Round About CaféOur story so far...

This is the story of our first year or so; it shows the many ways that local residents, partners, volunteers and our amazing customers have helped to turn plans into reality and create a thriving community hub in Mansbridge.

You will see just how much your support has helped us to do for local residents and some of the amazing events and activities that we’ve been able to run.

Happy reading...

More than just tea and coffee...

Located in the heart of Mansbridge, 12 Westfield Corner was a disused building owned by Radian. We talked to local people about what they wanted to see the building used for. A Steering Group was set up, made up of local residents, partners and Radian’s Community Involvement team.

We asked local people for comments using questionnaires, drop-ins and door knocks in the area. The results showed that people wanted a community hub: somewhere where local people could go. The steering group said that we should create a Community Café where we could also offer training and activities for local people.

Based on all the feedback the steering group said the Café should:• be a friendly, fun and interesting

place local people could visit and enjoy good coffee

• have fantastic volunteer opportunities and be not-for-profit, yet make enough money to keep running

• promote health and wellbeing through affordable nutritious food

• focus on training, support and information

• get digital by providing free laptops and free Wi-Fi

• support ‘all things local’

So it begins...

You can never have too much cake!

2

The Café before the project started... just a

disused building.

Good news: we received planning permission for change of use into a community facility.

Radian helped to develop site plans and refurbishment schedules with support from Andrew Godwin from Technical Services. Thankfully lots of enthusiastic people in our steering group - Lawrence Fellick, Chris Woodbourne, Jane Braithwaite, Janet Rogers, Alan Broom, Denise Stratton and James Tester (and soon to be joined by Christine Barter and Marie Frampton) – help out. The team was supported by Sammy, Community Development Officer from Radian.

We set up a Facebook page to keep people updated on what we were doing, get more feedback and encourage more local people to get involved in the project.

May 2013

In the past the building has been a

post office, greengrocer and most

recently, an office for NHS staff.

The initial steering group who helped to get the Café started.

For news about events, training and offers, like us on Facebook at:

www.facebook.com/themansbridgehub

3

To raise the profile of the Café and get more people involved we ran a competition for ideas for a name. The steering group liked “Round About Café” (perfect given it’s next to a roundabout). It could have been called “Herbert’s” (after the talented Herbert Collins who designed homes in Mansbridge and Southampton, including Westfield Corner).

Because we had never done anything like this before, the Steering Group visited community Cafés in Southampton, Marchwood and Fareham, to share ideas and learn about what we need to take into consideration. They also found out about prices and menus and taste-tested food. The group took the lead on consultation, design, refurbishment, shopping, menu design, opening hours, and plans for the launch.

June 2013

Herbert Collins, co-founder of the Swaythling Housing Society.

The Café helps volunteers gain new skills... including baking

delicious cakes for sale!4

Refurbishment is led by Andrew Godwin, supported by Damian Lofts and Ian Yeomans, two Improvers from Radian’s apprenticeship scheme. Not only does this keep the costs of the project low, it also gives Damian and Ian the opportunity to develop their skills and gain invaluable project management experience.

July 2013

Damian (left) said “My management skills really improved as a result of this project. I loved

the scale of the works involved and it has really helped my career.”

Denise from the Steering Group makes a ‘smashing’ start on the refurbishment.

The Steering Group made important decisions about signage and branding, decoration, flooring and the final Café layout.

5

We became smart shoppers, saving money by negotiating with suppliers for deals on furniture and getting lots of bargains on eBay.The savings we made on shopping and the refurbishment meant we could invest in other things like the coffee machine to make the Café more professional. The final set up costs were £25,000 which came from the Mansbridge Fund. This was money allocated to Mansbridge by Radian when the Swaythling Housing Society became a part of Radian, to be used for local projects so the area wouldn’t lose its local character. This money was agreed after consultation with local residents.

We produced some fun artwork and a local history wall to

tell the story of Herbert Collins and the local area.

Thank you to everyone who gave us things to help with the setup.

July 2013

6

A big thank you to Symphony, Radian’s kitchen supplier, who provided our new kitchen completely free of charge!It isn’t this one – this is from of our Mansbridge history photo display (come and take a look if you haven’t already).

