As the Pandemic started to take hold in January and February of 2020 we spotted that one or two distilleries had hit the UK news, particularly in Scotland, for making hand sanitiser based on ethanol. As a distillery with a trade warehouse (where we can hold alcohol in duty suspense) we regularly order in high strength ethanol as a base to make our range of award-winning Gower Gin. We could also see that panic buying was beginning to set in, shelves were being cleared and believed that anything to do with protecting us all from Coronavirus was soon going to be in short supply.
We decided to start experimenting with alcohol gels and alcohol hand-rub liquids. Early experiments with gels were not successful and so we settled on making the World Health Organisation hand-rub formulation. This combined ethanol, hydrogen peroxide, glycerine and water to make an 80% ABV solution effective against all known viruses including Coronavirus. This turned out to be a good decision. As the pandemic grew in pace all forms of PPE were in short supply, we could see the growth in cases and deaths and decided we had to start producing the sanitiser to help; even though we knew we would be under threat of prosecution. I wrote to HMRC to ask them to relax the rules to allow us to use the ethanol we carried for Hand Sanitiser production but they refused saying we had to apply for a license to de-nature alcohol; however by this time lots of other people around the UK were also asking and the time to get a license was increasing even though the death rate was doubling every three days.
We did two things next, we asked our MP Tonia Antoniazzi to lobby the Treasury and the Government, which she did and received a written answer saying changes were being considered, and we went into early production. We had to try and help; we had put out an early note on social media and our web site saying we were developing a hand sanitiser and the response was one of desperation and panic, there was no going back. We started to produce under threat of prosecution, buying in the ingredients and bottles of all sizes, we created a name for our sanitiser which was GLÂN (meaning pure, clean and spotless) and the flood gates opened. This was in part to appearing on BBC and ITV Wales and also the Radio – so many people were fascinated at a Gin Distillery making hand sanitiser.
We put our new bottles online in late March and had almost 1,000 orders in less than 24 hours. Our online shop was taking several orders a minute! We had settled on a not-for-profit model that covered our costs and allowed us to donate another bottle for each sale made; so buy one and give one! The only problem was that we were not geared up to do mail order at this level of demand. We swamped the Reynoldston post office for almost two weeks getting all these orders out so we had to stop. We eventually did work out some ways of keeping the smaller bottles going by partnering with Gower Butchers (Hugh Phillips) who were doing deliveries for themselves and other smaller firms to help them keep going. We also got donations from private individuals and from local organisations, the largest being Admiral Insurance.
In parallel we started to supply key-worker organisations who could collect; we put up a sign on our closed gate (as we were now in lockdown) which said please shout, beep or ring to get our attention and the next phase began.
When the Schools re-opened to support key worker children, we got a call on the Sunday before asking if we could help. We had sanitiser but our new plastic bottles had not yet arrived so we donated 60 gin bottles of sanitiser to all the schools opening up in the Swansea area. That caused some laughs to see the gin bottles turning up in Schools on a Monday morning.
So many organisations came to us for help; it is a long list but as some examples; multiple police forces, fire service, first responders, ambulance, air ambulance, homeless charities, blood-bikes, red-cross, hospitals, GP-surgeries, maintenance organisations, young offenders institutes, prisons, palliative care organisations, community nurs.es and community midwives and not forgetting social care organisations and care homes. Many of the people who came were in real need, some even in tears at having to work in dangerous situations without proper PPE and protection. Despite what was being said in the press and on TV, we could see that these groups did not always have what they needed. We turned no-one away. If organisations could not afford to buy the sanitiser then we donated it, but many were happy to pay a fair price. If we had not done this we would simply have gone under, under the weight of growing demand. This all meant we could continue and grow and donate more. We were ordering thousands of litres of alcohol and thousands of bottles and jerry cans; our drive was littered with pallets and packages. It was like the Wild West with bottles and sprays and atomisers being snapped up online and going into very short supply – we bought everything we could find.
We were working very, very long hours and getting more and more tired. We could not ask people to help as we were all in lockdown; then our fantastic community started to rally round. A few local people got to know of what we were doing and offered help as volunteers; we set up three socially distanced work stations and our own key-workers got to work; often making several thousand bottles a week. We also got amazing presents as people bought us Welsh cakes, soups, cakes and even onion bhajis. We thank them all so much for their kindness. Occasionally we had a quiet day and just stopped to listen to the birdsong and the quiet, we sat in our gin garden near our little micro-distillery and chatted about what was happening; it was a life-changing experience.
During this period we started working with several larger authorities and organisations. We were supporting The PPE needs of Carmarthenshire County Council and they were fantastic to work with. We became official PPE suppliers to the NHS, to DVLA in Swansea and to Neath Port Talbot Council, supporting Schools and Colleges to get back to normal.
In July and August things started to get back to normal. Bigger supply chains started to kick-in for sanitiser and the shortages disappeared. The huge demand dropped away but we still supply some of our key commercial customers. No doubt eventually they will find cheaper suppliers and this episode in our lives will be over.
Our lockdown was spent making WHO Hand Sanitiser and we will never forget it. We have new friends, some new gin customers and some amazing memories; for others this will fade but we will not forget the part we played in the 2020 pandemic crisis.
None of this would have been possible without our team of helpers and we thank them all – and especially: Conor, Alison Carman, Courtney & Sue Grove & Richard, Mags and Mi’chal, Julie and John, Sarah and Gill, Arleen, Brin & Rachel Hurford
Local financial support from Donna and Kate Lewis and other local businesses.
We were kept fed – soup by Mary Attwell, delicious Indian bhajis from Sara’s parents and so many delicious Welsh cakes from Rona. And big shout out to Helen and Claire in the Post Office who helped us with the huge amount of orders!
Thank you! Siân & Andrew
