Harris hawk

Last night we enjoyed the formal dinner, the food was very good and we had entertainment in the form of ‘singing waiters’ performing opera which was excellent. There were 150 people at the dinner and the hotel did very well to get everyone served in good time. It seems I had to work for my dinner, Gavin asked me to take photos of every table and event photography is not my thing!

This morning it was a beautiful day so Gavin and I went for a short walk before breakfast. The Grand Union Canal, which starts in London and ends in Birmingham, passes by close to the hotel, so we walked along the canal path which was very scenic. This canal was built between 1793 and 1798, and was one of the most important transport projects of its time.

After breakfast we had a morning session, attended by all the staff plus their partners. We had an extremely inspiring talk from Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, a woman who was homeless at the age of 16 yet rose to achieve the highest rank possible in the UK fire service of a Chief Fire Officer. This was followed by a talk by a consultant who discussed what culture in a company is all about and the impact it has on all the aspects of a company - it explains why some companies are just better than others regarding their employees and customers/clients. Then the company scheme to sponsor a local inner city school was discussed by the staff member who offered to run the scheme after Gavin came up with the idea while running past the school one day during lockdown, and realised how the children must be struggling to get access to laptops with which to continue their online schooling. The company now gives laptops to all sixth form pupils, offers four full bursaries to pupils to study at any university of their choice and also offers these pupils internships, aided by staff who are involved in mentoring them through university and their career choices. The session ended with a few awards for staff which was voted by the staff themselves. The employee who received the top award is an inspiration himself, his dad was the one of the office security staff and he managed to get to university and is now employed by the company and is one of their best employees, hard working, very able and extremely popular. 

After lunch the activities started. Gavin and signed us up for laser clay shooting, followed by a hawk walk, then a cycle ride all along he canal path and finally archery. I loved the hawk walk where a falconer walked through the woods with his Harris Hawk and we saw how the bird would fly into the trees and then fly back to the glove for a treat. You can see the hawk coming to Gavin who was wearing the glove (everyone was offered a chance to wear the glove). I was busy today taking photos of staff doing all these events.

It has been a busy but very enjoyable day. We are about to go have drinks before supper, tonight's supper is more casual.