Alan from the Steering Group successfully applied to Radian’s Community Fund to purchase three laptops and provide free WiFi in the Café. Customers are welcome to use our laptops and WiFI and they have proved popular. Amongst other things, residents have used them to log calls to Radian, applied for benefits online and searched and applied for jobs.

An example of the kitchen in the first Mansbridge homes.

Some Mansbridge School pupils making the most of the laptops after school

The professional coffee machine has challenged everyone who

works at the Café, but we are all now trained baristas!

August 2013

7

Our logo competition received 11 entries from local people. Well done Helen of Wide Lane, who said: I’m very pleased my logo design was chosen - it’s great that local residents have a nice place to chat and eat out in Mansbridge.”

Helen with her winning design.

Our runner up, Liam, has some good ideas and drawing skills.

Our logo is based on Helen’s design.

There was lots to do before opening in September... applying for planning permission, music licences and signage permissions, registering with environmental health, setting up utilities...

September 2013

8

We wanted to use staff with existing skills to lead training sessions and equip volunteers to give great service. Barista training was run in-house by Adam; seven volunteers enjoyed the training, making and sampling different coffees ready for our opening day.

Safe and skilled! Three volunteers complete food hygiene training. Two become first aid trained. Seven attend training in health and safety and also fire safety.

Getting there... signage is up!

Adam teaching the team how to make a perfect three-layered latte!

Jackie about to show off her extinguisher skills at

fire safety training!

Some of our first volunteers - James, Marie, Janet, Kip,

Denise & Jackie - attended health & safety training.

September 2013

9

The steering group also helped to organise a week of exciting activities to celebrate the launch, including afternoon tea on Tuesday, a kids’ candy popshop on Wednesday, lots of homemade sausage rolls on Thursday, and on Friday Jackie showed us how to make (and eat) her tasty Jamaican patties!

Monday 30 September 2013 marked the start of our celebration opening week. Shelina Permalloo - MasterChef winner 2012 - hosted an afternoon to launch the Café. 30 lucky people joined us to sample some of her delicious creations!

Shelina used to work for Radian

and is passionate about projects

that bring communities together.

Shelina’s delicious mango and lime syllabub - enjoyed

by guests at our launch.

The Kid’s Candy Pop Shop joined us to encourage families & children

to come in and see the Café.

Our Café project team with Shelina at the opening.

September 2013

10

Shelina was joined by volunteers Denise and Janet to judge a sandwich making competition at the launch. The winner was Lilian Moore, a Radian resident from Doreen Wellfare House in Eastleigh.

Thanks to Southern Co Op Group! They give us £100 worth of ingredients to help us get started with our store cupboard essentials.

Lilian joined us because of her involvement with a number of things at Doreen Wellfare, including helping

to get raised beds installed.

Lilian’s winning creation!

Staff and volunteers are keen to make sure we use good quality ingredients and create healthier options by making everything from scratch. This helps the team to develop their skills, keeps costs down and promotes the benefits of home-made compared to shop bought.

Paula’s tasty homemade sausage rolls (with more than 80% pork

meat) are on the menu.

Volunteers and staff bake fresh cakes every day for

sale in the Café.

October 2013

11

Parents told us that they would like to see more activities for children held at the Café. Over 30 young people attend our Halloween event. It’s great to see the Café bustling with young people! It’s at this event we realise we need a booking system and to make sure we have enough volunteers at events.

Volunteer Jackie starts her Jamaican Patties Wednesday. Through volunteering at the Café Jackie’s confidence grew and she felt ready to launch her own catering business.

Radian residents from Chapel in Southampton were delighted to help out the Café by sharing some of their home-grown salad, donated from their community allotment.

The recipe for Jackie’s delicious patties is on our website to try...

they’ll put you in a holiday mood!

Chapel’s delicious crop of lettuce being harvested ready

for use in the Café.

