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National Training Weekend 2009 report
The idea of the YMP activity weekend is give you the perfect opportunity to get away from your normal working routine and explore your inner-self, while networking with fellow colleagues from the printing industry. The weekend's events test your wits and courage while attempting activities that you have probably never before encountered. You also get the opportunity to see how important working as a team can be, and if you are a team player or not!The weekend's activities began on the Friday, after making the journey to Cromford, Derbyshire. The majority of group members made an unofficial introduction at the pub for some quick refreshments. We all then met up at the accommodation for dinner and a brief overview of the weekend's events to follow. After dinner we proceeded with the first team building exercise at ‘The Boat Inn' (public house), which consisted of a few beverages and several games of ‘Killer Pool'.
The next morning began with a hearty breakfast to clear up any sore heads and bleary eyes! We were then briefed on the day's activities by the event organisers, which was rock climbing and abseiling in the morning, followed by gorge scrambling in the afternoon.
After making the short journey to the climbing point we were presented with some of the most breathtaking scenery this country has to offer. A combination of rolling green hills and rough rocky peaks that make up Derbyshire's amazing Peak district, and to top it all the sun was blazing down on us. There were two climbs set up for different abilities. The more challenging of the two was approximately 20 meters high, which may not sound that high, but once at the top you may reconsider your judgement. The climb began with a difficult first 5 meters of time polished rock with very few cracks or crevices to grab hold of. Once past this point the climb was a little easier but that was when the adrenaline kicked in and the sweaty hands took over after looking down. I'd like to say that reaching the top was an amazing feeling but the wedgy you experience on the way down soon relinquishes any euphoric sense of achievement!
Next was the abseiling which is more of a test of nerves than anything else. You have to put all your faith and trust into the equipment, and the instructors to allow yourself to lean back to take the first step out onto the rocky wall 30 meters above the safety of the ground (I may have started to exaggerate a little now). Once the first few steps backwards are taken you feel more comfortable with the situation until you reach the dreaded over-hang. This section of the rock required a bit more skill and resulted in many, including myself meeting the wall head on!
After lunch we made our way to the bottom of a fast flowing stream where we would traverse slippery rocks, waterfalls and plunge pools while having to undertake seemingly meaningless tasks but resulted in everyone getting completely soaked! This was definitely my favourite activity, after the initial shock of cold water you were able to relax and just enjoy the fun and games which were in store for us.
After a refreshing shower and some clean dry clothes we all met up for dinner and to reminisce on the day's high and low points! The Saturday night was a little tamer than Friday night's activities with most members feeling the physical strain of a rather tiring day's events.
Sunday morning began with another hearty breakfast, this time provided by several members of the YMP team mucking in to provide us with the fuel needed to undertake our final day of activities. (Many thanks to those involved!) Sunday was team-building exercises. We started off with an exercise which involved the whole YMP group, where we held hands, tied ourselves into a great big knot, and then proceeded to untie ourselves without releasing the hand of your fellow YMP member. It's a lot harder than it sounds but definitely one to get the brain working and one that allows the leaders to show!
Next we were split into groups and each took turns at attempting 3 different tasks.
- The first was to stand within 3 circles of rope varying in size. Not that easy when there were six to a group and the smallest circle was about the size of a dinner plate.
- The second task was to tie a knot with each member of the team holding the rope at all times. A seemingly simple task which proved not that simple for our group.
- The third task was like a leap frog task where the team was split in two while stood in a line of hoops, with one spare hoop in the centre. Each side then had to swap ends without passing more than one member at a time and only passing into an empty hoop.
By completing these tasks we were awarded points which would determine the position we set off, on the final raft race task. Before the race we had to make our raft. We were all given four plastic barrels, six wooden posts and as much rope as we needed. Demonstrating some quality knot tying and some simple but fairly impressive engineering we positioned our newly assembled rafts at the lake's edge. Our team had to start last due to our poor performance during the earlier tasks! The objective was to race across the lake on our rafts to a nearby island where a key was waiting for the fastest team. That team then had to return the key to the start point where a treasure chest awaited them. There was however the task of getting past the teams that were waiting to intercept the key and take the treasure for themselves. As we were the last team to set off, we acted as pirates and lay in wait for the key to come to us. We managed to obtain the key by some less than sporting techniques and made our way as quickly as possible to the awaiting treasure, leaving behind two of our team who gave themselves to the lake for our cause!
Upon reaching the shore we used a diversionary technique to put off more waiting pirates wanting to hijack our prize. The member with the key then made their way to where the treasure lay only to find that it had been hidden by another group. Once the diversion was foiled, the other group managed to prise the key from our grip and take the treasure back for themselves!
Overall, the weekend was a great success. The activities we took part in were all well organised, fun and let us try something that most had never done before. I would thoroughly recommend this weekend to everybody, and I am very pleased I was able to take part in such an event. All that was left to do was make our way back home thinking back over what was a great weekend!
Dave Gray - Tolputt Keeton Ltd