Funding boost for pop-up café

A newly launched café in Thame, which has already proved very popular with visitors on market day, has been awarded £5,000 in grants to help it get off the ground.

L to R – Malcolm Ing, Janner Islat, Mark Thorne and Michelle Diffey

The Safari pop up café, launched nine weeks ago to give special needs adults in Thame an opportunity to gain work experience, has won the support of six grant providers in the last few weeks, including the Red Nose Day Fund and the National Lottery.

The 1950s style café, which runs on a Tuesdays from 2 to 4pm at Christchurch in Thame, has been set up by Thame-based special needs charity, Safari. The project aims to provide vital work experience for special needs adults and to give them training to enable them to acquire skills and get involved with the community.

Safari Chair, Michelle Diffey, explained: “Fewer than one-in-five people with a disability work but, according to research, 65% would like to work for the same reasons as everyone else – for a sense of purpose and identity.”

Staff will be trained in customer service, stock control and food preparation and work towards gaining nationally recognised ASDAN qualifications.

The café is attracting a wide range of customers with its fresh coffee, milk shakes and delicious home made cakes selling for only £1 each.

“We hope this work experience will help our special needs adults to gain confidence and increase their independence enabling them to go on and get other jobs in the future,” said Michelle, adding: “We also believe it will build links with the Thame community.”

This month (May) also sees Safari as one of the three charities taking part in Waitrose’s community token scheme in which £1,000 is shared between three local charities.