Sunday 15^th. July

It’s been some time since I had time to write anything. The reason is that as I mentioned last time Pam is organising two fundraising events in our village to raise money for our local Church. Well they are taking up an enormous amount of time, getting out the publicity, ie Posters and banners applying for licences etc . But I think we have just about completed that part now.  We are lucky that Amy has been able to organise the staff in such a way that we have had most of the week off. I have also been doing lots of gardening as I want it to look good for the Caribbean party in August and I must say it is coming on nicely.

As for the Cafe, well, as expected, we did see some new faces on the 1^st of July as it was raining and they needed somewhere to smoke without getting wet and our tunnel just fitted the bill. Since then we have seen a small influx of new customers who appreciate our outside smoking tables. However I must stress that the area is big enough and ventilated enough to be pleasant for everyone, smokers and non smokers alike. We shall monitor the situation closely to make sure that no-one is disadvantaged by this subtle increase in customers of a certain persuasion.

Nina continues to get acquainted with the coffee shop and we hope you will agree that she is fitting in well. There is a lot to learn when starting a new job but she is making a good start.

Its Amy’s birthday Monday 16^th. So wish her a happy birthday even if it's belated.

So that's it for now, hope you are all well and let me know what you think about the site. Is any body reading these entries??  Some feedback would be really good.

Bye Y’all       

    

Monday 30^th July

What a summer we have been having. We have only managed to open all the doors to the Cafe on one or two occasions this year as the weather has been so unpredictable, except that you know its going to rain at some point every day!!  Thank goodness we have the tunnel to shelter our customers who like to sit outside. 

                One good thing is that the hanging baskets and window boxes are thriving in the wet conditions and the yard looks a real picture. Please don’t look too closely at the small flower bed near Looses. Its a mess, but its not ours and I am still working on Looses to try to get them to take a pride in this small area.

I mentioned that Pam was working on a Flower Festival in our local Church. This turned out to be a real triumph. The displays were beautiful and appreciated by all who attended.  The total raised was £481 after expenses. We had help attaining this figure from our lovely customers, who took part in a prize draw and thereby helped us raise £97 in the Cafe.  Its such a shame that the festival only lasted 2 days. I have taken some photographs so you can see a sample of what was achieved.

Now we have the Caribbean Garden Party coming up. Again this is a Church fundraiser and takes place this Sunday afternoon 2-7pm in our garden. The weather is looking promising so we are cautiously optimistic that all will be well. The tickets are selling quickly now and we have past our cut off point so its full steam ahead for what will be a great afternoon.

                The Cafe continues to do well. The holiday season has boosted our trade even higher than last year. It could be that the bad weather has driven holidaymakers into Norwich as an alternative to a wet and windy beach. Whatever the reason we are having a very busy time. We have this week introduced some new menu covers, the old ones were looking decidedly tatty and we apologise for making you put up with them for so long. We hope you like the smaller neater design and we are very pleased with them. We have had some nice positive feedback from customers already.

Kirsten, who has been with us for 3 years, is leaving for pastures new and new challenges, at the end of August, so there will be another new face behind the counter from this week as Fiona joins our team.  She has a few shifts at first to learn the ropes and provide for a smooth hand over. Please be patient with her as she finds her way around our Cafe.  We hope she will soon fit in and are sure she will enjoy getting to know you, our lovely customers.

That's all for now, Hope to see you in the cafe soon!!

Bye Y’all