July marked another much anticipated trip for Evolve – team away day!
With the grey clouds looming, the beginning of our annual summer conference begun with a bag of nerves for me: had I brought enough socks to be able to axe throw in the midst of a torrential downpour? None of this ultimately mattered – I was terrible at it anyway and would have survived 43 seconds in 400AD. And thus begun our game of thrones-themed events. A night under the stars, socialising with colleagues around a fire, walking along rain-soaked planks, and fostering the team spirit that makes Evolve such a great company to work for. An escape from the urban chaos of Soho and embracing the more natural Dorking was the perfect way to reinvigorate the team and remember what makes work enjoyable.
All in all, Evolve away days were a huge success and a great reflection of how we are more than just a company, but a group of people that simply value spending time with each other. Scroll for pictures!
Callum Shepherd, Client Manager
A few words from our team:
“For this years Evolve Summer Conference we descended en mass to the outskirts of Dorking for a day of team building, delicious food and some questionable headwear.
Arriving around lunchtime we were shown to our Yurts before tucking into some lunch in the lovely surroundings of the Surrey countryside.
Typically, just when an afternoon of outdoor team building activities started, so did the rain — but we didn’t allow that to dampen our spirits and we spilt into teams for a series of challenges testing skill, accuracy, logic and communication – think Crystal Maze but Game of Thrones themed! The crossbow challenge was an interesting insight as to which Evolvers you’d want with you in a zombie apocalypse!
The competitive nature of some continued as the weather improved and a Boys v Girls rounders game broke out.
The evening saw a delicious BBQ and the announcement of some well deserved promotions. As the sun set we gathered round the campfire which was the perfect setting and environment to unwind and relax with our colleagues, far away from the hustle and bustle of Soho.”
“The anticipation in the lead up to the away day from everyone made me so excited – stories from previous company trips are spoken so highly of so I had good expectations! Despite the rain (I HATE the rain) I loved how involved everyone got in the team building – ponchos and mud didn’t faulter anyone’s competitiveness!
It was great to spend time with people I don’t always get time with at work, and it was so nice catching up in such a tranquil and peaceful environment.
All in all an amazing 24 hours of laughs, fun, and bonding.”
“I joined Evolve immediately after their Summer Conference in 2022 and had a year of anecdotes and whispered stories from an event I had never experienced. It was always very obvious how much the away day meant to my colleagues, and the excitement only grew as the day drew closer.
We met at Waterloo in the morning, and headed down to Dorking. The energy was something between a school trip and a lads holiday. We spilled into the sleepy Surrey market town and made our way to the yurts. The campsite couldn’t of felt further away from London, and was a greatly appreciated change of pace.
It must’ve been months since I was in English countryside like that and it was enormously refreshing. We had food, drinks and celebrated the achievements of our friends and colleagues into the evening before trudging back to London the following morning.”
“This was a great first experience at Evolve’s Summer Conference. Nestled in the outskirts of Dorking for an amazing day of team bonding, good barbeque food and exciting games.
We got to the depths of Surrey, where we were showed to our Yurts to get comfortable before having some good food with a lovely countryside view.
As soon as we got into the team building activities, seeing how much fun we were having, the rain decided to join us as well. The rain added even more chaos and excitement and everyone got stuck in, we saw some of the teams competitive spirit, when they didn’t win the final prize (me included).
We continued the evening with lots of singing and chatting near the campfire watching the amazing sunset behind us. All in all an amazing experience with lots of good vibes!”
