Where: Walesby Forest
https://www.walesbyforest.org.uk/
Why: Fernite annual Away Day 2022
As we gathered in the car park at Walesby Forest, the sky was blue, the sun was shining with a light breeze, but the forecast for the afternoon was for heavy rain. What lay in store for us? Would the weather dampen our spirits? Only time would tell.
We started with an eggstremely interesting team building eggercise. The task resulted in some unusual and interesting designs, some being more successful than others as the cracks started to appear. An eggciting finale saw the teams egging each other on, hoping that the yoke wasn’t on them and not wanting to get egg on their face. A strange clutch of forest items was collected to help with the task, some more successful than others. All teams looking on in eggasperation as the management team showed us how it should be done; it does help when you complete the same challenge the previous month.
After a coffee and a kick-around at the lodge, the adventure continued with skilful displays of axe throwing and archery, with some impressive skills being shown by various team members, not that there was any inter-team competition at all…………..much! As the rain started to fall, to get one axe to stay in the target was an achievement, let alone three, congratulations to those few that managed this impressive feat.
Archery showed off the Teams’ Robin Hood skills, with the centre of the target not necessarily being troubled early on, but the rabbits in the woods quickly disappearing as they realised their lives were in danger, but the bullseye was hit regularly later on (in the pouring rain by this time).
Back to the lodge for lunch and a well-earned rest. Suitably refreshed, we were soon off for the highly competitive crate stacking challenge, in the pouring rain, 18 layers achieved by team 2, followed by an equally competitive rifle shooting session on the indoor range. An impressive shooting display from both teams saw some amazing target groupings.
At the conclusion of the activities, it was back to the lodge for a barbecue, sharing stories of the days exploits around the camp fire and getting ready to bed-down for the night, after a long day of activities.
This years’ Fernite away day was a resounding success and was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended. We’re now looking for suggestions for next year, so please take some time to think about what you’d like to do and let us know.
Thanks to Walesby Forest for organising such a great day.
