Tag Archive for: #prospectstrust

Unwrapped – Finalist in the Farm Shop & Deli Awards 2023

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Farm Shop & Deli Show has unveiled the regional finalists in its 2023 Retailer Awards – comprising some of the UK’s best loved specialist retailers, pillars of their respective communities and champions of great produce and sustainable practice. 

An esteemed panel of judges have taken into consideration the ways in which retailers have played an important role in supporting and developing their staff, before creating their shortlist of regional finalists, whittled down from hundreds of entries. Executive Director of The Prospects Trust said “opening the invite to a national award at such a prestigious trade show made us whoop with delight. The trade show at the NEC was where our initial ideas took shape, finding the scales, till, the refill wall and even suppliers over 4 years ago. Unwrapped is a social enterprise GREENgrocery combining the best deli style food, creating a new way to shop local, seasonal and sustainable for Ely, Cambridgeshire, we have our fingers crossed we may even scoop an award”.

The 68 successful businesses span 12 categories and nine UK regions, with some regions awarding ‘Best retailer’ to both small and large retailers. Prospects Trust Unwrapped Shop Manager Clare Rees said “its just super to be shortlisted and share the accolade with my great team of staff, Co-workers, volunteers and of course our supportive customers, we have even scheduled some much needed maintenance work in the shop while we close to attend the show”.

Co-workers (people with additional needs) are part of the workforce at Unwrapped

Back for 2023 the Awards will be selecting their ‘Newcomer of the Year’ as well as the return of the ‘Retailer of the Year’ accolade. These and the regional winners will be revealed live from Farm Shop & Deli Show, at the NEC Birmingham on Tuesday 25th April 2023, in what promises to be a thrilling celebration of the sector. A small team from The Prospects Trust Unwrapped are attending the show and are excited to take part in the award ceremony on Tuesday.

Take a look at the shortlisted finalists here: https://event.farmshopanddelishow.co.uk/live/en/page/finalist-shortlist

The finalists by region in full:

East Anglia

The Prospects Trust Unwrapped

Fodder

Friday Street Farm Shop

Poplar Nurseries

River Colne Food Co

The Goat Shed Farm Shop & Kitchen

The Grundisburgh Dog Delicatessen Ltd

The Norfolk Deli

Midlands

Aubrey Allen

Bells Farm Shop

Broad Bean Delicatessen

Canalside Farm, Shop & Cafe

Croots Farm Shop

Delilah Fine Foods Ltd

Drapers Lane Delicatessen

Farndon Fields Farm Shop

Harp Lane Deli

Reunion Deli

Stoughton Grange Farm Shop and Distillery

The Chuckling Cheese Company

Welbeck Farm Shop

North East

Coghlans at Barningham

Cut by Farmison & Co

George & Joseph Cheesemongers

Mainsgill Farmshop

Piper’s artisan sausages

Samuel Valentine – The Urban Food Hall

Yolk Farm

Northern Ireland
Clive’s Country corner

Colemans Farm Shop

Cunningham Butchers, Food Hall & Steak House

Millar Meats and Fine Foods

Quails fine foods

North West

Bells fishmongers ltd

Cheshire Smokehouse Limited

Chorlton Cheesemongers Ltd

Country Harvest

Gazegill Organics

Kami’s West Derby

Lovingly Artisan Bakery

Low Sizergh Barn

Roast Mutton

Scotland

Belhaven Smokehouse

Kj’s Bothy Bakery

Macauley’s Fruit and Veg Merchant

The House of Bruar

The Kedar Pantry

South East

Cheese Etc, The Pangbourne Cheese Shop

Cobbs Farm Shop, Cobbs at Winchester, Cobbs at Englefield, Cobbs at Manydown

Cowdray Farm Shop & cafe

Flock & Herd Butchery and Deli

Hampshire Artisan Foods Ltd – trading as Hampshire Deli & Farm Shop

Macknade Food Hall

Melrose & Morgan

The Grumpy Goat

The Hungry Guest

The Kitchen Food Company

Valentina Deli

South West

Bay Leaves Larder

Darts Farm

Durslade Farm Shop

Flourish Foodhall & Kitchen

Great Cornish Food Store

Greendale Farm Shop

Pipers Farm

Wales

Bodnant Welsh Food

Forage Farm Shop & Kitchen

Nolton Cross Farm Shop

To find out more about Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards, visit https://www.farmshopanddelishow.co.uk/awards.

