Graigos Café Were cheap as chips! Serving the community of Graigfelen Every Friday morning am at Graigfelen Community Hall

Why did we create a community café? There was nowhere to meet in Graigfelen before we opened the café We had learnt a little about enterprise but we wanted to set up a real business So we asked some experts for help

It had to be a real business! We set up a group that included members of Community groups, Enterprise in the Valley and Communities First. We created our own business plan. Our volunteers Julie, Tracey and Hayley have worked really hard to help us develop and run the café. Craigfelen Spiders Business Plan

Sourcing our products We worked with the enterprise students from Gower College to find the best quality products at the cheapest prices. They also helped us create a menu, work out the profit of items and design advertising posters

Food hygiene As we were serving the public, it was important that we followed the guidelines from environmental health. The staff and volunteers all attended a food hygiene course.

One year ago… We opened the doors of Graigos Café on February 1 st The ITV Wales news cameras came to follow the story. Business Minister Edwina Hart was one of our first customers! =graigos+cafe =graigos+cafe

The café at the heart of the community… We want the café to be at the heart of Graigfelen This means that we want lots of different local people to use the café We have organised Bingo cream tea afternoons to encourage different generations to use the café.

Linking our community projects We wanted to link the different projects the school has developed with the community The café is a great place to bring people together in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere We decided to link our Junior Banking scheme with the café.

The Graigfelen Money Spiders The Graigfelen Money Spiders was developed by working in partnership with LASA Credit Union and Communities First The project is led by the pupils, but is supported by our volunteers Val, Christine and Tracey. v=JfG4cxbezlg v=JfG4cxbezlg

Encouraging new savers… We decided to organise a special event to encourage new savers to join the bank, and to reward current savers. Here are some interviews from the café that morning, filmed by our bankers!

The future… An exciting new community heritage project. More special events to be organised to encourage all generations to come to the café Linking with our Grow your own project to sell our home grown produce in the café Helping other schools and communities to develop their own cafes.