Induction Day as a Backstage Runner

Although I had the day off work, I still had to get up early in order to get my train to London. Reason for this was a few weeks ago I applied to a volunteer event on the Vinspired website, as a Backstage Runner for an awards ceremony. I had had a phone interview a few days ago and surprisingly passed it, where I was told that there would be an Induction Day at the Vinspired offices on Saturday 3rd March. So now you know why I was up so early, for getting there on time. I made it to London in plenty of time, and then things took an unexpected turn; the Victoria Line I need to get from St Pancras to get to Pimlico was closed over the weekend, as engineers were working on the line. So after looking at the board I had to get Piccadily line to South Kensington, then to Victoria, get a bus to Pimlico and then walk to Dean House (Vinspired offices). Note to self, and to those of you if this ever happens, never ask a London tour guide where the bus stop you need is, because one guy I got decided to rudely blow me off. Although I wasn’t swearing rude, I did gave him a mouthful over asking him a simple question, and then walked off.

Once at Vinspired, I met the rest of the team who had signed up to be involved in the volunteer awards ceremony we were all part of. I also met another Backstage Runner, Emma, who would be doing the same things I would be, as well as 4 event supporters, 3 photographers and a DJ.

After meeting the Vinspired team behind the event, the session began with an interesting ice-breaker game that involved a piece of string. Now you may wonder why string, or are possibly thinking of many inventive things that could be done with said string, and the answer is this each person had to pick a piece and string and whilst wrapping it round your index finger you had to say as many interesting things about yourself to the whole group.

Once that was done we were briefed on what Vinspired stands for, what the organisation does, the awards ceremony and the running order of the day/ night. We were also told where the event would take place, however, I don’t want to ruin the surprise, so I will share the venue with you on the 22nd/ 23rd March as the whole thing doesn’t end till 12am, then we will need to tidy up and sleep. The same rule is going to apply to thelist of celebrities, numerous artists and special guests attending, fear not I will not disappoint. Another thing we all saw was a video of last years event, and we saw people like Keith Lemon, Kevin Spacey and Natasha Beddingfield, and from what we saw it looked pretty awesome when it was held at the O2.

I got to learn a lot more about the people there over lunch and throughout the day, especially when we were given the task of using newspapers and cellotape, to make a Giraffe, and you can imagine the fun we had in the two teams we were in. I can say that the team I was in won the challenge, as you can see below, it was a very funny activity, and the Giraffe dosn’t look that bad either.

Yes thats me, and its not my best shot.

The team and our giraffe!

Finally we were given a quiz on everything we had learned today and said what we wanted to happen on the night, as personal goals, and what fears we have. After getting our packs, finding out what our roles and responsibilities on the night nad that we can have a great time at the after-party with everyone there we all headed out to get home. One thing I have to say before I forget is thank you Aimme, Gary and Craig for letting me interview for my film that I am currently working on, what you guys said was brilliant and I really appreciate it.

Funnily enough, I managed to retrace my steps and get to St Pancras, and after running up escalator steps and down platforms I made it on the train for getting out of London. I don’t know if this is me but I find time goes by so fast in London, I hope that this doesn’t happen on the 22nd March, I actually want to remember the night as much as I can.

One thing that stood out for me during the day was seeing in the Vinspired office that there is a green alien there in a purple t-shirt, something that we all will be wearing that night, with black trousers and any shoes within reason. So all that is left for me to say is, bring on the 22nd March, I can’t wait to start running.

Maybe the alien is related to 'Paul'

Oh, almost forgot, the office has its own green alien and it looks so cool!