As part of the ongoing 50th Anniversary celebrations we took a few hours out of the working day to have a paper plane distance throwing competition. The competition was fierce, with many participants making several attempts and modifying their designs to suit the environment. I was pleased to see the tenacity and sheer dogged perseverance! This was an inclusive event with both new starters and long service employees all taking part. As you’d expect, we had some very impressive designs from our fabulous R&D, design and projects departments and first rate build quality from our terrific team of fabricators and fitters.
We hosted the competition in our assembly hall and it appears that although it is perfect for building our systems ready for customer pre-delivery inspections, it has some unexpected air currents – what else could explain the surprising direction of some of the flights? Some did a loop and landed behind the starting point, others powered off bravely only to bank dramatically to the left (or right), some flights climbed like a P-51 Mustang only to reach ‘coffin corner’, stall and drift down. Many landed in unpredictable places, some fell into our vibratory conveyors, some have been unretrievable so far and at this rate we could be shipping paper planes all over the world.
We saw a wide variety of paper plane designs, including the Dart, the Sea Glider, Concorde, TIE Fighter, White Dove and some that defy categorisation. The winner was ‘The Hammer‘, flying an impressive 27.3m. The runner ups swept in at 23.06m and 22.14m respectively. It was wonderful to see so many of us participating – its seems that we all enjoy designing and making things and we are also very competitive!
The winner of the 50th Anniversary Paper Plane Competition received a trophy and £50! We gave trophies to the runners up too.
Upcoming events
- Badminton Tournament
- Bake-off
- 5 a side tournament
- Aquapark Relay
- Hog Roast
- Cricket Match
- Dragon Boat Racing
- Pool ‘8 Ball’ competition
- Poker ‘Texas Holdem’ Tournament
- Welly Wanging
50th Anniversary Paper Plane Competition Photographs
