The Britvic “Scottish Extravaganza”

by admin on August 17, 2011

As a reward for smashing their annual targets, Britvic International  brought their Global Sales team for a Scottish Extravaganza, in and around Edinburgh. BlueSky Experiences were involved in the organisation and delivery of the activities. 

The action started with a coach trip to the Royal Mile, and a visit to ‘Deacon Brodie’s Tavern’, haunt of the original ‘Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde’. This was followed by a ‘bonspiel’ at the ice rink, learning the traditional Scottish pass-time of curling.

Next on the list of activities the group was divided into 4 clans to take part in a ‘Highland Games’. This took place in the grounds of Dundas Castle, stately home of Sir Jack and Lady Stewart-Clark. The competition included traditional highland sports, such as ‘caber tossing’, ‘weight over the bar’, and ‘wellie chucking’. The games culminated in a ‘farmers’ dash’, ‘Tug of War’, and some giant tyre flipping. As a bonus, a bottle of whisky was up for grabs, in the ‘haggis hurling’ event.

Back to the hotel, where kilt fitters were on hand to assist in getting dressed up for the evening, in the full  ‘Prince Charlie’, for the gents, and kilts and sashes for the ladies. Then a return to Dundas Castle for a Ceilidh, with the guests being ‘piped’ in to dinner, followed by an address to the haggis, and an excellent meal. The whole event was rounded off with some traditional dancing (a dance caller helping out), and a private fireworks display.

BlueSky also organised for the 2 day event to be filmed, enabling attendees to take away their own DVD of memories.

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Charity champions to take on BlueSky Experiences’ Urban Challenge

by admin on August 16, 2011

The Fair City could soon become the Thrill City with the launch of Perth’s first urban adventure race.

 By Sandra Gray Published in the Courier : 10.08.11 Published online : 10.08.11  

 Students promise to resist Perth College UHI course cuts Perth College UHI celebrates university status A historic day as Perth gets its university BlueSky Experiences, based near Methven, has created an event with Perth College UHI to raise money for its Alzheimer’s Project. The Urban Challenge, to take place on September 24, is an orienteering race with a twist. Participating teams will use mountain bikes to track down checkpoints around Perth, where they will have to complete various activities, which will remain secret until they arrive at each stage. Armed only with a map and route book, competitors will have to develop a strategy to ensure that they complete the course in the fastest time to earn a place on the podium. A number of local businesses and other organisations will be involved with the Urban Challenge, including Tiso on the Inveralmond Industrial Estate which is one of the activity stations and Perth College, which marks the start and finish of the race. Students from the college are helping to plan, market and deliver the event, and will provide the evening entertainment and catering for the post-event party. Collaborative effort BlueSky Experiences managing director James England said, “Through all of these areas of collaboration between local businesses, our newly-established university and students, we at BlueSky Experiences are all hugely excited about creating and delivering a wonderful event for the city of Perth and one that will become an annual fixture helping raise funds for a very worthwhile cause.” The Urban Challenge is open to teams of two from any organisation in the UK, as well as private individuals. Participants can enter under a number of different categories, including inter-business and inter-school, while people of all levels of fitness can take part by incorporating the many cycle paths throughout Perth. Entry costs £75 plus VAT per person for businesses and private individuals, with a reduced rate of £35 for students competing in their relevant category. All participants will be asked to raise a minimum of £100 per person for the Alzheimer’s Project. For further information on how to take part, contact James England at BlueSky Experiences on 01738 840804 or email james@blueskyexperiences.com

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The BlueSky Royal Treasure Hunt for “The Trainline”

by admin on April 7, 2011

Following a successful  event with ‘The Trainline’ in 2010, BlueSky Experiences were challenged to come up with an equally exhilarating event for 2011. The solution – a team treasure hunt, run using mobile phone technology, in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. 

After  a morning meeting and lunch, at ‘Our Dynamic Earth’, Holyrood Road, in Edinburgh, the group reassembled in the main conference room, to receive their instructions for the afternoon.  The 20 teams, each with 5 – 6 members, and named on a piratical theme (e.g. Long John Silver, Captain Hook), were issued with a mobile phone, a local map, and a ‘Virtually Impossible Treasure Hunt’ booklet. Their challenge – to be the first team to find the solution to defuse the bomb, protecting the treasure.

