7th Feb 2025
We caught up with our Adults with Learning Differences (ALD) team last week at The Pump House Project. Here, the ALD students are working together to run a cafe as part of their Working in the Community project.
The cafe opens its doors weekly at The Pump House Project, a charity and multi-purpose activity centre based in a refurbished theatre in Farringdon. The 'Winter Warmers' cafe sessions offer a cooked meal, soup, cake and hot drinks, encouraging people in and around the community to come together for a catch-up. Customers choose how much they would like to pay as all food and drink are donation only with all proceeds supporting the charity. This week, the students served chicken stew with vegetables and dumplings, tomato soup, and a selection of cakes that left us spoilt for choice!
The student's responsibilities included writing the menu, serving customers, washing up, and closing down. Throughout the project, they learn about customer service skills, health and safety and food handling. During our visit, we met students Veronica, Patrick, Andrew and Jordan. Outside of driving lessons and working at a Christian bookshop, Jordan attends ALD courses at Abingdon campus, where he strengthens his cooking and independent living skills. He explained his development so far on the course and the confidence he's gained in speaking to customers. Veronica has been attending ALD courses for 7 years and loves to take part in pottery and crafts courses. Veronica and Jordon served food and drinks at the cafe, and Andrew and Patrick washed up and cleared away, but the students were free to choose the tasks they were most comfortable with.
The 'Winter Warmers' sessions are due to run until the end of February, but Sarah Hayden, from our Access to Learning team, hopes to continue the student's involvement with Farringdon's community. The Pump House Project, founded by Sarah Stoves, is a local oasis for people of all ages and backgrounds. It facilitates a wide range of affordable activities that drive community engagement, whether that be a safe space to talk or a chance to meet like-minded people. For our ALD students, The Pump House Project has provided a fantastic opportunity to socialise and build on communication and employability skills.
If you'd like to visit the cafe and our ALD students, come and say 'hello' at the next 'Winter Warmers' session every Tuesday, 12:00pm - 2:00pm, at The Pump House Project before the end of February!