November 2013

12

To help achieve our objectives we started to work with external partners to deliver more events, activities and training. In partnership with local charity Groundwork Solent we successfully secured funding of £1,476 to run our first ‘Kids Can Cook’ course in November. Twelve budding chefs (aged eight to 14) learnt about healthy eating, life skills, cultural awareness, food costs and waste. They made pasta, apple crumble and more - all from scratch - over six weeks. At the end of the course, our young chefs cooked a curry and became waiters, serving their food to their parents. Our volunteer Janet also shadowed so she could deliver our next Kids Can Cook. She learnt about classroom planning, food budgeting and healthy eating themes.

We consistently listen to our customers to make sure we’re doing things right. In November we changed our opening times based on what you told us.

The course also helped with other skills like maths as the children had to weigh

ingredients and follow recipes.

The children learnt more about where food comes from and how to prepare a variety of meals.

By popular demand we introduced new food items on the menu including breakfast baps.

November 2013

13

To mark Remembrance Sunday, Barbara from Radian’s Community Development team launched a local history project. Customers came together to share memories of their wartime childhoods. We were joined by Frank, Chair of the local Royal Air Force Association, who flew as a Navigator on a Mosquito in WW2. Patricia was especially pleased as she has always wanted to meet one of those men she’d marvelled at who flew overhead during the war.

Local resident and lifelong member of the Mansbridge community, Patricia, came into the Café just after we opened and soon became a regular!She said: “I suffered stroke a few years ago and it has made my memory really bad. Coming to the Café has helped keep me active and staff always help me to remember things.”Her family told us: “Very many thanks to all the staff who have gone the extra mile to help Mum. The Café has been a lifeline for her and your care and attention have not gone unnoticed”.

Radian’s Energy team held a drop in session for local people to find out how they could reduce their utility bills and get more energy smart. They also gave us suggestions on how to keep energy costs to a minimum in the Café itself, such as only using the dishwasher when it’s completely full and baking in batches to avoid re-heating the ovens.

Southampton Job Centre Plus approached us about supporting work placements for young people. In November, Amy completed a three week placement to gain valuable experience of customer service and catering.

Patricia was thrilled to meet WW2 navigator Frank.

Hannah from the Steering Group started providing pamper treatments to increase promotion

of her local beauty business.

December 2013

14

Working with Eastleigh College and Radian’s Employment, Support & Training (EST) team we launched our first IT sessions. A free ten week course ran for our over 60 customers, aimed at promoting digital inclusion. Sammy remembers the group enthusiastically looking on the internet to check the weather and searching for bargains on the B&Q website. One of the group said “I’m much more confident on the laptops now and it’s nice to get to know other people.”

We were sorry to lose volunteer Jackie who felt inspired and left us to start her own catering business. Well done and best of luck Jackie!

“I sent my brother an email and he replied saying:

‘Welcome to the 21st Century!’”

“My favourite thing about volunteering is interacting with customers... we are

really encouraged to get to know people who come in. It’s really friendly!”

Supported by the EST team, job clubs at the Café start. Monthly sessions start helping local people search for jobs, receive help with application forms and CV writing.

“The laptops and free WiFi have been a great help as I’m looking

for work.”

With Radian’s support we advertised for and recruited a Café Coordinator to help us manage the day-to-day running of the Café and support our volunteers. Radian offered to support this role through the Solent Community Involvement Team.

January 2014

15

Happy New Year! We’re excited to open after the festive break. Our temporary Café Coordinator starts and helps our volunteers run the Café.

Nine customers joined the free Healthy Weight-loss Group in January for six weeks. The group carried on meeting at the Café after the six week period, sharing healthy recipes and organising weekly walks. Emma, the NHS Health trainer who ran the group, said “a local base like the Café is essential for seeing more clients”.

Our external catering is launched. We trial it with our supporter, Radian, for a few months. This generated £1,412 income between January to March 2014 which has gone a long way to supporting our community activities and training.

We say hello to Chloe, our fantastic Saturday volunteer!Three of our younger volunteers (Chloe, Alfie and Maddie) use this experience to develop their CVs in preparation for Saturday jobs when they reach their 16th birthday.

Thanks to all Radian staff who have helped to support the Café by ordering catering from us.

