27th May British Gypsum Mine Tour

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Didn't get a pic but had a pint with jesssop in hotel bar before he left. There is a hole. Stuck my nob in it before the others came down.
Nice to meet everyone. We stopped a fair few pints going off last night
 
What can i say about the Tour of the British Gypsum mine and factory at Barrow, With the added extra of visiting the head office at East Leake and being allowed to use their academy to use all of their new products just out on the market ( a couple that are in the trail stage) . We all know on here the plasters i am talking about. First of all a few thank-yous. @Danny , For organizing a Fantastic day and experience. @BritishGypsum , For being exceptional hosts at both sites, And allowing us to see the running and processes to make many types of plaster (From the mine.to the back of the artic lorry ready to distribute all over the uk) All the staff were very polite and helpful, But a extra thanks to Jess,Gemma,Paul and big Pete (mine manager) I probably have the names wrong but i did try to remember , The was a lot to take in during a day :RpS_biggrin:. The two guys in the academy that i never got their names were great fun and very informative also .
Whilst in the academy i had a great experience of chucking a bit of plaster at boards with other spreads (forum members) from other parts of the country. really enjoyed seeing them at work whist having a bit of banter in the mix also.
The main thing i took (apart from bags of plaster:RpS_thumbsup:) from the academy was talking to the British Gypsum staff. I was impressed that all our feedback, suggestions and questions were really important to them and i witnessed plenty of notes being written down. One of these notes was probably to leave me down the mine though:RpS_blushing:.
The mine and factory tour with out doubt blew my mind. The sheer scale of the operation is unbelievable . To be told the site was acquired in 1979 i think to first production in 1992 with a major expansion 10 years later to keep up with demand. I was stunned to find out that the mine is running on 3 shifts 24 hours a day, And after spending maybe an hour or so down there with the workers (7 guys a shift i think) All i can do is admire these guys that do this job to produce a bag of plaster for us guys to spread on a wall and earn a living from :RpS_thumbup:.
The store for the bare material, Right through to the way that its processed through the factory (thats massive) is all done mechanically with 8 guys running the whole set up at one time. The store for the bags in my opinion can only be truly admired of the size of it by standing in front of it watching the massive cranes moving pallets to the loading bay. The tour really has opened my eyes up to what goes into making a bag of multi finish. A few members from the previous tour did state, You will never look at a bag of plaster the same way again. I am one that agrees with this, I knew it would be a great day out But it exceeded all my expectations .:rolleyes)
 
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Also have a few pics of Danny putting some plaster on trying to keep clean, Good night out n also for beers and steak with @RobJack @Danny John? and Kev :RpS_laugh:
 
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chrisjack231 said:
What can i say about the Tour of the British Gypsum mine and factory at Barrow, With the added extra of visiting the head office at East Leake and being allowed to use their academy to use all of their new products just out on the market ( a couple that are in the trail stage) . We all know on here the plasters i am talking about. First of all a few thank-yous. @Danny , For organizing a Fantastic day and experience. @BritishGypsum , For being exceptional hosts at both sites, And allowing us to see the running and processes to make many types of plaster (From the mine.to the back of the artic lorry ready to distribute all over the uk) All the staff were very polite and helpful, But a extra thanks to Jess,Gemma,Paul and big Pete (mine manager) I probably have the names wrong but i did try to remember , The was a lot to take in during a day :RpS_biggrin:. The two guys in the academy that i never got their names were great fun and very informative also .
Whilst in the academy i had a great experience of chucking a bit of plaster at boards with other spreads (forum members) from other parts of the country. really enjoyed seeing them at work whist having a bit of banter in the mix also.
The main thing i took (apart from bags of plaster:RpS_thumbsup:) from the academy was talking to the British Gypsum staff. I was impressed that all our feedback, suggestions and questions were really important to them and i witnessed plenty of notes being written down. One of these notes was probably to leave me down the mine though:RpS_blushing:.
The mine and factory tour with out doubt blew my mind. The sheer scale of the operation is unbelievable . To be told the site was acquired in 1979 i think to first production in 1992 with a major expansion 10 years later to keep up with demand. I was stunned to find out that the mine is running on 3 shifts 24 hours a day, And after spending maybe an hour or so down there with the workers (7 guys a shift i think) All i can do is admire these guys that do this job to produce a bag of plaster for us guys to spread on a wall and earn a living from :RpS_thumbup:.
The store for the bare material, Right through to the way that its processed through the factory (thats massive) is all done mechanically with 8 guys running the whole set up at one time. The store for the bags in my opinion can only be truly admired of the size of it by standing in front of it watching the massive cranes moving pallets to the loading bay. The tour really has opened my eyes up to what goes into making a bag of multi finish. A few members from the previous tour did state, You will never look at a bag of plaster the same way again. I am one that agrees with this, I knew it would be a great day out But it exceeded all my expectations .:rolleyes)
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I liked the food :thumbup:
 
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I was asked what i would like for the bags in the short term and long term. I answered that in the short term to get the glue correct while stacking a pallet of which i am pretty confidant they have now got correct after the major over glue of the bags issue of recent time. I then said for the long term to get rid of the glue completely. Having pallets wrapped in plastic with cardboard corners to keep the stability of the bags on the pallet like i have seen other manufactures do.I said i do not believe the bags are crap, But adding the glue to the bags causes the bag issue
 
I do agree beddy there not the best but do the job well enough when not had glue applied to them. I have a picture on my phone of a pallet of trail plaster That has been wrapped in plastic rather than glued together. Bags came off the pallet no problem and have one in my van that has been moved 4 times so far and bag still remains the same
 
I was next to jesssop I breakfast line. Curry girl said what would you like 'bacon or sausage. Egg , hash brown'.

To which jesssop replied 'can I have everything'
 
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