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| TX: 17.03.06 - Barnardo's café PRESENTER: LIZ BARCLAY AND PETER WHITE |
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| Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. BARCLAY Long before Jamie Oliver set up his restaurant 15 to train problem young people as chefs a North Yorkshire roadside café was using cooking skills as a way out of disadvantage. Twenty years ago the world famous children's charity - Barnardo's - opened Dr B's, to give opportunities to those who failed to make their mark in the education system. Since then hundreds of youngsters, some with learning disabilities, some who just didn't fit in, have been given a chance to prove themselves. Peter White has been to meet the people working at Dr B's restaurant and coffee shop to find out how the experience is a stepping stone to independence. DR B'S ACTUALITY One bacon and tomato and mushroom, table two. WHITE Arrive at Dr B's on the outskirts of Harrogate and you could be forgiven for thinking you're about to embark on any run of the mill dining experience. But take a look at the menu and you get your first clue that this is no ordinary roadside café. INSTRUCTOR We've got crème brulees to make with a spicy ginger and plum base. Red berry trifle - I don't want to go on because it's going to be very endless. WHITE And they're quite busy out there actually, we've just been in the restaurant, it's quite a busy day. INSTRUCTOR You're so right. Just when you thought you might have a little bit of a steady day - no we're up the wall as usual and it's very, very full out there. WHITE For a start the menu belies the rather basic décor. The fresh cooked Yorkshire food soon to be placed on the plastic tables comes as a pleasant surprise. But the most arresting thing about Dr B's is who waits at table and who staffs the kitchen. It opened two decades ago and represented a leap of faith by the Barnardo's charity looking to update its image. The idea was to give training and qualifications to people with the kind of learning disabilities which in the past would have left them on the employment scrap heap. It's an idea which took its time to get off the ground but has now won the respect of professionals and paying customers alike. DINER The food, the staff, the clientele - they're brilliant. These youngsters are absolutely brilliant and the staff who do - you know - train them well they want a medal, they do, they deserve a medal. WHITE So, I mean, the service you get in here ... DINER Oh yes, top - tip top. AMANDA At school I was never the brightest person in the class, with me being dyslexic and a lot of jobs have got reading and writing. So really my confidence was that low I didn't think I'd be - amount to much. WHITE So tell me what Dr B's did for you, what made the change? AMANDA It just opened so many new doors, I've led so much new experiences, it's amazing how more confident I am now because of coming to Dr Barnardo's. WHITE For students like Amanda Headly success was never going to be measured by how high a career ladder she climbed. Juggling a job she likes with running a house and a family has way exceeded her expectations. But qualifications in catering do matter and most of the 30 or so students, which Dr B's take on each year, will emerge with a good two year NVQ. TRAINEE It's mainly preparation and washing up I do. I have cooked some things - I've made béchamel sauce before. And I'm finding it a really good insight into the way a kitchen works and I enjoy working here. ACTUALITY IN THE KITCHEN Two toasted tea cakes, table four. They were good, they went out okay but don't over handle it, you know you tended to press it down a little bit before it went out, yeah? BUSINESS MANAGER My position here at Dr B's is, on paper, is the business manager. So it's really balancing the legacy of the original Barnardo ethos, which was obviously started by Thomas Barnardo a hundred years ago, to provide an environment where young people that could be considered disadvantaged in any way - and that could be through either physical, mental health or emotional issues - to have a training environment that is realistic, a training environment that is supportive and respectful and a training environment that provides them with the stepping stone into full employment. ACTUALITY - KITCHEN I think you just need to keep practising that, you've just got a little bit of a random finish whereas that one there - do you agree that one's a bit more uniformed finish yeah? Yeah because you've done it for years and years and years. That's right. But when you've done it as often as I have you'll be as good won't you? Yeah? Is that okay? WHITE Does there have to be an element of subsidy about this? MANAGER Yes it does. Barnardo's provides quite a significant amount of voluntary funds. We get income from the trading and also we get other government funding as well. But Barnardo's does have to put in quite a lot of voluntary funds. But we feel that that's what Barnardo's is about, you know, that this is where the money should be to challenge disadvantage basically and make sure that people can continue to lead independent lives for the future. DEBBIE I was lacking in confidence and they were there to say come on Debbie you can do this because Dr B's is a charity and there's people here that have got learning difficulties and out in the big wide world it's hard to accept that people have got learning difficulties and it'll take them time. WHITE I'm quite intrigued about the economics in a way and how you get the mesh between the economics of funding a training programme like that - but also having to be as commercially viable as you can be - how does that actually work and how does the impinge, for instance, on your pricing policy? MANAGER Well obviously our price is slightly below what it would be at a town centre restaurant. There's always been an issue within Barnardo's - it's a very fine line between training and trading, it's always been a bit of a battle. But basically we are here to train the young people to a standard. But because we're about training we have to have a realistic figure in there as well. So if we charged realistically we would charge ourselves right out of the market. We are expensive for Barnardo's. WHITE Because it's so staff intensive. MANAGER Because it's staff intensive, it's the equipment. WHITE How much is this used as a model for other places? MANAGER Very much so, yes we get lots of people. In fact we charge now a consultancy fee because it's a fantastic idea, people do use us as a model and have done so. DEBBIE I met my boyfriend here and he used to - he used to be at Dr B's as well and he's got learning difficulties. So now we're both working and we're working really hard and we've got our own place down the road. It was a big step for me and I'm proud of myself, really proud of myself. BARCLAY And you can hear more of that story in Recipe of Hope on Radio 4 at 11.00 a.m. this coming Monday. Back to the You and Yours homepage The BBC is not responsible for external websites |
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