Our famous staff summer party returned after 3 years off and what a party it was!

The theme for the party was one we had talked about last year but due to Covid the party was postponed to I was extremely happy that this year we could actually go ahead with what we felt was a fantastic idea. The theme was the ‘AJW Sports Day’, we even created our own AJW school emblem which was included on the official letter which was posted as our invite to the AJW team. We wanted to set the scene and make the team intrigued by what was going to happen before they arrived at the event.

On arrival not much was given away, except for the huge inflatable obstacle course which the kids loved from the start. Once everyone had arrived we started our very own ‘AJW Sports Day’, we even had a Head master, the one and only Jezo! And for anyone who knows him, you will know that Jezo really can pull anything off, he was the funniest Headmaster. He kept the AJW teams laughing, involved and also on their toes to make sure they did all the games he had lined up for us.

We were split into four teams, which the AJW team captains picked. Some teams were slightly more competitive from the start with who they picked where as others picked their kids.

The games included some traditional ones along with some which were just hilarious.

• The slow and steady ‘Egg and spoon’ race. The green team broke two eggs before the race even began.
• Next up was the water challenge, filling up a bucket of water using a jug with holes in. It ended with a bucket being tipped over by mistake and a lot of cheating with swapping buckets around at the end.
• Pump up the balloon race – This was hilarious with the commentary from Jezo. It turned into a dance show for our Driver / Yardman Tim from Sawston! Never knew you had such moves Tim!
• Next was the ‘Climb and Slide’ inflatable challenge. Most people had a go at this but one little star was the MD’s Grandson Ethan, at only 5 he managed to beat two adults. He’s a little ninja. The last challenge was to all have a go and see who could make it around first, there’s a great video showing the competitiveness of the team!
• The mega assault course was up next which consisted of 4 separate inflatable challenges. This was hilarious to watch with the competitive guys launching themselves through the inflatables, some even making it through in one run and jump! Clair Bond tried to distract the runners with her hilarious antics on one of the inflatables but this didn’t seem to put the determined runner off their stride. The hard-core teams had to do this twice to see who got the top points for this round.
• Next we had the funniest race, the caterpillar race. Some teams got this well and raced to the finish but with a team of short people the green team ended up on the floor in hysterics. They did manage to finish the race though with a little help from others!
• The final challenge was the ‘Tug of War’ as you can imagine this was very competitive and there was probably a bit of cheating from all parties as each team ended up with more people than was in their original teams so I don’t think we really had a winner from this game. It was great fun though as everyone just wanted their team to WIN!

This was the end of the sports day but what a sports day it was, such fun and a huge success. It wouldn’t have worked if we didn’t have staff who were up for getting involved and having fun. Not worried if they looked silly, or got wet. It really is a pleasure to work with such a great bunch of people.

Next up we had our awards presentation from our MD, Alan Woods. We asked all of the staff to vote for who they felt deserved these awards and so everyone who WON was voted for by the AJW staff. Well done to all of the winners!

The evening commenced with an amazing 2 hour set from local Cambridge band ‘The Big 10’ who were just brilliant! They created the best atmosphere for the party and everyone has commented how amazing the band were. They really did finish the party on the best vibe!

Events like these take so much planning and are over so quickly but they are so worth it. This has got to be our best summer part yet and that’s all thanks to the amazing team at Jezo. We are so incredibly thankful to their team for putting on the perfect event for our team, we never have to worry about anything on the day and can just turn up and enjoy so thank you ‘Team Jezo’.