“People are always cheerful at the Café! Since starting I’ve learnt how to use the till, coffee machine and a few new recipes that I try at home!”

But we say farewell and thank you to Sammy (who left us for a new

job.... as mum to Marnie).

January 2014

16

You told us you wanted to see more on the menu. In particular we had a number of requests for a full English breakfast. It took us some time but we realised this was the time to launch our ‘Round About Breakfast’.Because we’re keen to promote healthier options we make sure everything is cooked as healthily as we can. This includes grilling bacon and sausages and using just a squirt of low fat cooking spray to fry our eggs.

We trial Saturday opening hours and now open Tuesday to Saturday.

The delicious Round About breakfast!

As we’ve extended our menu, our volunteers have also extended their skills. We try and encourage all volunteers to get involved with the cooking and baking, regardless of their experience. They start getting adventurous and try out recipes for different things to sell!

Your feedback has helped develop our menu to include

real favourites like Barbara’s famous coffee cake!

February 2014

17

‘Round About Remembers’

Barbara is passionate about history and loves hearing customers share memories when they visit. The local area is steeped in history, both with links to World War 1 and to architecture and affordable housing, so Barbara sets up a couple of local history sessions. Five people attended each session and began by exploring the history of the Swaythling Housing Society and reasons behind local street names. The response to the sessions was really positive so Barbara started to think about a project linked to WW1.

PC Gail Salley and local Police Community Support Officer advertised their presence in the Café for people to chat to them about community issues. Feedback has told us that people feel the Café is an asset to the community.One customer said: “I’m very impressed at how the Café has integrated into the community. It’s very welcoming and open to new ideas”

In February we saw an increase in orders for external catering and also started taking bookings from groups wanting to rent the Café. This includes Radian’s Solent Area Panel (who agree local priorities), who start to hold their evening meetings there. All this extra income is a huge help to our finances and gives us the funding to run more activities and courses for the local community.

We encouraged residents from our local sheltered schemes to

share their memories of the area.

Volunteers enjoy coming up with new recipes for themed events, such as these lovely

Valentine’s Day biscuits.

February 2014

18

We are passionate about all things local and are keen to support local businesses by sourcing food as locally as possible.

We asked local people to share

their home-grown fruit & vegetables with us.

Our meat comes from Owtons Family Butchers

in West End.

Our free-range eggs come from Claytons in Romsey...the “home of happy hens”.

Because we use local producers we are able to become members of Hampshire Fare, the County’s local food group that supports local farmers and producers. We’re delighted that they recognise our commitment to sourcing things locally.

“You can’t buy

happinessbut you can buy

local. It’s kind of the same thing.”

March 2014

19

Six young chefs (aged four to eight) took part in our second ‘Kids Can Cook’ course, this time it’s run by volunteer Janet. They learn about healthy eating and make tasty dishes such as healthy meatballs. The amazing support we’ve had from our customers means that we are able to provide all the ingredients for free for this popular course.

Our hot meals are launched! Homemade beef stew with dumplings and crusty bread and bangers & mash are on the menu.

Janet was able to apply all the skills she learnt at the first

course to lead the second course.

One of the most important lessons was about spending time in the kitchen safely.

The group learnt about the benefits of healthy eating as well as some easy recipes.

Our reasonably priced hot lunches are a hit

with customers

March 2014

20

We were delighted to be chosen to host the launch of the Campaign for Rural England (CPRE) Hampshire’s ‘Countryside Awards’. They chose the Café as a venue because they liked our focus on volunteers and sourcing produce locally. Dee Haas, chair of CPRE Hampshire said of the Café:“This is exactly the kind of rural enterprise we hope to discover, through the awards scheme. The Café acts as a community hub, which trains volunteers and aims to establish a financially-sustainable business model. It provides healthy meals, freshly made on the premises. They are also developing a local food trail to support local businesses and to reduce their carbon footprint.”

To encourage youngsters to come into the Café with their families, Denise from our steering group (below with Adam) arranges a Mothers Day event which included some creative card making.

