A short story of our summer party

By Kate Holt, Office Manager and Executive Assistant

“We had our summer party on August 30th, my first social with Istoria Group, having joined the company 2 week earlier. From experience, there are potential pitfalls when it comes to organised fun for a group you don’t know well – what might be met with huge enthusiasm from some could equally lead to groans and eyerolls from others. But luckily for me, I had guidance and advice from my guru and Group Business Manager, Hannah, the organiser of many a successful team building event (including sheep herding, so I’m told!).

Emilia's (our Social Committee lead and 2D Artworker) suggestion of venue, Spoke and Stringer, couldn’t have been better. Nestled in a small and pretty inlet on Bristol’s famous harbourside, the place was rustic and charming, erring on the right side of hipster. It had a great size outdoor terrace right on the water, and, unusually for a summer party in the UK, we were lucky with the weather and the harbourside looked even lovelier than usual. Spirits were high and everyone enjoyed a glass of prosecco on arrival and mingled in the sunshine.

Once the drinks had been flowing a suitable amount, we commenced the games. Firstly, teams were given puzzles to complete, but with the added twist that some pieces had been hidden in other team's boxes. People would have to barter and negotiate to get their own ones back. What started as light-hearted fun became intense. The sabotage started. Puzzle pieces were snatched and ripped. We had not foreseen such competitiveness! To be honest, how it ended was a blur. Victory was given to team Toy Story but there was definite contention.

The second game – the human knot. Teams had to grab each other’s hands at random, and on my and Hannah’s count, work together to untangle themselves back into a circle – the first team to do so, the winner. Everyone quickly became a tight tangle of elbows. Personal space was encroached on. Thankfully each group managed to extricate themselves and emerged injury free!

The rest of the evening passed in an enjoyable haze of chatting, drinking, nibbles, and, for reasons that made sense on the night, an impromptu and very loud rendition of Happy Birthday to Josh (our Group Marketing Manager)…whose birthday wasn’t for another 4 weeks.

A resilient group continued into the evening, where many laughs were shared…”