News from Pathways-Shropshire Ltd

Sandy and Sarah are behind the counter

2009-01-05T10:33:00.004+00:00

Two new staff have now started work in the farm shop.

Sandy Brooks and Sarah Munn both live locally to the village and have children attending the local primary school. Sandy and Sarah are keen to see the shop complementing the existing village shops, and also offering something new to visitors to the tea rooms and the wider Ditton area.

Sandy and Sarah can be contacted at the shop on 01746 712714, and they are keen to hear from customers about anything they would like to see stocked in the shop in the future. They would also like to hear from small scale local suppliers who might be interested in supplying produce to the shop – they are particularly looking for local honey, additional local and seasonal vegetables, home baked cakes and biscuits etc

The Opening

2009-01-05T10:23:00.004+00:00

Almost exactly one year after the award of our Big Lottery People’s Millions award to refurbish the shop building we finally opened our new Oak Farm Shop.

We timed the official opening of the shop to tie in with national Social Enterprise Day on 20th November and the shop was formally opened by our Chair, Mr Lawrie Chitty, and Councillor Barbara Craig who is portfolio holder for Community Services in Shropshire.

The event was well attended and even more important – business was brisk! All our visitors were welcomed with a free hearty soup or winter stew in the tea rooms.

New retail assistant appointed for Farm Shop

2008-08-31T19:03:00.002+00:00

Although the shop is not quite ready yet we have been busy interviewing for the key new post to run the farm shop on a day to day basis. If you are interested in more information about the post of Retail Assistant contact the Pathways' office for a copy of the application pack - contact the Pathways' office on 01743 464293.

Work starts on Farm Shop Project

2008-08-31T16:45:00.000+00:00

A bit later than we had hoped for – but work has finally started on the Oak Farm Shop. The contract was awarded to a building firm called Jones and Hampson and we want the shop to be finished by early July if at all possible. Watch this space...

Frogmeadow Cafe scores 4 stars

2008-08-31T16:44:00.001+00:00

Pathways’ Frogmeadow Community Café at Woodside, Telford was awarded four stars for food hygiene in the new Telford and Wrekin ‘Scores on the Doors’ scheme which provides a rating system of food establishments for the general public. This was a fantastic achievement for the community café which placed it in a very select group of restaurants awarded the same rating in the area, and which saw some notable outlets receive no stars at all.

The star rating is a credit to all the staff and volunteers at the café who keep the kitchen absolutely spotless at all times. Apparently we only missed out on the top five star rating because we failed to record the very regular surface and floor cleaning routines that take place in the kitchen. We’ll be gunning for five stars next year!

£47,000 Lottery win for Oak Farm Shop

2008-08-31T16:38:00.004+00:00

Pathways were thrilled to learn that they had won a grant of over £47,000 for their new farm shop and village history centre on the Oak Farm Tea Rooms site. The project was submitted for the Big Lottery People’s Millions fund and a televised public vote took place with over 5,000 people ringing in to support the project. Even though the project did not win on the night with its ‘head to head’ competitor (Rowney Green Memorial Hall in Bromsgrove), a surprise ‘phone call from the Big Lottery soon put the smile back on everyone’s face. The project won their grant as the runner up with the biggest vote throughout the week.

A giant cheque (see picture) was presented to the project by the Big Lottery fund and the tea rooms and project featured on central news as part of their People’s Millions coverage throughout the week.

Work on the farm shop building will start in early 2008 with completion by mid Summer.

Welcome to Lynn and Louise

2007-05-10T16:26:00.000+00:00

We are very pleased to welcome two new staff members to the Pathways office in Shrewsbury. Lynn Oakley is using her great organisational skills to help out with office administration one day a week. Louise Wellard is also in the office one day a week, 'on loan' from Enable and is working hard on all things financial.

Welcome, Lynn and Louise!

Oak Farm Tea Rooms Formal Opening

2007-03-14T10:45:00.000+00:00

Funders and stakeholders involved in the Oak Farm Tea Rooms project gathered in Ditton Priors on Monday, 12th March to celebrate the completion of Phase 1 of the project.

From left to right: Mike Morris of Shropshire County Council, Shahed Quereshi of Advantage West Midlands and Kend Downward of Natural England (formerly DEFRA) beside the plaque unveiled on the day.

In addition to the unveiling of the plaque, six trainees who have been working at the Oak Farm Tea Rooms as part of the Pathways Voluntary Work Placement Scheme were presented with certificates and T-shirts to reward their progress.

