As part of our continual commitment to excellent customer service, we held two CPD events in December 2009, at Esholt waste water treatment works. Both days were a great success; we presented a CPD on the CON29DW and Landmark kindly joined us to present their flooding CPD. The sessions ended with a tour of our new, state of the art waste water treatment works. Morrish and Co solicitors, from Leeds, joined us on the Friday and sent us some great feedback. Michael Rigg wrote the following article which was published in their internal newsletter...
Some Indelicacy at the Sewage Works
Emma Cousins and I booked on a (free) course run by Yorkshire Water at Esholt Sewage Works on Friday 11th December last.
We made our way to the training centre in the delightful setting of Esholt Hall (built for the Stansfield family of Rawdon in the 1700’s) and made a very stately entrance into one of the Hall’s large reception rooms.
When I looked around I did remark to Emma that “something was not quite right”. The other attendees were pot bellied, heavily tattooed men in T shirts discussing the previous nights whippet racing - “Bradford solicitors”, we assumed.
More alarming however, coffee was served in plastic cups. But again, as Emma rightly pointed out, my own education in these matters was somewhat limited - and there was nowhere else to g o. We therefore hung around expectantly, each partaking of the most huge bacon tea cakes handed out to all and sundry.
Within minutes we were summoned into the lecture theatre – no checks as to who we were, no raised eyebrows. We were told that the first item to be discussed was the most important. A problem with Yorkshire Waters sewerage pipes in the Wrose area needed urgent attention, to prevent a mountain of “super activated slurry” descen ding upon the unfortunate residents of eastern Shipley. (At this point it did seem to me that a mountain of slurry within the curtilege of your dwelling is not ideal, but the super activated stuff...)
Unable to make any constructive suggestions, we made as dignified an exit as quickly as possible, again without a flicker of concern on anybody’s part, but missing out on the details of what remedial action was to be take to remedy this unholy Armageddon.
Sure enough we discovered we were in the wrong place. Our course was to be held in Yorkshire Water’s excellent visitor centre, not the training centre.
And a first rate course it was. Amy Poole’s talk combined an insight into the work of Yorkshire Water, as well as a practical approach to interpreting drainage searches – just the sort of practical information property buyers would need.
After the talk we enjoyed a tour (by bus) of the treatment works, this was of particular interest to Emma and I who have lived in the area all our lives, but never been round the works.
Finally, we had an excellent lunch and conversation with the very pleasant staff and Yorkshire Water.
Congratulations to Yorkshire Water and to Amy who really managed to pull all the stops.