When floodwater swept through the McVities biscuit factory in Carlisle in January 2005 few were confident that it would reopen. The factory, in the Caldewgate area of the city, was one of the first casualties of the flood, as water, nine feet deep in places, coursed trough the food preparation areas, destroying equipment and covering everything in its path in a thick layer of dirt and grime. The learning centre, set up by management and unions in 2002, was swamped. Alistair Richardson, centre coordinator and GMB branch secretary, and his team of Union Learning Representatives (ULRs), with support from managers, had to start again from scratch, relocating the centre and bringing in new funding. It was, Alistair says, an opportunity for them to "reinvent" the centre, to engage more workers--many of whom were keen to develop their skills after the shock of the flood--and to do it better than before. This article reports how the McVities management and union members restarted the learning centre after the flood.