We’ll be seeing in the New Year feeling very pleased with ourselves with many positive changes already under our belt. Our staff team has almost doubled which has meant greater opportunities available for trainees and for the centre as a whole. We’ve developed strong links with Volunteer Cornwall to launch a brand new Work Programme for young adults with learning and/or physical disabilities and have the beginnings of a job club available to all service users with funding secured for new I.T equipment.
We have a brand new prospectus (designed by the lovely people at Ikonika) which will be winging its way around the county in the New Year and of course our brand new website from Studio SRA. We’ve also seen the opening of a new shop and a new outdoor sales area, providing opportunities for our trainees to learn transferable skills in retail and to make browsing our large selection of plants even easier for you too! The upgrade of our kitchen in January has also enabled us to offer an excellent learning experience in catering, hygiene awareness and food nutrition … as well as feed the hungry masses at lunch time after a hard morning’s work!
We launched a kid’s Nature Craft Camp in the summer (thanks to support from Camborne Town Council) which we are looking forward to offering again next summer. Our Source to Sky textiles project delivered by local artist Hazel McGregor and funded by FEAST, was a big hit and we can’t wait to get our sail flags flying again for our 10th Apple Day Anniversary next year. Our ninth Apple Day event in October was an incredible success with over two thousand visitors and (just when we thought our tired feet couldn’t take anymore) a fantastic Cider Stomp at the end of the night featuring local bands Black Friday and Biere De Luxe. We were also delighted that our horticultural team won a Full Bloom Award in the Grow Your Own category. The guys had a great night out at the awards ceremony held at the Eden Project in November.
The list goes on and there’s a lot to take stock of too; a new Business Plan has been approved by the Board of Trustees this year which will underpin our intentions for the next five years. Substantial progress has already been made in delivering this plan and we will be reviewing this as we progress, to enable us to respond positively to future opportunities and challenges and to ensure that the resources continue to meet the needs of people using our services.
Since being appointed as Centre Manager in April, I have been overwhelmed by the public support, commitment and enthusiasm of the staff team and dedication of the trainees here at Kehelland Trust. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your support and interest in our work over the last year… we look forward to seeing you all in 2014.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year from all of us at Kehelland Trust.
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