And so the Wick & Wax journey is at an end… all bar the remaining stock which you’ll still see in the local Co-Ops, and also no doubt around school from time to time: every piece a bargain quality product!
But the competition journey is over, thwarted at the last in the Eastern Regional finals. Robinson College, Cambridge, opened its doors to seven excellent companies. And there’s the thing: I still think ours was the most like a company… with a trade stand that was genuinely elegant and grown up, a presentation that was mature and assured, and financial awareness bettered by none. But there is more to judgment than what an audience sees on the day (especially a biased Dad one).
Perhaps the weather offered us a premonition, our arrival washed away in a flash flood. But before long the stand was dry, up, and impressing the other teams and visitors (actually everyone was looking over their shoulders to the next stand….). Helena and Rosie were grilled on the trade stand; Jozef masterminded the powerpoint, and Abi, Jasmine, Rosie and George spoke from the heart. Then, while the judges deliberated, the guest speaker Kamal Hyman brought delight, hilarity and huge enthusiasm to bear (from himself and from the audience) in an inspirational fifteen minutes that had everyone ready to conquer the business world by the end (in the nicest possible way).
And at last to the results. It started so well: Best company report: Woodbridge School’s Wick & Wax! Euphoria… pride… raised pulses (and expectations?). But then the next six minor awards went elsewhere – and not one to each company either… two had won two (and indeed these companies had always looked like the main rivals). And so it proved: Team Ignite won the day (grrr… it must have been very close ) and we took the journey home will a sense of what might have been; but don’t forget, team: you have achieved extraordinarily – huge profits, a great product (and the most genuinely elegant one for many years), sales to numerous shops, and … go on… admit it… personal development. Many congratulations to all in the final team on the day, but also to all in the company as a whole, some twenty five or so committed and talented Year 12s.
