THE Lightship Cafe completed its second season last Saturday. A group of nearly 30 volunteers open the cafe on saturdays from January until the Thurrock Council open it in the spring.
Last Saturday afternoon the project leader, Beverly Hoyte gave a presentation on the successes of the project. Tony Fish, the Mayor of Thurrock, who had come to present certificates in recognition of the work of the volunteers commented that the project certainly seems to have hit all the objectives it had set itself.
The Lightship Cafe provided a waiter service for the community and a different menu from normal. Parties booked in for Men’s breakfasts and Ladies cream teas.
In addition Lightship cafe also sold council stock, raising just short of £700 for the council, which included over 30 bucket and spades, over 230 ice creams plus soft drinks and sweets.
The total turnover for the Lightship Cafe was over £2,000 for the ten weeks it was opened
Lightship Cafe works with Thurrock Council to open the Grays Beach Cafe and provide volunteers to serve the community. These volunteers are mainly drawn from three Thurrock churches: Grays Baptist, Thurrock Christian Fellowship and Destiny Chapel.
These along with volunteers who applied via Ngage were trained at a special induction day on site. A manager from Cafe Rouge came and gave customer care training. Five had received training in food hygiene via the Ace programme that Thurrock Adult Community College and Ngage jointly run. First Aid cover was provided via volunteers from Triple L Training arrange by Nick Luff.
