The Brandon Trust is a charitable trust which runs and develops services for people with learning difficulties across the South West, supporting them in living the lives they choose. A few years ago, the Trust began to develop a vision for a cafe on Yatton Station that could provide both training and employment in a rural part of North Somerset - most training and employment opportunities are limited to Bristol and Weston-super-Mare. The proposed building, the old waiting room and store on the down side track, had been empty for many years, and so the project also had the benefit of bringing this building back to life, and providing much needed refreshment to commuters, walkers and cyclists using the Strawberry Line, as well as people in Yatton and the surrounding region.
Seventeen Brandon Trust students undertook a NPTC Catering and Retail course, some of it delivered at Yatton Village Hall, and several went on to do their NVQ 1. These people have now learned the skills necessary to work in a busy cafe. Some have been working in other catering establishments, and one has already found paid work, and they all obtained their food hygiene certificates. The students are mainly young, and are working towards being able to progress to open employment.
After the initial phase of development by the Trust, the Trust felt it could not commit to the building phase of the project, as it went beyond the Trust’s charitiable aims. However the project had attracted lots of local interest from people keen to see the building used again, and from experienced fundraisers and other professionals, and so a steering group formed. In Autumn 2008 a Community Interest Company (CIC) was registered at Companies House, and fundraising began in earnest.
The Strawberry Line Café Project CIC is a not-for-profit organization that nevertheless has trading as a core activity. With support in time, money and in-kind donations from local people and organisations, and significant funding from the South West Regional Development Agency and the Railway Heritage Trust, the project was able to raise the funds needed to carry out a complete refurbishment of the building in late 2010, including major strucural and drainage work, and the cafe finally opened for business on 13th December 2010.
The project is now carrying forward the vision for a community cafe which also provides first class real-life training and employment opportunity for adults with learning disabilities.
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The Strawberry Line Cafe at Yatton Railway Station offers great coffee, tasty breakfasts and lunches, and a warm and welcoming setting.