About The UK Food & Drink Shows: 

The UK Food & Drink Shows unite four shows under one roof, covering the complete supply chain in three comprehensive days of insight, innovation and inspiration. Farm Shop & Deli Show joins National Convenience Show, Foodex Manufacturing Solutions and Food & Drink Expo, to create an unmissable proposition for progressive food and drink professionals across the industry.  

While the content of each show has been tailored to meet the exacting requirements of its respective audience, The UK Food & Drink Shows are united by four overarching themes: Health & Nutrition, Sustainability, Technology and Consumer Insight; issues faced unilaterally that will filter down into every part of the show discourse. Find out more about Farm Shop & Deli Show at: https://www.farmshopanddelishow.co.uk/

Farm Shop & Deli Show is part of the UK Food & Drink Shows, run by William Reed Business Media.

WE-HIDE IN THE RE-WILD WOOD

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Join our Crowd and donate to kick start our re-wilding community Hide-away today: https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/p/the-hide-away-at-snakehall-farm

Our Aviva Crowdfunder is LIVE!

We have started to GO WILD with nature here at Snakehall Farm! Established in 1989, our Organic Care farm nestled in the Cambridgeshire Countryside has always been a haven; a place where people, plants and opportunities bloom together.  Supporting over 75 people with additional needs on a busy working farm, every season brings new challenges and opportunities but everyday in everyway our people connect with nature (and mud lots of mud).  In 2022 we started re-wilding a small triangle field of our farm site, the soil quality not being fabulous for organic growing but still a beautiful corner of our small 18 acre Snakehall Farm.  With saplings and hedges already planted our next phase is to create a community hub, “we-hide” which will form as a visitor centre, a Co-worker activity base and a way to keep our project interactive as it develops.  Over the next five years our Re-wild Community Wood will grow and with your support we can create a shelter, information point and new training space open to all. 

Imagine a field of green, bugs and bees too, can you see it? Imagine cool woods, crunching underfoot with a bounce of a hare. Imagine space to breathe, drink in the nature, free to roam. Imagine opportunities for Nature Rangers; people with additional needs learning to protect and grow the natural environment so important for all of our futures. Don’t imagine, act now and help us develop a small corner of Cambridgeshire to do nature right!

Unwrapping a WOW Wednesday

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Everyday at Unwrapped is a learning day – today our Co-workers have excelled in the kitchen and bested the beans as a barista pro. When you shop at Prospects Unwrapped you pay it forward in real rewards.

And at the end of a busy day Jack’s job list sums it all up perfectly…..

Happy Face at Team Unwrapped on Wow Wednesday

National Tea Day celebrated at Snakehall Farm with a brew and a Co-worker biscuit debate

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Prospects Trust’s Staff and Co-workers, people with additional needs, celebrated National Tea Day at Snakehall Farm with a sunshiny brew sent from the English Tea Shop. The biggest debates of the day; to dunk or not to dunk and what’s the best biscuit? What takes your biscuit today?

Unwrapped deliver a Hamper of Happiness to Highfield School Ely’s key workers

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Ely’s first zero waste greengrocery and refill larder, Prospects Trust Unwrapped, made a special top of the class delivery to its friends at Highfield Ely today while on their busy home delivery rounds.  Highfield School learners have been part of the social enterprise since it opened last September and the team at Unwrapped wanted to send some treats to their frontline friends.

Prospects Trust Unwrapped had to transform its retail offering practically overnight with the early warnings of Covid-19 and in just once month has turned from a “buy just what you need” busy and bustling shop into a non-contact home delivery service of larder bulk buys.  As a registered charity that supports people with additional needs, their mission is #survivetothrive until the time that Unwrapped can reopen and continue to provide innovative social care placements in the shop.

Tom Cockerton, Manager of Prospects Trust Unwrapped said “we have been astounded, and at times overwhelmed, by the swell of customer orders and loyal support to our social enterprise.  It helped that for a short while we were the only shop in Ely to have toilet rolls and bread yeast, which we still have in regular supply.  Our customers are now making weekly orders of our fruit and veg boxes stocked with seasonal and organic produce as well as their core staples of porridge oats and coffee beans.  I like to think in a small way we are not just providing critical groceries we are also keeping in touch with our customer fan base”. 

Prospects Trust Unwrapped closed its café and put a temporary halt to training placements at the end of March before the national lock down began as a quick measure to keep everyone safe, especially their Co-worker trainees. Overnight the shop created a basic online delivery form, using the skills of a returning Uni student and harnessing the whole of the small workforce, launched Unwrapped Home Delivery.

