*We all got up early to have a special sugar laden breakfast for Kate's birthday! Popcorn, biscuits, cake, pancakes and bombay mix mmm!

 *We had an amazing day at Mount Lavinia, soaking in the sun on the beautiful golden beach, followed by a seafood bbq on the beach, more paddling in the huge waves (very very exfoliating!) finished with a dip in the hotel pool and a gorgeous hot shower whoo!

*Slightly more reddened we headed back on the bus home, we were invited to Dominics house, where Priyanka is staying, an had a lovely evening of cheese, crackers, chocolate and gin and tonics - the perfect ending to Kates birthday day!

*A much needed lie-in was had this morning

* We have been working hard all afternoon on our presentation next week for members of industry, the British Council and the University of Moratuwa – slightly terrified at the thought of standing in front of so many people!

 

* I had an amazing morning, riding solo in a three wheeler (much more space when there isn’t four of us squashed in – but a little less fun!) to Diwala to have a meeting with a hand knitting company

*Priyantha employs a number of women in local fishing villages on the coast, his father’s original company had over 500 women knitting in many different rural villages across Sri Lanka until 2004 – however now Priyantha employs 50 of the best knitters – specialising in Scandinavian circular knitting – beautifully made jumpers (a little like FairIsle patterns!) all hand finished, and more modern designs for a Norwegian company.

*In the afternoon I went exploring in Columbo 3 a little more, changing my money and having  good look around Majestic City (a huge mall type structure with lots and lots of little market type stalls inside!) before a long hot walk back to the apartment!

*In the evening we went to Barefoot, who were hosting a big Jazz night with amazing singers (and a very weird audience member continually dancing ‘strangely’ at the front!), good food and a couple of ice cold drinks!

*I was at the MAS Design Centre again today, it was nice to have a little time to reflect upon my findings in-between meetings with really interesting people in the company.

* I was able to talk to the people who are undertaking a project to assess the carbon footprint of a number of undergarments – it sounds fascinating – and I hope they progress the findings and seek alternatives to lower the carbon emissions as much as possible.

* In the afternoon I was able to talk to the Health and Safety Compliance Manager who informed me of the different regulations enforced at factories, minimum wage brackets, monthly hours and overtime regulations and suchlike!

* Back at the MAS Design Centre, I was able to spend the day in the fabric testing facilities, learning how they develop new fabrics, match the right ones to the customer’s specifications, and test their performance against the customer’s criteria.

*It was amazing to see the fabric sample rooms, with row upon row of fabric, lace, trimmings and components all split into fibre content, manufacturers and colour! There was a selection of Organic and new technologically advanced fabrics such as lyocell and corn starch that have just been developed to the standards needed in lingerie production.

*In the afternoon I was able to speak to a design coordinator for their new Amanti range, sold exclusively in India, who looked after the whole process of manufacture from making sure the sourced fabric arrives to sample in time, to making sure the correctly dyed pieces are shipped to the manufacturing factory when requested.

 

*An early pick up meant I dozed for most of the two hour journey down to the MAS green factory – Thurulie – this morning, however the beautiful warm sunshine and breeze along with the very peaceful surroundings woke me up (along with a green tea and lots of biscuits!)

* Hiru was absolutely amazing at taking me around, showing me her great CSR initiatives (I can’t wait to hear how effective they are!) and making sure I got to talk to the right people who could give me the necessary information on my project!

* The lady who managed the ‘Women Go Beyond’ initiative – a brilliant programme based on empowering women through training, extra-curricular activities, courses and rewarding excellence – was kind enough to give me an overview of why MAS is so people-centric and the benefits this holds for the workers as well as the company.

* After lunch I was able to interview a number of factory staff about their involvement with employee initiatives and training and how they had personally benefitted from these – I was amazed to hear the story of last year’s ‘Women Go Beyond’ achievement award winner – she had been working for MAS for over 18 years and could not thank them enough for seeing the potential in her – from beginning as a sewing trainee she now oversees the whole training line recruits!

* It was my first day at MAS Holdings, so I was a little nervous, however on arrival at the Design Centre I was warmly greeted and shown around with another group of new interns, we then watched a presentation on the history of MAS Holdings and the future hopes of the company.

* I the afternoon I was very privileged to meet with Nathan the CEO of the Design Centre, he was lovely and explained to me about the development of a project involving Organic cotton.

*After lunch I was able to read up about the history of the company, their values and how the business has expanded over the 23 years they have been in business.

* After a chilled out morning we headed to Barefoot where we had heard they had a jazz afternoon in their lovely cafe hidden behind the store in the dappled sunshine.

* We headed home and had a great home cooked meal then went to the cinema to watch The Expendables – slightly surreally all having to stand for the national anthem before the film began!

 

*A morning swim in the infinity pool, whilst listening to the crashing waves right next to us, was definitely a unique wake up system!

*We visited a coconut shell button making shop – they are made in the ladies own homes then sold in a small outlet on the outskirts of Galle.

*Visiting Jeffrey Bawa’s house (a famous Sri Lankan Architect) was a really relaxed way of exploring Galle’s tropical countryside, with interesting sculptures and intricate attention to detail surrounding every aspect of his immaculate house.

*Stopping at an amazing bakery and having cheese straws with marmite on, and a huge sugar laden ‘doughnut’ gave me a much needed sugar boost.

*We visited the Educate A Child Trust, who gave us such a warm welcome with flower necklaces and an amazing costume dance performed by a group of pre-schoolers, whilst telling us about the great community work they are doing.

* After a hot night’s sleep, we drove to the nearby Folk museum which had some really interesting historical research on handicrafts, and topped with a breakfast of fruit picked up from a road stall we were definitely on our way for a good days exploring!

* Two more lace making places were on the cards and then Dr Nirmali and Dr Lakdas began their journey back to Columbo, leaving us in the capable hands of Mahesh our driver!

* Heading back to the fort we explored the grid of small winding roads, stopping for lunch at a great colonial inspired cafe.

*The afternoon was spent walking along a beach that looked like paradise, with crashing waves soaking us! I was the most cautious and paddled a lot whilst the others got crashed and thrown around by the huge waves – a nice drink at a nearby beach bar ended a lovely afternoon!