Some of the Café team with

representatives from CPRE and

the Mayor of Southampton.

Denise has shown great support to the Café from the beginning, helping out serving customers and sharing her craft skills.

We recognised that the refurbishment of the Café had helped to improve the appearance at the front of the building, but wanted to do something for Westfield Corner residents living at the back. Hampshire Probation service supported us as part of their community payback scheme to clear and tidy up the area behind the Café.Shed doors were repaired and fitted with new locks, helping to improve the security and safety of residents’ belongings stored there.

Business rates of £1,800 were due - and as we’re not a charity we didn’t get a discount. Because of this we started to think about how we could achieve charitable status in the long-term by supporting the volunteers to make the Café a social enterprise.

March 2014

21

Passionate about healthy cooking with lots of skills learnt from her mum and extended family, we loved Meera’s fabulous Indian cookery classes. Over four weeks, Meera showed us her skills in making Indian starters, mains, sides and desserts. Meera showed why home made is better than take away and how to feed a large family on a budget. Feedback from residents was great!A big thanks to Meera for volunteering her time to share her taste sensations.

Customers from the Herbert Collins Residents’ Association visited us. We are working together to recognise the significance of the area to WW1 and erect a memorial to the Swaythling Remount Depot.

“Fantastic course. Meera and Paula were very friendly and helpful.”

“I enjoyed learning how to cook new recipes and having

a laugh with others.”

During the war 25,000 servicemen and 400,000 war horses passed through the Depot on their way to the front line. Together with a number of local partners we began a community project to explore and commemorate this history. There will be lots of ways for residents to get involved, including arts and crafts, dance and music, researching family and local history and using IT equipment, photography and filming and applying for funds or planning permission.

April 2014

22

As we’d been open for a few months, we asked our customers for ideas and suggestions on how we could improve and keep customers coming back. We really appreciated the feedback we got... you can read a few of the comments and suggestions below:

“It seemed quite popular on Saturdays when I went with my husband – can you open on Saturdays again?”

Unfortunately Saturdays didn’t make enough money to open. We are keen to open more hours once we have enough volunteers that can help cover the opening times.

“More variety of jacket potato fillings and wraps”

Since you told us this we’ve included chilli alongside the old favourites of cheese, beans, tuna and salad. We gave wraps a go but we were told brown bread was preferred.

“Pasta salads or mixed salads would be nice”

Over the summer we offered a selection of salads - chicken, ham, cheese or tuna! Shirley also made some delicious homemade potato salad.

“More information for the community”

‘Round About Round Up’ is now included in a local newsletter called Mansbridge News. We’re pleased with the response to articles in the newsletter. If you’ve any information you want publicised tell us for the Round Up. We’ve also since purchased a few more window displays so you can see what’s coming up and other useful information.

“Picture menus for people with learning difficulties and people with bad sight”

We’ve now produced our menu in large print with photos and have advertised that we have it at the counter.

“You should introduce a loyalty card”

We have introduced a Round About Loyalty card. For every £2 spent you get a stamp; collect ten stamps for a free sandwich or toastie.

“Half portions of sandwiches and jacket potatoes for children”

We’ve since introduced our children’s menu that features small portions and a meal deal.

April 2014

23

Happy Tuesday! To help our older customers we launched an over 60’s discount day with posters displayed in the Café. All customers aged over 60 now receive 15% off food and drinks on Tuesdays.

We worked with the local school to promote an Easter bunting competition – 20 children decorated paper eggs which we hung in our windows.

Radian continued to use the Café as a place to meet. This included the regular ‘Down Your Way’ event which now takes place at the Café. It’s arranged by Radian and the Police for local people to attend and speak to housing staff and answer any questions.

One of our regular customers making use of

our free WiFi.

An article about Meera’s fantastic cooking course is

in the Southern Daily Echo.

“It’s great to see young people getting involved in the Easter crafts and speaking to staff

and other customers.”

May 2014

24

We say hello and welcome to Nigel who we’re pleased to have with us on a six-month work placement through Radian (as part of the A4e scheme).

