We streamline our processes and look to work through ISA and pension top-ups throughout the year whenever we touch base with clients, rather than waiting until the last moment. Though this helps, it’s inevitable that there will still be plenty of work to complete by the 5th April deadline each year. We planned our staff party to celebrate the end of the tax year together, to blow off some steam after an intense few weeks of hard work. Where better to choose for some serious celebratory fun than Verdant Brewery and Raze the Roof in Penryn?
Spoiler alert – it was awesome.
We tend to collaborate together on ideas for our team events throughout the year. We aim to be inclusive and choose activities that everyone will feel comfortable to get involved in. We also try to get a good range of activities planned so that there’s generally something for everyone to enjoy. The trip to Verdant was one that Jacob has been pushing for a while now and it’s clear why. Verdant is a local independent brewery. It’s a supercool space, very much a vibe. You can see the hopping / brewing steel drum alchemy taking place through the glass walled edge of the taproom bar. The beer itself is delicious. I myself am not partial to a pint, but even I was won over. Their alcohol-free beer and tasty soft drinks came up trumps for the less boozy of the team too. And many of the team bought take-away cans to take home and share the experience with their friends and family. Trust us, if you see Lightbulb on the menu at your local bar, give it a try. You won’t be disappointed. The wood-fired pizzas too were as good as heading over to Italy for a bite but with less airmiles consumed. We can’t recommend Verdant enough. Thanks Jacob.
After a pint or two, and that tasty pizza to soak up the booze, we wandered over the road to Raze the Roof – a soft play area with VR and Laser tag experiences. Boy was that hilarious! Paul Woolgar was bravely the first down the drop slide. We started our time with a whole company round of Laser Tag upstairs in the darkened neon-flecked battle zone. The names on the laser guns themselves were awesome in themselves: Chaos, Ghost, Legend, Nova, Dragon… You already felt like an invincible hero of the laser tag arena before the game began. Jacob and TC dominated in the first round with Pete Matthew coming in third. A later game played in the warehouse of ball-pits, slides and soft play equipment saw TC take the top spot with Tegen in second place and Pete a consistent third place again. Pete’s strategy toward the latter part of the game was to hide buried in the ball-pit and take everyone out like a sniper. The staff at Raze the Roof were incredibly friendly and accommodating. They let us take over the PA system with a playlist of tunes which H, Amy, Zoe and TC enjoyed DJ-ing. At one point there was even an impromptu dance floor created and a bit of boogieing took place.
We had to split into two groups for the VR games. The first group chose to fight off a zombie apocalypse. A highlight for everyone watching was Colleen, who has only been with Jacksons for a couple of months now, trying to open a beer without realising she was repeatedly poking Pete in the nipple. The second group chose to try and run a fast-food kitchen, making burgers. We failed miserably. Not a single fake burger was constructed successfully, our onlookers recall us all going about shouting about ingredients and Hayley repeating ‘I got the cheeeeeeese!’.
At the end of the evening Pete, as designated driver, very kindly drove a full car of us back to West Penwith in the lashing rain and delivered each of us safely to our doors before heading home himself. We’ve promised to take over the driver role for our next big team outing to allow him to relax in full.