Around Town

The problem
Sarah: ‘We have ten people from an advertising agency looking for a team night out. It should be fun, even a bit competitive. The budget’s around £50 per head and we’ll obviously need to be able to drink outside…’

The prescription
Team-building activities are often couched in the kind of management-speak you’d prefer to leave back in the office: ‘bringing clarity and context to idealistic concepts’, ‘assimilating a new mission statement’ and, most odious of all, ‘owning change’. Ugh! What better way to get people together than playing a game of cricket followed by a few pints in the bar? Nowhere to pitch your stumps?

Many clubs hire out their grounds: try Colfeian Sports Club (www.colfeiansportsclub.co.uk) in Lee or Highgate Cricket Club (www.highgatecc.play-cricket.com). Alternatively, pitches are bookable in Regent’s Park (www.royalparks.org.uk/regents). Expect to pay £60-£120. Feature continues

You may be able to borrow some kit from the club, but if you haven’t got any, buy a couple of bats and play with a semi-soft ball called an ‘Incrediball’, available at most sports shops. Then you won’t need to bother with pads, gloves and helmets. Adapt the rules so everyone bats and bowls equally and make the best batters ‘retire’ when they’ve scored 25. No one to play against? Challenge a rival agency. Or the local pub. Or post an ad under ‘Sports teams/partners’ at www.gumtree.com.

Cricket not appeal? Softball can be as competitive or social as you like, perhaps with a classy picnic to follow. You can book a pitch in one of the Royal Parks: see www.royalparks.org.uk.

Or how about an evening clay pigeon shooting? The A1 Shooting Ground near the Barnet bypass in Hertfordshire (www.a1sg.co.uk) and West London Shooting School in Northolt (www.shootingschool.co.uk) both offer corporate packages. And that old stalwart, paintballing, is still around: the Paintball Centre in Canary Wharf (www.london-paintball.com) has an all-inclusive package for £35 per person. What better way to bring clarity to an woolly abstract buzz-phrase than by splatting its originator with green gunge?

Give us your suggestions for Sarah's team night out.