The COINS Team
Robert Brown
Jake Hatt
Simon 'Two Beds ' Hinchliffe
Dan Peyron
Jen Sanville
Alex Smyrl
David Steward
Larry Sullivan
Bonds & Guarantees
As a team building and bonding exercise, I have to admit that this was probably the best activity I have ever undertaken. Not only in my 19 years at COINS but including school, college and my pre-COINS career.
Undertaking physical work together, outside, without the distraction of phones, laptops, emails and the general day-to-day stress of COINS life left us free to communicate on a truly personal level.
We talked of anything and everything, for long periods non-stop !
One of my favourite conversations was on school sports days; our own and our children's. Did you know that Larry was the Dad's Egg'n'Spoon champion three years on the trot? Or that Robert held a similar title for the Sack Race but was beaten off first by Pat Nevin when footballers moved into his village?
The sense of camaraderie was not limited to just the COINS crew, even without a shared language jokes were shared and teams built across the site. The guys up on the first floor built strong teams and down at ground level the Romania women sang as we all worked together.
In the evenings we talked more; music, movies, television - even quizzing ourselves on our knowledge on the last evening. Always learning some interesting snippets about each other. I'd love to document them all here ..... maybe some will show up in the comments !