Friday, 10^th May saw over 60 Civic Engineers venture to Bedale in Yorkshire for our 2^nd ever Team Away Day, also known as #CivicFest 2019.

The venue, the stunning Camphill Estate, spread over 300 acres was home to our Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds and London teams for the day and night.

With an action packed (literally) agenda, the day got under way with a hearty Yorkshire lunch and then out onto the field for a bit of team building. Thankfully the weather was on our side and as the teams took to the field for the first of, what turned out to be, extremely competitive space hopper races, the sun shone and it was almost warm. Then, despite the aching leg muscles, it was onto the ‘Tug of War.’ Now warmed up and ready to go, the team headed back into the barns to talk business strategy and come up with the team #Squad Goals for delivery throughout 2019.

A couple of hours later, everyone emerged with brains full of Civic Engineers information and ready to take on the Orienteering Challenge the Camphill instructors had set for us. Packed off in teams of 8, the aim of the game was to find the answers to 15 questions, all with an engineering twist, set about the Camphill Estate and return to the barns as quickly as possible. It turned out the questions could only be answered by competitively running around the estate at high speed shouting at your other colleagues in other teams! After returning to the barns ensuring you had all members of your team with you, the fastest team was given a final clue to enable them to find the key that would unlock the treasure chest. Certainly an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours outside exploring and trying not to lose your colleagues.

Then with the formal activities finished for the day, everyone headed to Festival Village to find their tent and settle in. The day finished with a BBQ and time for the team to get to know colleagues from other studios. There was even a campfire and some marshmallow toasting.

The next morning, it’s safe to say there were a few sore heads and some bleary eyed Civic Engineers that emerged from Festival Village and headed to the barns for a full breakfast and wrap up session before making their way home.

All in all, #CivicFest encouraged collaboration, saw some ingenious, creative ideas put forward, was great fun and demonstrated how passionate and helpful our teams are about engineering and the contribution they make towards enabling people to lead happier and healthier lives.