March News
World of Whiskies – outstanding sales.
The World of Whiskies (WoW) store at Stansted made a great start
to 2009 – thanks to a major order by a regular customer. The
collector from the Czech Republic contacted Steve Norton, liquor
customer service leader, to reserve a Glenfiddich 1955 and a
50-year-old Balvenie, together worth £11,000.
During another visit he met another WoW staff member, John
O’Brien, and increased his order. In total he snapped up the
Glenfiddich 1955, a 40-year-old Balvenie, 21-year-old Laphroaig and
25-year-old Glenrothes – an order of almost £9,000. He also
reserved the 50-year-old Balvenie for later this year. John says:
‘This is testament to the great teamwork and knowledge in
Stansted’s WoW team.’ And it doesn’t stop there. Another collector
has called with a potential shopping list of over £10,000.
WDF sales of Love One Water saves lives
WDF has sold over 1.6 million bottles of Love One water since
summer 2006 which helped fund 37 PlayPumps in South Africa, and
provided clean drinking water for over 58,000 people. The PlayPump
systems draw water up from the ground for local communities and are
powered by children playing on merry-go-rounds.
Late last year, three WDF employees visited PlayPump
installations in South Africa to see the results of WDF’s
partnership with the Love One water charity. Peter Coleman from
Stansted and John Mather from World Business Centre (head office)
were joined by Cheryl Delilkhan of Terminal 1 and Gary Peal from
Terminal 3, who were chosen for the trip in recognition of their
work on significant projects within the business.
The group visited Bei Pei, a village already benefiting from a
PlayPump water installation. They also helped create vegetable
plots for village households and planted fruit trees at a
school.
‘What really stayed with me is that these projects are not just
about water, but the things that water makes possible for a
village,’ says Cheryl, store manager at Terminal 1. ‘We visited a
school that has had its PlayPump for a year, and they are already
on their second harvest of vegetables. The project workers teach
villagers to garden and use water effectively to meet their needs,
and everyone was intensely interested in learning how to do
that.’
‘The beneficial effects of the PlayPumps are so much more
far-reaching than I had imagined,’ says Peter, a whiskey specialist
at Stansted. ‘Having access to clean water and being able to grow
food supplements the villagers’ otherwise poor diets, and not
having to spend time collecting water, means children are able to
go to school.’