Working with the local community in Woodside

2006-11-08T10:48:00.000+00:00

In March 2006 Pathways opened its new café in the brand new Park Lane community centre on the Woodside Estate in Telford. The Frogmeadow Community Café plays an important role in welcoming the local community into the building, and we take this responsibility very seriously. We have been working with community representatives in the Woodside Healthy Eating Group to develop healthy choice options on the menu, particularly healthy versions of children’s favourites like our 100% chicken oven baked nuggets. We are told by our young customers that they are “Better than McDonalds” - quite an achievement! Two fun food workshops have been held for children – a “Fruit is Fun” workshop in the summer holidays, and a Spooky Snacks workshop for Halloween, hosted by Anna Adams who works for the Primary Care Trust.

We also had a “Are you a work of Art” photography day, where we took pictures of local people using the café. This is one of the many great photos chosen to displayed on the walls of the café:

The formal launch of the Park Lane Centre was held on Friday 8th October 2006 with David Wright MP performing the official opening ceremony. The Frogmeadow Café prepared and served over 200 children’s party boxes and 400 portions of cake, coffee and tea on the day. The centre looked fantastic and we hope to see some of the people who came for the first time back in the café to try our coffee and cakes again.

Oak Farm Tea Rooms - Now Open!

2006-09-24T10:44:00.000+00:00

After a lengthy development process (7 years – must be a record!), the Oak Farm Tea Rooms were finally opened to the public on 22nd September 2006.

A complimentary afternoon tea was laid on for local villagers to have the first look at the new rural tea rooms based in the village of Ditton Priors in South Shropshire. The new Cook/Manager Jennifer Gennard is a local person, and amazingly one of her family relatives used to live in the house that forms the basis of the tea rooms when it was first built!

The tea rooms were a partnership project funded by DEFRA, Shropshire County Council and Pathways-Shropshire Ltd, and they featured as a case study in the recent successful SCC Beacon Awards submission for accessible services.

The restored kitchen garden and new external patio area were completed by Pathways’ own Green Horizons gardening team who did a terrific job.

Funding is now being sought for the second phase of the scheme which includes the development of a farm shop and a village archive in a separate one storey building to the rear of the site.

The Green Horizons gardening team are also working to establish a new orchard of local fruit species, and a wildflower area which will have mown paths and seating areas for the Spring.

St Martins Community Garden

2006-08-31T10:18:00.000+00:00

The St Martin’s Community Garden project was undertaken by the Green Horizons North team of volunteers and Project Officer Jacky Groves. The completion of the main centre had left an unattractive bank of mud to the front of the building which was attracting rubbish and detracted from the overall appearance of the centre. The Green Horizons Community Gardening team transformed the mud bank into a manageable, attractive and accessible community garden for all the stakeholders who use the centre. The project was supported by funding from SPARKS through the Shropshire Partnership.

On Thursday 17th August 2006 the garden was formally opened by Cllr Martin Bennett, the mayor of Oswestry Borough Council. Everyone enjoyed a BBQ and buffet, and all volunteers were presented with special commemorative T Shirts and certificates of achievement.

A wonderful mosaic dedication stone (and mosaic stepping stones around the garden) were commissioned from The Project Group Ltd, a public arts commission group working with people in touch with mental health services throughout the Oswestry area.

Thanks to everyone involved with this project – the results are fantastic.

St Martins Community Centre Garden - Opening Ceremony

2006-08-02T14:37:00.000+00:00

The opening ceremony for the new St Martins Community Centre Garden has been confirmed for Thursday 17th August at 11.30 a.m. The Mayor of Oswestry Borough Council will unveil the main mosaic stepping stone in the garden and a BBQ will be provided by the staff at Ifton Opportunities. A slide show of the project's progress will also be on display in the Community Centre. We look forward to seeing local residents and everyone who has been involved in the project there.

Oak Farm Tea Rooms

2006-08-02T10:34:00.000+00:00

Work on Pathways-Shropshire's latest project, the new Oak Farm Tea Rooms in Ditton Priors, is nearing completion. The project has been developed in partnership with Shropshire County Council, with funding from DEFRA through its Rural Enterprise Scheme and from the Shropshire County Council.

The building works are now finished, and our Green Horizons staff are busy landscaping the gardens and sun terrace areas. The official opening is scheduled for September 2006, although we hope to open for business later this month.

We also have a new logo for the project, designed by Alice at Goosey Graphics:

St Martins Raised Bed Workshop

2006-07-20T10:00:00.000+00:00

Our gardening and horticulture division, Green Horizons, recently arranged a raised bed workshop for residents of St Martins, near Oswestry, as part of the Community Centre garden project. Mike Russell, the designer who has been working with the community to design the new garden, demonstrated how to build a raised bed and was on hand to answer questions.

Everyone got stuck in to build the beds...

... and fill them with plants...

... and the end result looked great:

Thank you to everyone who took part.

Grant for the Old Print Works

2006-03-08T12:42:00.000+00:00

We are delighted to report that an application we made to the Roy Fletcher Trust for a grant to support the running of the Old Print Works Coffee Shop has been agreed and £7,000 has been awarded for the new financial year.

