Tunnel vision

The days of walking over hot coals together may have passed, but it's good to know that strange team-building exercises are still alive and well.

A party of 15 solicitors from Black Country firm Waldrons recently found themselves wandering around Drakelow underground factory near Kinver in Staffordshire as part of the firm's management development programme.

Drakelow's miles of tunnels were built during the Second World War to keep production of aero engines safe from air raids, and latterly would have been the regional seat of government in the event of nuclear war.

The managers from the firm's four offices were split into groups and given the odd clue about how to find their way to the centre through the Stygian gloom (it basically sounds like Hampton Court Maze in the cold and dark).

So far as Obiter knows, there are no solicitors still missing.

Pictured are assistant solicitor Natalie Gennard and Paul Stokes, the marketing co-ordinator, who looks especially thrilled at the activity.