Through the triangle window

Our fellow VSO Julie is an engineer and is supporting the Gambian Technical Training Institute (GTTI) to develop their Higher National Diploma. As part of her work she has been arranging field trips for students so that they can see theory working in practice. Last Thursday she mentioned another of these trips would take place the following day, this time to Banjul Breweries. I asked to join in and so went along the following morning.

Banjul Breweries is a major landmark of my experience. They produce a lot of the soda I drink and of course Julbrew is the standard VSO tipple. The brewery is on my route to choir and I can smell the yeasty scent of brewing filling the warm evening air on a regular basis. Therefore the chance to have a trip around was too good to miss.

The chief engineer and electrical engineer took us around. They showed us the filling line, explaining and demonstrating the safety features. Bottled drinks come in glass which is returned and sterilised before being refilled. There's a date printer which sprays a bar code onto each bottle as it whizzes past, a person who takes out straws before washing and multiple points where defective bottles are checked and rejected.

The staff were fabulous, answering my questions with detail and interest, and keen to assist GTTI to make sure they have well prepared graduates to take on. The students laughed at me saying "at every point you always ask what solution or how could we use that?" but they were evidently fascinated and taking in so much information. At the end of the tour those of us not fasting were offered a drink and all of us invited to return to see the drinks being manufactured. I loved every minute.