Imagine waking up with the knowledge that the day ahead will be one to remember, but not being entirely sure what to expect. This was certainly the case for the Marketing team who looked forward to their day-out on 15th October 2009.

Each of the teams here at Red Gate have the opportunity to take time out of the office to spend together and enjoy a day-out. I joined Red Gate just two months after the Marketing team’s first day-out of 2009, which I hear was a fun day climbing in trees at Go Ape, as well as making and tasting chocolate. About a month after my first day Red Gate celebrated Independence Day. The celebration was a surprise day-out spent in a field building engaging in medieval activities; such as Falconry, archery, catapult making, and the day finished with a delicious BBQ and drinks.

Many of the other teams here at Red Gate had already taken their days-out during the summer, and it was now our turn. Twelve creative minds were certainly not short of ideas for what to do: punting and a BBQ in Cambridge, a trip to the beach in Norfolk, wine tasting and a trip to the museum in London, skiing/sledging in Milton Keynes. We had to choose something that would please everyone. After numerous votes were cast, no true favorite emerged; But then out of the blue sprung a new idea from Andrew…

He knew of a beautiful place in Suffolk that would welcome us all for a day of Pottery. Everyone in the team was instantly won over by this idea. Andrew handed over the details to Sarah who did an excellent job of organizing everything to set us up for a great day-out.

Travelling an hour south of Cambridge to Suffolk passing through country lanes with twists and turns we finally saw the sign that pointed us in the right direction “Red Gate Pottery Day”: Naturally, the ‘all girls’ car arrived first. We were welcomed to the open ‘Old School House’ by Ivan. Autumn leaves crunched below our feet as we walked through the gate into the courtyard. Sandy our pottery teacher then greeted us and took us into the house for tea, coffee and biscuits. The rest of the team arrived in dribs and drabs and we soon made our way into the pottery house for our team briefing at 11am.

It was very ‘hands on’, and we were each given an amount of clay for which we could make anything. After peeking at everyone’s creations I saw many bowls, vases, cups and also some interesting pieces such as; a newspaper-filled pig, a gargoyle with features resembling some of the team back at the office, and also the much commented-on chimney-cum-vase. All the different creations showed that we were allowing our inspiration free rein.

We were able to paint some of our drying pieces before we went for lunch. The caterers (Gemma and her mum Phillippa) served up an amazing selection of Moroccan food, consisted of; beef and cranberries, fish and figs, couscous and feta, runner beans and pomegranates, salad and olives. Finally to finish we indulged in a pomegranate pavlova cake and profiteroles and cream along with a team photograph around the table.

The Marketing team at Lunch. Clockwise around the table, from the left: Anthony, Kathryn, Alice, Chris, Matt, Tony, Andrew, Richard, Emma, Annabel, Sarah, Sofie.

With our tummies sufficiently full, we then turned our hand to painting some ‘as Sandy made earlier’ pots. This was another activity that really got our creative minds working. Mixing white, copper and turquoise glaze against a black pot would make for some interesting and unique pieces of Raku ceramics for us to take home. Once complete we needed to let the colors take effect in the reduction chamber. With these roasting away in the kiln we were let loose on the pottery wheel.

None of us claimed to have any extensive experience of potting on a wheel. Given that fact, I think we all made some exceptional items. My favorite item from the wheel has to be Anthony’s candle stick, which looked like the wax had already started dripping down the stem! It was so easy to go too far on the wheel. One minute you were looking at a lovely bowl, and the next minute your hands had moved a millimeter in the wrong direction. It was like watching your favorite Red Gate mug fall to the floor and shatter into a million pieces! This is where I believe practice makes perfect, and that you cannot be expected to make something of the best of your ability on first attempt. Try and try again until you are completely satisfied.

The day was drawing in and the sun that had brightened us all day was moving behind the clouds. It was time to extract our painted pots from the 1040 degree furnace. The process for their removal was rather interesting. Four bins full of sawdust were waiting on the grass. The pots were removed from the boiling hot brick container and dropped into the bins. As they were placed into the bins they caught fire immediately. We covered them with more sawdust to douse out the flames. Every time we needed to memorize whose pot went into each bin. It was a smoky 10 minutes that we weren’t quite prepared for. After coughing and waving away the smoke, all the pots were fished out of the bins and put onto the ground. As they cooled we all became very proud of our artwork. We cooled them off in buckets of water and buffed them up with a sponge to further reveal even more beauty.

We left the Old School House with our paints pots, and with the knowledge that Sandy would be painting our handmade clay pieces in the colors of our choice. I for one am looking forward to seeing everyone’s finished pieces when they are delivered this week.

All in all everyone came away from the day out feeling proud to have made something from ‘nothing’. Everyone got to learn a little more about their colleagues and a lot about the skill and art that is pottery. We will enjoy sharing our experiences with everyone at Red Gate, our family friends, as well as others in the community who are interested to find out about the perks of being a Red Gate employee. It was a day-out to remember.

Post by Annabel Bradford