MD saves hawk in Thailand jungle

Andy Staples, our returned traveler has been sharing his stories from a far after his jungle trek in Thailand. After some heroic tales of living in a jungle environment for two weeks, with few luxuries, we have all come to the conclusion that Andy would be a great contestant for the next “I’m a celebrity… get me out of here”. Not quite a celebrity I hear you say, but a jungle hero in the making with his thrilling bush tucker experiences.

One tale which has gripped the nation or the office in our case - was the amazing story of the hawk, the snake and the MD of Company of Designers.

Whilst Andy and a bunch of other travelers were trekking across the Thailand jungle near Burma, they stumbled across a hawk lying across their foot path. It wasn’t until they tried moving the bird to rescue it, that they realised there was a snake wrapped around its wing. The trekking guide’s first thoughts were to cut the snake off with a knife, but when that didn’t seem feasible the hawks chances of survival fell into the hands of Andy who came to the rescue with his trekking stick made out of bamboo. The bamboo stick was then used to hit the snake on the head until it loosened itself from its prey allowing the hawk to fly away to safety.

For the hawk, the moral of the story would be to never under estimate the powers of a snake. As for our jungle trekker Andy, he will always remember his heroic efforts in the jungle, and will never know when they may be needed again.

Now, normally a person undertaking a bush tucker trial would win a delicious meal for the group, in this case they were less fortunate and had to suffice with the delicacy of eating river frogs….

“I’m not eating that… get me out of hereeee………!”

Nomination Success!

Excitement has filled the atmosphere here at Company of Designers after receiving a nomination from the Media Innovation Awards.

We have received a nomination in the “DVD/CD ROM” category for our “Someone Who Listens” DVD.

The “Someone Who Listens” DVD was produced for the Workforce Development Team within Plymouth City Council’s services for children and young people. The DVD was made as part of a training induction scheme for new recruits such as children’s social workers, child care workers and teachers.

Influenced by the children, “Someone Who Listens” is an exciting DVD which allows the audience to capture an insight to what the children look for in an adult, through their eyes.

The material is being used to train new recruits throughout the city, re-enforcing the focus on the children’s needs throughout the training.

The winners of the 2010 Media Innovation Awards will be announced at a special gala dinner to be held on Thursday 18th March 2010.

So wish us luck!

 

Codemas Winners Collect Champagne

To wish all of our clients a Happy Codemas from the team down at Company of Designers, an online game was produced by one of our web developers Anita Mercy. The game was called “House of flying Parcels”. To introduce a competitive element to the game, we promised to award the top three highest scores with bottles of champagne.

The winners of our competition were announced at the end of January and we were delighted to have presented the following awards;

First place with a prize of three bottles of champagne:

Charles Jackson with a top score of 41120 points

Second place with a prize of two bottles of champagne:

Andy Blount with a score of 29420 points

Third place with a prize of one bottle of champagne:

Josh Fairweather with a score of 28800

Our prize winners joined us last week at our offices to collect their bottles of bubbly and to get their pictures taken together. It turned out the three highest scorers were all staff members at The University of Plymouth, so this Christmas we encourage all of our other clients to try harder if you would like to win some prizes!!

Congratulations to our 2009 winners, from the team at Company of Designers

CODE team dine in style for only £15 to say goodbye to Maria!!

Some of the CODE team went out for dinner last night to Langdon Court. We enjoyed a 3 course dinner for only £15! If you couldn't manage 3 courses, Langdon offers a 2 course dinner for only £10! Elegant food for a great price. Langdon Court, one of our many clients, is a beautiful Country House Hotel based just outside of Plymouth. There are lots of fantastic offers and events provided by Langdon Court, these are also featured in a monthly Email newsletter which you can sign up for on their website.

Check their website out

http://www.langdoncourt.com/

The Langdon Court dinner was in aid of Maria, our Spanish work placement student who is leaving us today after 3 months. Maria is a computer science graduate who has been working on a tourism project using databases. She has thoroughly enjoyed her time here at Company of Designers and her English has come a long way. The team has also had fun learning some Spanish words and phrases. But of course, Maria will not be missing the British weather and is delighted to be heading back to a warmer climate. Lucky for some!

Adios Maria!