Tutor: Derek Bill
Project Worker: Elizabeth Hambleton
With an average of 32 trainees working and learning in the Tea Rooms and shop between Monday to Thursday the Retail Department is a busy and lively place to be.
There is an added dimension to our department, as we are the public face of the Training Centre, where our customers come to enjoy the food, ambience and the wonderful views of the Thames Estuary.
Our training programme covers all skills needed to enable the trainees to work effectively within a retail and customer service environment, from cleaning and preparing tables in the Tea Room to display and stock taking within the shop.
The advantage at Hadleigh is the real work experience we can give to the trainees. The Tea Rooms and shop are dynamic, thriving social enterprises, now in their sixth year of trading with sales improving year on year. Our trainees work very hard to ensure that your visit to the Tea Rooms is pleasurable, because they love to see you coming back again and again.
The Tea Rooms Committee, with 5 new members this year, continues to meet monthly and has input into all aspects of the Tea Rooms and shop. The Chairperson for 2007 is Sarah Smith.
Our shop, which opened last year has become very successful, selling bird boxes and other items from our Carpentry department, vegetables and plants from our Horticulture department and postcards produced in our IT department. We also sell produce from East Anglia such as preserves and apple juice, plus a range aromatics from the Isle of Arran. With the growth and success of the Rare Breed Centre we now stock a range of farm toys and souvenirs.
The Tea Room menu will see some changes in 2007 with the focus more on healthier eating, giving our customers a better choice of home made dishes, soups and sandwich fillings.
Our commitment to selling Fairtrade products wherever possible, both in the Tea Room and the shop, will continue. A new addition is a Fairtrade ice cream tub and we are always looking for new products that are fairly traded and ethical.
2007 will also see the start of the Centres new building project, which will incorporate a new Tea Room and sales area. This is an exciting time for Hadleigh Training Centre and for the Retail department, a time of growth, enabling our trainees to develop their skills and confidence to even greater levels and giving us the opportunity to offer our customers an even better service.