This will help enormously while we look at alternative ways of making this small but invaluable coffee shop pay its own way financially.

Oak Farm Tea Rooms

2006-03-08T12:37:00.000+00:00

The Oak Farm Tea Rooms project is moving forwards, with work now started on the site. The builders are pretty much on schedule with the 21 week build and we expect the handover to take place in mid to late June. It's going to be very busy over the next few months and we will post any updates when we get them.

The Frogmeadow Community Cafe

2006-03-08T12:33:00.000+00:00

The Frogmeadow Community Cafe is a brand new cafe and catering standard kitchen we have opened as part of the new Park Lane Community Centre at Woodside in Telford. Paul Roberts, the new Cook/Manager, started with us on February 13.

One of Paul's first tasks was to provide a buffet for 60 guests at a press preview of the building. He was ably assisted by Karen Hellowell, who is also going to provide relief cover for Paul.

The cafe looks stunning and looks set to become a thriving business. We hope to start taking people on voluntary work placements at the cafe in the next few weeks.

New Staff Appointments

2006-03-08T12:26:00.000+00:00

In recent months, we have welcomed a number of new staff to Pathways:

Karen Hellowell has joined us as Relief Cook Manager at the Old Print Works, providing cover and additional support when Debbie Wilcox is on leave and at busy times.

Joe Heslop is the new Sessional Supervisor for the Green Horizons central team. Joe will also be working as a sessional gardener during the busy Spring / Summer season.

John Paul Jeffels has joined us as a sessional gardener for Green Horizons North, providing cover for Jacky Groves while she concentrates on community gardening.

Paul Roberts is the new Cook Manager at the new Frogmeadow Community Cafe over at Woodside in Telford.

Welcome to all our new staff!

Welcome to Debbie Wilcox

2004-12-17T18:58:00.000+00:00

My name is Debbie Wilcox. I am the Cook/Supervisor at the Old Print Works Coffee Shop which is based in the Roy Fletcher Centre in Shrewsbury town centre. I joined Pathways at the end of September 2004.
In my previous job I spent seven years working alongside volunteers as the cook at the Mayfair Community Centre in Church Stretton. I am looking forward to using this experience within my new post at Pathways to enable people of all abilities to gain skills within the catering and hospitality industry. I hope that working at the Coffee Shop will also increase the confidence of individuals and promote their social and communication skills with a view to moving into employment in the future.
My aim at the Coffee Shop is to offer a small but varied menu at competitive prices within a friendly and supportive working atmosphere.

Welcome to Jacky Groves

2004-10-10T18:56:00.000+00:00

My name is Jacky Groves. I am the new Project Officer for Green Horizons in the north of the county. I am developing the Green Horizons gardening and horticultural service in and around the Whitchurch area.
I live on a small holding in North Shropshire where we have a few animals and grow our own fruit and vegetables. For the past five years I have worked with people with learning disabilities supporting them to promote their independence by developing their abilities in horticulture, agriculture, community access and general life skills.
I am very much looking forward to developing this project and having some of the people who I have supported over the last five years as part of this new gardening team offering a good quality, value for money horticultural service to the North Shropshire area.

New Staff Appointments

2004-09-30T18:54:00.000+00:00

Welcome to new staff who have joined Pathways in recent weeks:

Andy Francis is our part-time Administrative Assistant working in the Pathways office at Harlescott Barns. Andy has a background in administrative work with the Health Authority.

Jacky Groves is the Project Officer for Green Horizons in Whitchurch and came to Pathways from Shropshire Social Services Department. More information about Jacky and her project can be viewed by clicking the Green Horizons project button.

Debbie Wilcox is the new Cook/Manager of the Old Print Works Coffee Shop at the Roy Fletcher Centre in Shrewsbury. Debbie has loads of experience in the catering and hospitality industry and most recently worked at the Mayfair Centre in Church Stretton. More information about Debbie and the coffee shop can be viewed by clicking the Old Print Works project button.

Oak Farm Tea Rooms Project

2004-09-09T18:48:00.000+00:00

The Oak Farm Tea Rooms Project is moving forwards with a Project Manager/Architect appointed for the scheme called Kelvin Arlett. Funding for the tea rooms has been awarded (subject to certain conditions being met) by DEFRA under their Rural Enterprise Scheme, and Pathways are extremely grateful to them for their support. Provided we can secure a contractor to make a start in the winter period, we anticipate the scheme being ready in the Spring of 2005.
Funding for shop fitments for the farm shop on the site has also been secured on Pathways behalf by Ditton Priors Parish Council from The Countryside Agency.
The project also includes the provision of a "village museum" space for Ditton Priors Local History Group who are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to show off their many artefacts and photos showing the complex history of the village.
On Friday 13th August a fundraising evening was held at the main Oak Farm site which proved to be very successful indeed with well over 100 attendees on the night.