An abundance of wigs, flares, peace signs and classic tunes; this year saw Labman enter The Golden Years for an epic summer party with a good twist of retro. Now in its fourth year, Labfest is quickly becoming a solid highlight in the Labman calendar for both staff, as well as friends and families.
A group of dedicated volunteers began the day early by digging a fire pit to cook the variety of meats on offer. After some setup, the party got underway in the afternoon with the arrival of the bar from the local Three Brothers Brewery, who had created a new batch of Labman’s very own AiPA beer just for the occasion.
Wipeout & arcade games
With a bouncy castle, inflatable Total Wipeout and the Labman-built tequila slammer up and running, the day was soon off to a great start. Summer intern, Joy Fletcher, had even headed up a team building a Labman arcade machine for the day, which proved understandably popular.
By mid-afternoon, it was time for the Scrapheap challenge. Each given a bin full of sticks, apples, glue, straws and all manner of equally flimsy materials, 10 teams competed to build a self-propelled contraption to compete. To gasps, ‘awws’, and a good deal of laughter, the 10 contraptions travelled anywhere from 10cm to 5m!
The fire was uncovered and the various meats, cooked to perfection, were distributed to the hundreds of hungry revellers. The ever-popular game of hammerschlagen provided entertainment throughout and beyond dinnertime towards the evening.
Robbie & The Near Misses
Making their debut at Labfest, Robbie & The Near Misses, Labman’s own 9-piece band, tore up the relatively peaceful North Yorkshire air as the sun began to set. With plenty of drink flowing, the dancing was soon in full swing, and as Robbie and the band launched into their encore (their second rendition of Summer of 69, owing to not knowing many songs), it was fairly easy to say that Joe Lillystone’s place in Labman guitaring history was sealed.
With staff numbers now in excess of 115, and with family and friends also present, this year’s Labfest revealed the amazing continued growth of Labman. Thank you to all who came along, danced, ate food, and sang along. And thank you to everyone who helped organise this amazing event; until next year.