The latest monthly social and wellbeing event organised by Westside BID offered participants an unusual range of activities at All Bar One in Brindleyplace, plus the chance to eat some lovely food for lunch.
On a day of unseasonable leaden skies, staff from Waters Edge neighbours The Park Virtual Reality Experience were on hand to give brave participants an indoor taster of the make believe world next door. We filmed a mini video of the great time people had at what was a sell-out event:
Simply by donning a headset, local workers were able to sample a horror story, go for a walk in the Grand Canyon or to enter a city world where opening lift doors gave way to a plank leading to a ringing telephone high above the ground.
A small plank on the floor of the main upstairs room at All Bar One enabled everyone having a go to feel their way gingerly towards the end – and the more they wobbled the bigger the laughs from those watching.
The Park’s manager, Connor, won the confidence of every volunteer before they sampled everything from being confronted with a large spider to ‘turning right’ in a city and suddenly being faced with an oncoming bus travelling at speed towards them.
Luisa Huggins, communications manager at Westside BID, arranged the event and said: “This VR experience and well-being lunch was fully booked with people from all sectors really enjoying themselves.
“Every month we try to do something a little bit different – and this event was certainly that. The idea behind our social and wellbeing events is to help people to relax as well as to network, so that they become more productive at work.”
Also on hand to spell out that message in another fun way was Harriette Luscombe from Coaches for Change. She demonstrated a series of hand and finger challenges to illustrate how doing something different for just a few minutes can allow your brain time to relax, ready to carry you forward with your main goals.
They included crossing your hands and touching your ear with one index finger and the tip of your nose with the other, before quickly swapping your hands over the the other way. It’s unbelievable how difficult it can be for the finger on one ear to find your nose, whilst the other finger that was on your nose has to find the other ear!
Keep an eye on Westside BID’s social media channels for details of the next event so that you can book your place.
All Bar One: open daily from 9am, closing at 11pm on Sunday and Monday, at midnight from Tuesday to Thursday and at 2am on Friday and Saturday.
The venue is at Eleven Brindley Place, Units 12G-13G Waters Edge, Birmingham B1 2HL. Details from allbarone.co.uk
The full Park Playground VR Experience is at Three Brindleyplace, Birmingham B1 2JB and caters for everything from school trips and families to children’s birthday parties, hen and stag dos, corporate events and team-building. More details at www.theparkplayground.com
Photos and video for Westside BID by Graham Young
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