain that morning I was not expecting the day to go as well as it did. Every member of the Wolfestone team came up with interesting and insightful tasks that helped us to bond as a company and to discover everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.
Our team-building camping trip started off badly with lots of rain and drizzle, but Wolfestone team proved intrepid and we hit the road in our cramped cars, overloaded with camping and survival equipment, Polish sausages and crates of…Coke. After we finally managed to park our cars without blocking other campers, we put up our tents on what at the time seemed to be a harmless slope but at sleep time turned magically into a giant side of a mountain, which we were rolling down in our tents. We all got soaking wet and very muddy so we gathered in our huge tent’s living area and practised our team working skills while preparing lunch, each of us responsible for one of the following sandwich making stages- cutting, buttering, „hamming”, „lettucing” and „tomatoing”. We then played lots of fun indoor challenges prepared by our colleagues. We have learned that we should not set fire to the water while drifting on a (possibly rubber!) raft in the middle of the Ocean and that a shark repellent is something each of us should keep handy! When the rain had finally stopped, we completed our outdoor challenges: built 2 extra durable bridges out of newspaper that could hold a man’s weight (well, almost!), made 2 extra straight squares out of rope with our eyes closed and without talking (well, almost!), showed incredible balancing skills while group-walking on tiny bricks (well, almost!) and saved the planet by neutralising radioactive liquid that Roy had inadvertently brought with him to the campsite. After all the challenges and a major bog-related accident, we burned the bridges and enjoyed a nice warm fire (well, almost!) that we managed to light and barbecued till the wee small hours, playing guitar and singing „Delilah”…
With only one day to go everyone is frantically preparing their tasks for our team building day on Saturday. Everyone has a theme to work with for example, trust, patience, survival or communication and each task will be kept a secret until Saturday. We do however have a list of all the equipment that people need and this varies from rope to pen and paper to eggs!
With the weather being reported to be anywhere in between 26 degrees without a cloud in the sky or snowstorms (according to our staff!) anything could happen. We have chosen Afan Forest Park for our campsite for the stunning location and we are hoping the fresh air will mean we come back with a head full of ideas.
We feel that team building is important for us as we have such a small team and we all have to work very closely together. It is essential that we communicate properly, are aware of each other’s skills and that we can trust one another. As well as getting to know each other properly we hope that this weekend will make Wolfestone even more dynamic and successful.