Our Kid is Well Chuffed (Training at Power Gems HQ)
The Power Gems team in Manchester was really pleased to welcome Francis Cuevas, Product Service Engineer, who provides customer after-sales support at our Santa Clarita, US facility, on a trip to the UK to be trained on the full range of Power Gems products.
Or, as we say round here, ‘Our Kid is well chuffed’: “We took Francis for a night out at The John Gilbert, a pub,” Phil explains, “which helpfully had chalkboards with Mancunian phrases posted around, so we didn’t need to translate.”
As The Complete Guide to Manchester’s Slang wisely observes: “When it comes to visiting Manchester, keeping this list in your back pocket may help you with locals and not looking lost when out with friends. It is vital to remember Manchester favourites such as barm cake and pop; otherwise, you may not get what you expected when you order.”
You can see the team tucking into scran, including traditional English favourites, fish and chips (summer assembly worker Jakub Gromadzki, on the left), with Francis (second from the right) sticking to an American burger and fries, washed down with a beer.
Portrait of the Duke of Bridgewater by William Marshall Craig, 1788
Unwittingly Francis has something in common with the history of The John Gilbert in Worsley. The third Duke of Bridgewater, known as Lord Francis Egerton, lived as a recluse on his Worsley Estate in the 18th century and was responsible for creating the UK’s canal network. He ‘saw the potential for transporting coal directly from the mines to the markets’ and employed John Gilbert to create the Bridgewater Canal. The canals brought Francis immense wealth.
So, 400 years later, neither as reclusive nor as immensely wealthy as his namesake, we raise a glass to Francis’ devotion to ballasts and not canals.
Cheers!