The teams set off to navigate to around 40 different locations, up and down the Royal Mile. Along the way, they had to answer a variety of questions, either from the booklet, or when prompted to, by their phone. Clues ranged from the historical (‘which King is referenced on the plaque at this location?’), to the more modern (‘what word is missing from this picture, outside the Scottish Parliament?’), to the slightly less serious (‘take a picture of a can of Irn Bru – you have only 2 minutes to do so’).  Teams also had to photograph themselves in a variety of poses, at some of the locations. 

With a fixed return time, all teams reassembled at ‘Our Dynamic Earth’ to see who would unlock the treasure.  The team who had correctly answered the most questions, were given the first opportunity. Collating information from some of the treasure clues, they successfully defused the bomb, and released the treasure.

And the team who managed to defuse the bomb on time and release the treasure  …… team “Tiger Lilly”.

Bill Hopkins, Operations Director commented “The aim was to create a team building event which people of all ages and varying levels of fitness could evenly compete against each other and have fun.  The BlueSky treasure hunt successfully achieved both of these goals and provided a guided tour of Edinburgh at the same time.  A great success”

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Sundial’s Teamscapes Activities now available nationwide, licence agreement signed by BlueSky Experiences

by admin on December 17, 2010

Teamscapes, the innovative series of experiential learning activities developed by Sundial Group, are now available throughout the United Kingdom following the creation of “Sundial Learning” and the appointment of BlueSky Experiences Ltd as a licensed Teamscapes provider in Scotland

First unveiled in the 1990s, Teamscapes is a series of team development activities intended to engage participants of all ages and abilities.  Grounded in the belief that people learn best by “doing, reviewing and doing again”, Teamscapes activities simulate the issues that teams of people can encounter at work, and encourage teams to work together towards a common goal.  The activities themselves are a means to whatever end an organisation desires: their objective-focused nature means they are far more measurable and effective than most other activities offered under the banner of “corporate team building”.

Sundial Learning is a new division of Sundial Group, best known for operating three specialist conference and training venues in the Midlands and South East.  Sundial’s Learning & Development Director, Lucy McGibbon, heads up the new organisation along with Lorraine Swann, who returns to the Sundial fold as Teamscapes Business Manager.  “We now handle every request for team building that comes Sundial’s way” explains Lucy.  “Our approach is to liaise with the client and take time to understand what they want to achieve before tailor- making an event that will best meet their specific needs”.

Previously only available at Sundial’s three venues, Teamscapes can now be run at any location in the United Kingdom, whether it is a hotel, training venue or even at the client’s office.  The Teamscapes portfolio includes outdoor activities, indoor tasks and culinary challenges.  “Teamscapes are incredibly powerful activities”, continues Lucy “and I’ve seen people at all levels in organisations of all shapes and sizes have very significant “eureka” moments that have gone on to radically change the way they interact with colleagues”.

BlueSky Experiences is a professional event management specialist based in Scotland at a state-of-the-art team building and development centre in Perth.  Upon encountering Teamscapes at an event, they decided that they would like to add a selection of the activities to their extensive offering and in July this year a licence agreement was signed allowing them exclusive rights to deliver Teamscapes activities North of the Border.  BlueSky’s trainers also spent three days with the Sundial team learning about the unique Teamscapes facilitation process and how it differs from typical team building and becoming Accredited Teamscapes Facilitators.

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End of Recession Signals Renewed Importance in Team Building

by Alistair on January 29, 2010

New figures suggest that, after 549 long days, the recession which has crippled British industry in recent years has officially came to an end.

But while this announcement should be welcomed, there must also be room for caution with many companies across the UK continuing to announce job cuts.

With such developments evident across the county, and others looking to return to normality or grow as the recession ends, the importance of team development exercises should not be underestimated.

These can take any number of forms from office-based activities to day trips to events or from a simple night out to a day out in the wilderness quad biking.

Most of all, it’s about building strong and trustworthy relationships between staff members to the benefit of the wider company.

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