August has been a fantastic month for the team, yet it’s been quiet in the J&PR office as everyone seems to have gone on holiday!
Here were our favourite parts of the month…
Sophie didn’t know where to start... so we let her cheat and have a few highlights!
Firstly, finishing up her incredible holiday in Mauritius. Sophie flew home on August 2nd, but she can still class this as an August highlight - and waking up in paradise is a heck of a way to start the month! Not only that... she actually spent August 1st riding a horse on the beach! It truly sounds like a dream holiday.
Sophie didn't have much time to mope, as when she got back her mum welcomed a new pup! Doughnut has joined her family and everyone knows how obsessed Sophie is with her other dog, Biggell, so seeing him become a 'Bigg' bro has been lovely! The rest of the team are enjoying the photos of ‘liggle Biggell’ too!
Next, she spent the day at Chester Zoo with her boyfriend! It was a lovely way to spend some quality time together as they’re both big animal lovers. It was almost a perfect day, but they spent so long looking at everything that they only actually saw about half of the zoo... they'll be returning soon, that's for sure!
And how could she forget going to the Commonwealth Games?! Sophie went with her boyfriend and his dad to watch the badminton semi-finals and it was so much fun. She doesn't watch live sports anywhere near as much as she should, so this was really a treat.
After two weeks off work, being around the team again has been this month's professional highlight for Sophie. It's been lovely to hear about what everyone else has been up to over the summer and catching up with everyone!
Good to know we were missed!
Holidays galore
Tony also has sunshine on his mind, he and his wife have rebooked their cruise for next year. It was originally booked for early 2020 but was postponed, of course, due to Covid.
Back in the office, Tony has enjoyed hearing the thoughts of three amazing interns who have been spending their summer holidays getting valuable working experience at Morland in Welshpool.
Kirsty's professional highlight was seeing the amazing team effort as the summer holidays arrived - holiday handovers, exceptional organisation and working together to ensure everyone enjoyed their time off.
This leads us smoothly on to Kirsty's personal highlight... touring America and cruising the Caribbean with her family! That's enough about that as we are sure Kirsty will have lots to tell us when she returns - unless of course she chooses the sunshine over Shropshire!
Dani’s personal highlight for August is also going on holiday! Summer holiday fun with trips to Majorca, Norfolk, the Commonwealth Games, Hoo Zoo, Waterworld, Inflatanation, Apley Woods and Attingham Park - the list goes on! Dani’s mum came to visit too and she said it really has been very, very fun!
Dani’s professional highlight is shared - firstly a great chat with a new Jesmonite distributor in Brazil who she spoke to one evening (for time difference reasons!), she was so eager and interesting, it was a great chat. Also a highlight was finding out that SWG Group was shortlisted for a Powys Business Award after Dani wrote the entry, SWG Group really deserves it so fingers crossed it wins!
Freya R will also be jetting off to Greece on the bank holiday Monday, with two friends, but for her personal highlight she has really enjoyed the build up in preparation for the holiday! Freya, ‘Woz’ and Sophie (not our Sophie!) have been spending their evenings shopping or at the pub, learning card games they can play together on holiday!
For her professional highlight, Freya R is thrilled to have passed her first exam at college on the Principles of Coding with SBC Training! We’re so proud of Freya and the brilliant progress she’s making in her apprenticeship!
The calendars have been full in August!
Si’s personal and professional highlights mix into one for August - he joined the team at the Wolverhampton Krazy Races, mainly as an observer with his and Rhea’s boys rather than as a useful member of the media team (although he did help carry the gazebo to the car...). The event was a great success, and Si was proud J&PR was part of it.
The day also gave Si the chance to explore Wolverhampton for the first time in quite a few years - it was his old stomping ground in the late 1990s so he said it was great to have lunch in the Hogshead and reminisce of times gone by!
He did a wonderful job of sampling the beer too!
Rhea’s highlight is the Folk Festival, of course! Rhea has been attending the Folk Festival for 12 years and working it as part of the social media team for 10 of those! The Folk Festival team are a wonderful bunch to work with and the event itself is truly fantastic. Each and every year Rhea and Si have a wonderful time and get to see so many brilliant and varied artists, take part in artistic and creative activities...and sample the ale of course!
Working at a fast-paced event like the festival, which runs for the whole weekend, means you have to be moving from social platform to social platform and adapting the content for those different audiences as well as connecting with the artists and the sponsors as you go - it's a challenge, but one they relish. And it is great to see the other members of the social media team year on year and work with the marketing lead Jo Cunningham, who makes everything so smooth for us every August
And Freya M is on holiday in Cornwall as we write this! She has gone with her boyfriend and their dog Bentley. We imagine she’s sat on the beach with a book with an iced coffee as we patter away on our keyboards… we’re not at all jealous!
In conclusion, team J&PR have spent the month either on holiday or cooing at the photos of little Doughnut… and working of course! We can’t wait to have the whole team back in the office soon for a well needed catch up and a team meeting just to look over holiday snaps!