We invited local groups who focus on services for community benefit to meet us at the Café. This was an opportunity to find out how the Round About can work with other groups to deliver more activities. This included the SoCo music project, My Journey (local travel project), Eastleigh College, Mansbridge Primary School, and Dangerous Ideas (a Southampton group whose aim is to share new ideas and create opportunities for the community). From this we developed a partnership with Eastleigh College to run extra training (e.g. food hygiene). My Journey sent their Bike Doctors to our WW1 event in July (for our customers on wheels). Mansbridge Primary has been working with us to deliver parenting support course. Gosport Football Club have got involved delivering walking football sessions.

Radian’s Employment Skills & Training (EST) team hold an Open day where local people can come, meet the team, and find out how Radian is supporting local people into work and training. 17 people attended.

Southampton Voluntary Services spent the day at the Café and local groups popped in to get their general advice. This was part of their yearly outreach work to support local voluntary groups.

Nigel... as one customer said, “he’s on the right

side of cheeky”.

Walking football session at Gosport FC.

The Solent Area Panel are keen to support the Café and helped out by providing funding for a new professional grill. This helped to make our service more efficient and cook food as healthily as possible.

May 2014

25

Seven young people and parents got together to look at local activities for young residents in the area. It was agreed to find venues suitable for a youth club. Unfortunately, research found there wasn’t anywhere locally to accommodate the club, so we have been looking at other ways to provide activities for young people in the Mansbridge area.

Our new website was launched in May. Up until September we’ve had

838 ‘unique visitors’ to the site.

It is important for the Café to focus on providing a great service when it’s open, without over-stretching our helpful volunteers and staff. Due to resources (e.g. ensuring our volunteers feel comfortable, supported and well trained, needing to recruit more volunteers, and Tracy our Café Coordinator leaving), it was decided that we would close on Saturdays for the time being.

The Café has continued to become a focal point for local people. The Police Neighbourhood team hosted another Beat Surgery at the Café. Feedback from the police was that they were positive by the response they received.

Alan, one of our regular customers, showing his support.

Alan, one of our regular customers said: “I feel the Café shows the other face of Radian and I can see people participating in it – kids coming to the clubs, IT sessions – it’s great. Residents can come here and find out about opportunities worth taking – it’s a good platform for getting information out.”

June 2014

26

Over 50 people attended our D-Day event! We were entertained with wartime songs and enjoyed talking to WW2 Navigator, Frank, who shared his experience of the Air Force. Customers told their stories of the war and helped make (and eat!) delicious food. We dressed in 1940’s style and ate bread pudding, corned beef hash and bacon roly-poly prepared by Shirley and Helen and, washed down with Barbara’s homemade elderflower cordial!

Students from Years 2, 3 & 4 of Mansbridge School joined us at the event and spent time listening to older residents’ memories of life during WW2. A teacher from the school told us:

“The children enjoyed looking at the exhibition photographs and information and also tried some homemade bread pudding which went down well! When we returned to school the children shared their experiences with their class mates and we were impressed with how much information they had acquired and remembered. This was a great opportunity for us to be involved in commemorating an important part of history and forming relationships with some of the wider community.”

The Café buzzed to the sounds of the Radian singers.

“Hearing about one person’s experience of being evacuated made us all realise how different life was

and how fortunate we are.”

Helen and Shirley looking fabulous in their land girl outfits they

made from boiler suits.

June 2014

27

Eight people took part over five weeks. They were helped by Maria from Eastleigh College to get to grips with social networking, online shopping and using email.

Thank you to Marianne and Annabel at Radian who continued to help us increase income by ordering buffets. The extra funds generated this month helped us to put on a second free computer course.

“Great venue, very friendly group and well run. I also

enjoyed meeting new people and making friends.”

We took time out at the end of Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) for Triple C (calmness, coffee & cake!) at the Café. It was well earned time to reflect on the previous seven weeks of Triple P (aiming to give parenting tools, rather than telling how to parent). Run jointly with Mansbridge School, six parents attended the course and agreed it was useful in encouraging social development and dealing with behaviour positively. Another course will be running later in the year.

Young people enjoy coming in after school to use the computers...sometimes even for homework!

