I hosted a trip with six incentive winners and their partners/friends from World Duty Free Group at our production facility in Powys, Wales last Friday. The trip was a prize for employees who have gone above and beyond whilst representing One Water in store. From London to Manchester, East Midlands to Liverpool, the UK’s airports were well represented.
The WDFG team show off their hair nets and protective clothing before the tour
After a lovely lunch at the hotel, we made our way to Radnor Hills – the home of the One Water Spring. At first viewing this is a very different borehole to what you would find in Africa, there are no manual hand pumps, just a few electronic buttons and a steel top. However, the function and process are very much the same.
One of the most interesting facts for all of us was that it takes only seven minutes for the water, which flows approximately 18.5m below ground level, to be bottled, stacked, wrapped and on a pallet!
We then progressed onto view the different bottling lines in action with the famous 750ml sports cap bottles being filled ready to be sent out to World Duty Free Group stores.
At One we do what we can in partnership with our customers to help change people’s lives in the poorest communities of the world, and with World Duty Free Group the majority of projects they support are in Malawi. Being lucky enough to have visited Malawi last year, it really gives you a sense of humanity and perspective on life.
Having spent two days with this great group showed me the power of bringing people together for one common goal, realizing the fact that there are many people who are less fortunate than us. In fact there are 663 million people in the world who still do not have access to safe, clean water. On my three and a half hour drive back home (the day after a few beers and some victorious games of darts), I had time to reflect on some of the feedback I heard including….“I am going to tell all my team members in store all about this trip and what you guys at One do”. I felt humbled with the level of engagement and comments which made me feel personally proud of what we do, as day to day it is something that can be put to the back of your mind when you are putting together excel spreadsheets!
Thank you to The World Duty Free Group team who went beyond all that I imagined in terms of engagement and made this a trip to remember.