Tattersall Lander Christmas Party 2017
Well this year has definitely past in a flash! It seems it was just last week that we were attending last years’ office Christmas party (for Jane it probably felt more like yesterday with all of the organisation and preparation she puts into it). But here it was upon us once again.
It was the traditional Tattersall Lander “Surprise Christmas Party”, with sketchy details only emerging the day before. This year the dress code was Smart Casual, and girls could frock up if they wished – which Ben expressed was very discriminatory…I believe his words were “what if the boys want to wear a dress?” He was of course, granted permission to wear a dress if he so desired.
The meeting point for this year was the new Transport Interchange – well played Jane only a short stroll from home, you worked that out well. Those from the north were collected from the Tattersall Lander office by bus.
From the Interchange we set off on foot heading towards the top end of town. To anyone passing by, I’m certain the 26 of us looked like a flash mob about to break out in dance at a moment’s notice! As we arrived at our destination we were all still trying to figure out exactly what activity had been planned – and given that we were standing out the front of a church, a few people had serious looks of concern on their faces. Perhaps they were worried the poor church might fall down should they step foot into it.
Alas, we entered in a side door which actually ran alongside the church. After scaling a staircase consisting of 45,000 steps (or so it felt, it was probably only about 20), and a number of twists and turns we came to a small room with a reception desk. It was here that we were told we had 3 choices… ummmm choices to do what exactly?
So, we had “The Deranged Scientist” Room – a room set up to look like a science lab where all participants are free to roam around looking for clues to help locate a key to open the locked door and ultimately escape death by Virus X gas. The second option was the “Terror Cell” room – half the participants are hand-cuffed in the dark, while the other half run around looking for clues to again open a locked door. And the final option was the “Blast Radius” room – where all participants except 1 are handcuffed in the dark and must find clues to lead them to the key which will open the locked door. Each room had 50 minutes in which to locate the key and escape.
Needless-to-say all of us scaredy cats opted for the much tamer option of wandering around in a lit room, while the other more shall-we-say adventurous chose to be hand-cuffed (either that or maybe there is a bit of Christian Grey in some of our staff hmmmmm).
Two teams made the deadline (one is currently under investigation for match-fixing – interestingly Bruce’s team had the master key “mistakenly” left out on a table in plain sight), the other team are still trying to get out… The obligatory group photo concluded our experience at the Unexpected Exit Escape Rooms.
From here we moved further uptown for a slight change of pace as well as scenery, where staff indulged in some much-needed refreshments and food to continue the celebrations of the day. The next stop was VRXP Newcastle. The Virtual Reality Experience was a hit with everyone. Starting out relatively tame with an underwater scene, it was then taken up a notch with a Fruit Ninja-type game. From there it went even more extreme to flying a jet-pack through a number of skyscrapers – to start the flight participants were given a Virtual Reality elevator ride and when the doors opened they had to walk the plank (Julie’s screams can still be heard).
Finally, after much laughter and fun our time in an alternate world had come to a close as we headed off to what would be our final destination for the day. Once again we were on foot, landing at Noah’s On the Beach for further beverages and some more substantial nourishment. What a spectacular display the harbour and Newcastle beach put on for the day. Being the rowdy bunch that Surveyors, Engineers and Town Planners are we had to be situated in our own room – Habourview Room. Probably just as well too with Scotty deciding he wanted to show off his six-pack (he’s still looking for it), and Julie’s search for a stray ice cube continues as we go to print!
Jane and Bruce, you two never fail to deliver on Tattersall Lander Christmas parties! The food was absolutely delicious and the backdrop truly spectacular. We are all looking forward to next year’s.