Our resident library - customers are welcome to take and read our books!

July 2014

28

To commemorate 100 years start of WW1 and the successful D-day event, Barbara and volunteers Helen and Shirley organise WW1 event.

Caroline Nokes MP, the Bike Doctor, South Zone Dance Academy were all there as were the Pompey Pals and the Radian Singers. Cllr Painton brought along his personal collection of artefacts. One of our teenage residents, Vinnie Gofton, also read out a WW1-inspired poem that he wrote for the occasion.

A big thank you to Shirley, Helen and Kelly who set up a raffle stall with handmade bunting, homemade cakes, pickles and other goodies, and created special outfits for the day. They raised £130 which will help to pay for a Christmas party for our young customers. We love a party!

Local Councillor Bob Painton is a big supporter of the local history project.

Promoting the area’s contribution to WW1.

Chris Pennycook from charity Pompey Pals shared his

collection of WWI memorabilia.

South Zone Dance Academy received

funding from Radian to develop a

dance commemorating WW1 which

they performed at the event.

July 2014

29

Thank you to charity CRUMBS (working with FareShare), who kindly donated lots of fresh food and drink to the Café. This has allowed us to distribute fruit, vegetables, fresh meat, produce and cereal to over 50 families in need, as well as create delicious Round About dishes. This has helped us to lower our food costs and pass on savings to customers with hot specials costing as little as £2.50. We’ve also been able to offer customers samples of seasonal foods or things we wouldn’t usually have at the Café, such as smoked cheese, French saucisson sec and physalis (a Chinese fruit). We also linked with Radian’s Income team to increase food bank supplies through FareShare. A referral process is now in place for people to collect fresh produce as part the scheme.

Customers told us they wanted to see more about what’s in our food and healthy eating generally, so we updated the art work in the Café with some foodie facts.

Well done to Chloe who was successful in getting her first paid Saturday job (...lucky Shakeaway in Eastleigh). Chloe told us that at her interview they were really interested in her work as a volunteer at the Café.Good luck from us all at Round About!

As of July 2014 we’ve received and used an incredible 862kg of food, which has helped to keep costs low

and support those in need.

Thank you Georgina Green for updating our walls with her art

work and our resident giraffe who now resides in the bathroom.

Janet’s homemade chilli jam on sale in the Café...made using

ingredients from FareShare.

July 2014

30

As one of our aims is training-related, we started a consultation with local charity Groundwork Solent to see what additional training you wanted to see at the Café. The survey showed us that there was demand for:• formal training in things like numeracy and literacy• life skills like computer and internet use, healthy cooking, job searching and

money management• hobby skills like arts & crafts and floristry

People also told us that they would be interested in doing training in the evening and at weekends when the Café is normally closed. We are using this information to help us to apply for external funding to set up some of the sessions people want to see, at times which are convenient for them.

After seeing the great outfits created by Shirley and Helen for the local events, people asked for a sewing drop-in. This was led by the creative duo and we are planning to run more in the future.

The buffet challenge! Thanks to Claire from Radian’s Learning & Development department we were challenged to make 175 cupcakes and 175 sausage rolls for an event they were holding - all in one week and on top of our normal service. This sort of order continues to help us keep prices low for customers.

Helen and Shirley in their ‘land girl’ outfits created for

the D-Day event.

August 2014

31

Congratulations to Janet who took on the new temporary post as Café Coordinator. Janet has experience as a chef and has been involved in the Café since the very beginning, including running our second Kids Can Cook course. We’re sure she’ll be a great support to our volunteers.

Well done to the 13 people who achieved their Level 2 Food Hygiene qualification at a course run by our partners Eastleigh College. The qualification - which is a requirement if working in the food industry - was funded by Eastleigh College as we had a number of people we knew wanted to do it.

“I was excited by the project and thought it was just what Mansbridge needed. Being involved helps me to

feel part of my community”

“It’s great to have had the chance to gain the Food Safety qualification - it’s the first step

in my career in catering.”

