The Hamlet Wigan CIC Cafe Improvements

Who are we?

The Hamlet Wigan CIC is an organisation which supports young adults aged 19 - 25 with additional needs in developing skills for their future. The Trainees who attend The Hamlet Wigan CIC are at the heart of everything we do and we are passionate about empowering each individual with the tools to take the next steps on their journey. We do this through supporting the Trainees to work in our onsite vocations; this includes the Nest Cafe which is open to the public for hot drinks and lite bites, Lakeside Printing where the Trainees make personalised gifts and The Woodlands retail outlets which sell food and daily basics.  

Impact

The impact of The Hamlet Wigan CIC has continued to grow year on year to reach a wide community. 

We now have 22 Trainees who attend The Hamlet Wigan CIC who never fail to impress us with the skills they have learnt and their amazing achievements. 

In the craft vocation, Into The Darkling Woods, the Trainees are supporting leading community workshops where members of the public can learn new craft skills.

The Nest Cafe has continued to grow a wonderful customer base who visit the cafe on a regular basis. For some of these customers, The Nest Cafe is a safe space where they come for company, a listening ear and a welcoming environment. This is even more so now that The Nest Cafe has become part of Wigan's Warm Welcoming Spaces - we are seeing more people coming to us for support. 

Our hope is that The Hamlet Wigan CIC can continue to grow to allow the outreach to expand further and further. 

Why are we crowdfunding?

As The Hamlet Wigan CIC has expanded, The Nest Cafe has become increasingly more popular within the community and we are seeing more and more customers each day. This has provided wonderful opportunities for the Trainees to develop their skills in areas such as making drinks, handling money and customer service. 

However, in order to continue providing the opportunities for the Trainees to develop these skills and to keep up with the increasing demand for the cafe, The Nest Cafe at The Hamlet needs to undergo some changes. 

There are 3 main areas that we would like to focus on:

Soundproofing for the walls: the cafe can now be a very loud environment; with a cafe full of chatting customers, the coffee grinder,  the barista machine plus more, the noise can be overwhelming for our Trainees. For Trainees with hearing impairments, the loud noise can make it difficult, if not sometimes impossible to hear orders, follow instructions and listen to the help they are being given. For those who struggle with noise, this can make the cafe an overwhelming environment to work in. The soundproof panels absorb and deflect soundwaves to help reduce the overall noise in the cafe. 

New Tables and Chairs: The current table and chairs in the cafe are very large and space consuming; not only does this limit how many people can access the cafe it also makes it a difficult space for the Trainees to navigate when serving customers. New tables and chairs will open up the cafe and create a more spacious environment for both Trainees and customers. 

New Barista Machine: The Nest Cafe needs to buy a new barista machine as the lease on our current machine draws to a close. Renting a new barista machine adds a significant monthly cost to The Hamlet which can be reduced if we purchase the new machine in full. 

How we’ll spend the money raised

The money raised through Crowdfunder will be used to buy the soundproofing panels to help reduce the noise levels in The Nest Cafe, purchase new tables and chairs to create a more open and spacious cafe environment and to buy a barista machine. These three purchases will have a significant impact for the Trainees working in the Nest Cafe and will allow us to provide the best environment for Trainees to continue developing skills and growing in confidence.

 Any additional money that is raised will be used to help refresh the Nest Cafe's appearance including paint for the walls and any resources we may need.  

Thank you for your support!