Customers can now select all their regular store cupboard basics and get their family’s five-a-day weekly veg & fruit online.  The staff team prepare the order and give a phone call to the customer to let them know when to expect a non-contact doorstep delivery.  Clare Rees, Unwrapped Support Worker said “we are proud that we can still continue to provide that friendly personal service, something our shielding and vulnerable customers really need in these times.”

Maz Baker, Development Manager for The Prospects Trust said “as a small charity we are facing the hardest of times, as are so many other frontline services and social good causes.  Nobody is excluded from the challenges of Covid-19 but as a charity we want to #StrivetoThrive.  We felt it was right to reach out to other organisations that are providing frontline care to keyworker children, and, our special friends at Highfield School.  The best way to survive is to support each other.  We hope that people will continue to support us by shopping with us at Unwrapped”.

The Prospects Trust has launched a charity appeal, #Survive to Thrive to help the 30 year old charity weather the lockdown and be ready for a bumper harvest with the Co-workers (adults with additional needs) once they are safe to return to their day placements at Snakehall Farm, at Unwrapped and on the Garden Team.  Donations can be made https://localgiving.org/appeal/survivetothrive/ or via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tilly.tractor/posts/2936117949758755.

Prospects Trust Unwrapped was selected as an Aviva Community Fund good cause before the outbreak of Covid-19 and due to the challenging circumstances, Aviva has extended their Crowdfunding period, donations to support Unwrapped can be made online at: https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/refill-not-landfill

The Day we opened the new Boot Room

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Many thanks to The Education Services 2010 for funding the renovation of an old portacabin transformed by the Snakehall Farm and Garden Team crews into a fully accessible new Co-worker Boot Room ready for a busy 2020 growing season here at Snakehall Farm. #BootfulBootRoom

Volunteering with The Prospects Trust

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We LOVE free help, willingly given and paid back in smiles. Over the 30 years of The Prospects Trust we have received 1000’s of hours of volunteer support, from our Trustee Board to our regular volunteers on Snakehall Farm we couldn’t grow without them. In 2020 we are looking to recruit more volunteers to help us develop our charitable enterprise.

On Monday 10th March from 2:30 to 4:00 pm we will be hosting a drop-in session for prospective volunteers at our new social enterprise, Prospects Trust Unwrapped in Ely (Lynn Road, Ely, CB7 4EG). Meet some of the team, look at the wide range of volunteering opportunities we have or just come to find out more about The Prospects Trust.

Please RSVP your interest at 01638741551, email enquiries@prospectstrust.org.uk or tell our shop staff you are coming!

The variety of volunteering is endless and the returns boundless. To name some opportunities, we are looking for help in the following areas:

Co-worker Companions – at Snakehall Farm or within the Unwrapped Shop – providing a buddy to help with daily tasks.

Guest Blogger – we are looking for some creative types to help produce perfect copy for our newsletters, social media and website. Perhaps you like doing product reviews or telling a story in words or pictures. Join our creative volunteers to tell the story of Unwrapped

Community Fundraisers & Prospects Trust Ambassadors – with a fundraising target of £50K per year, our charity needs people who can spread the word, run a raffle or run a marathon. Help put the FUN into our Fundraising and work with our Development Manager to raise the £s this year.

Corporate Social Responsibility Giving Back Days – with 18 acres at our disposal we can offer a real difference to a business away day. Ditch the raft building team building sessions and get digging at Snakehall Farm.

Come help us Grow Differently at The Prospects Trust!

Retailing Differently on ITV

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#ITV #Unwrapped #ProspectsTrustUnwrapped #RefillRevolution #Eco #Circulareconomy #socialenterprise #retailingdifferently

Green Coins Needed!

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We need your Green Tokens!

We are delighted to have been selected as one of Ely Waitrose Partners as one of their November 2019 Community Matters charities. We just need you to pop in your green tokens at the end of your shop and the lovely branch team will convert this into a charitable donation (shared between 3 local causes) just before Christmas.

Unwrapped is recruiting

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Well it has only been a month! We opened Prospects Trust Unwrapped, our new Ely GREENgrocery in September and we have already grown so busy we need a part time Barista to keep the Hot Numbers coffee flowing. Head over to our https://prospectstrust.org.uk/vacancies/ page for all the details.

Application details can be found at: https://prospectstrust.org.uk/vacancies/