Radian’s Employment Skills & Training (EST) team hold an Open Day where 17 local residents came to meet the team.Between December 2013 and the end of August 2014, 27 people had attended their monthly Job Clubs since December. In this time:• 22 people had support

with producing their CV or attended additional training

• Two people enrolled for a course at Eastleigh College

• One person became a volunteer and is now running the job club!

Nigel was also offered an apprenticeship in an NVQ Level 2 in Professional Catering & Hospitality, which means he will be with the Café for the next year learning on the job. Nigel said “I couldn’t even cook when I first started at the Café, but the experiences I’ve had there have given me inspiration for a career in catering that I’d never have dreamed of.”

August 2014

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To mark our one year anniversary, Amy - one of our younger volunteers - planned a celebratory afternoon tea at the Café. Amy used the project towards her GCSE Food Technology coursework, coming up with ideas and holding a taste-testing session in advance as part of her research. She also worked with Janet to learn how to make her own jams to go with her scones, which her teacher said demonstrated higher level skills, which would boost her grade.

We received a number of lovely birthday cards from

our customers.

Amy was the only one in her class who produced their work for the public in a real catering environment which really made her coursework stand out.

Shirley, Nigel & Janet were very proud to receive the

commendation certificate on behalf of all the other volunteers & staff.

We were delighted to be ‘Highly Commended’ in the Voluntary and Community category of the CPRE Hampshire ‘Countryside Awards’. In this category the judges were looking for “projects that have a high level of involvement of volunteers, awareness of sustainability issues as well as educational elements”.This was a fantastic recognition of the progress we’ve made towards some of the main objectives the project originally set out to achieve.

Amy also helped to plan, prepare and make decorations, cakes and posters for the event.

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Our volunteers

“I saw a sign outside asking for people to help so thought

it would be good experience to add to my CV.”

“When my children all finally start school I want to get back to work. Being in the café means I’m not

losing touch with the work place.”

Since launching in September 2013 we have a dedicated group of up to 15 volunteers who between them have given over 500 hours towards the Café. A huge thanks to the dedicated team - Kip, James, Denise, Lisa, Marie, Tom, Janet, Shirley, Helen, Jane, Christine, Jackie, Matt, Tina and Amy - we simply could not have done it all without them.

“I enjoy being a part of the team here and pushing the cafe forward. I enjoy helping the community – it’s great to see the older people mixing with the young ones.”

Shirley

Christine

Chloe

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Our volunteers

“Volunteering at the Café has given me the confidence and experience

to find my first proper job.”

“It helped my career very much; mainly the management of the build. I am now working as an Assistant

Site Manager with a house builder.”

“I have been trying to set up my own Jamaican catering business for a while and volunteering at the Café gave me some inspiration for this.”

“I really like the atmosphere, it’s friendly

and I get to meet lots of interesting

people. The cafe is great, it gets the

community together. It’s especially

good for the older generation.”

Damian

Jackie

Matt

Helen

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A big, big thank you to everyone who has helped over the last year...All the staff at Radian for getting us up and running, creating the wonderful art work on the walls and website that gives the cafe a great look and feel. Also for helping us develop our external buffet menu, giving us encouraging feedback and even sharing some cooking skills.

Our café steering group for their very valued support throughout the project and helping the café become a reality.

To each and every one of our talented, committed and amazing volunteers for their incredible generosity of time for the day to day running of the cafe. Between them they gave over 500 hours of volunteering. Your contribution means the cafe offers an excellent service.

And of course to our wonderful customers – who come and support our little not-for-profit Café which in turn helps us offer ‘more than just tea and coffee’.

Thank you...

The future...We hope to continue building on the success of our first year and attract additional partners to help support the Café.Based on your feedback, we will widen the types of training and activities available for local people and will run sessions at different times of the day and week to make sure people have opportunities to get involved.We will continue to make the Café a place for volunteers to get whatever experience they need. Whether to help getting into work, play a part in the community, or simply to enjoy getting out and meeting other people, we will try to offer whatever support is needed. Most importantly, we want to continue to be a friendly and interesting place for the local community that offers healthy food at great prices.

www.roundaboutcafe.org