Due to Covid-19 the Saturday Café has been suspended until further notice. We look forward to its return when conditions allow.

The information on this page is primarily ‘in-house’ information for link people and café organisers (café hirers).

We really appreciate the importance of Café link people: they provide the link between the Café Committee and the various groups that run a café.

The following information provides a checklist for both hirers and their link person.

In advance of the café, the Café link person will:

• Make contact with the Café hirer 3 weeks before the event to pass on information and be ready to answer any questions

• When it is the hirer’s first time of running a café, suggest that a visit to a café before their event to see how things work might be useful

Give the hirer contact details of the administrator of the Village Hall website who will publicise their café on the Village Hall social media pages

(N.B. Publicity details and a poster should be sent to publicity@cilcainvillagehall.com at least 2 weeks before the hirer’s café. Posters should be supplied as jpg files.)

• Remind hirers of the importance of advertising their café themselves through their own networks. The link person will put up posters around the village

• Remind the hirer to bring the following:

  • home-made cakes (which make our cafe special)
  • at least 2 large containers of milk
  • a cash float of 50p and £1 coins
  • flowers for small vases on the tables
  • bottles or cartons of soft drinks for sale if they wish
  • paper napkins

On the night before the Café, the Café link person will:

• Check tea, coffee and sugar supplies

• Check the toilets and the loo rolls. More loo rolls can be found in the cupboard in the ladies’ toilets.

(N.B. If there is a shortage of any items, the link person can contact Sue on 01352 740 948)

On the morning of the Café, the Café link person will:

• Put out the two clip-on signs at the crossroads

• Put the A-frame and the triangular sign outside the Village Hall

• Show the hirer where the heating controls are and how to switch on/off the lincat and water heater in the kitchen, and the water heater in the women’s toilets

• With the hirer, set up the Hall and kitchen:

  • Put out the small square tables, with 4 chairs around each one (long tables for raffle prizes etc can be found in the chair storeroom)
  • Place a small square table to the right of the hatch for the sugar, jug of milk and small bowl for used tea bags
  • Cover the tables with red-check cloths (to be found in the kitchen drawer) and top with the vases of flowers
  • Display the price list on the counter to the right of the open hatch

• Show the hirer how the coffee is made and how the music system works

• Show the hirer where mugs, plates, cutlery, tea towels and café aprons are stored, and provide the hirer with the cash box

• Advise the hirer that, in line with safety and food hygiene regulations:

  • no more than 3 people should be permanently in the kitchen at any one time
  • to avoid potential accidents with hot liquids, children should stay out of the kitchen
  • even when wearing gloves, food should not be handled by the person handling cash
  • tongs, cake slices and other utensils are available and should be used for plating-up and serving food and cake
  • aprons are provided for the kitchen team

• Go over with the hirer the fire escape routes (see the drawing in the kitchen on the wall adjacent to the apron hooks)

• Give the hirer a contact phone number in case of an emergency during their café

After the Café, the Café link person will:

• With the hirer, go through the end-of-café checklist to ensure everything is packed away and the Hall is left clean and tidy. The hirer takes away the rubbish as rubbish is not collected from the Village Hall

(The link person takes away tea towels and table cloths that need to be washed and returned to the Hall before the end of the week ahead.)

• Put the hirer’s booking fee, a return slip and the money from the book honesty-box (to be found with the books in the foyer) in a money envelope and post the envelope in the wall safe adjacent to the Village Hall entrance doors (money envelopes can be found on top of the wall safe)

• Ensure that all lights are switched off (remembering to check lights and water heater in the loos) and that the key is returned safely to the key box outside the main doors to the Village Hall

THANK YOU FOR YOUR VALUABLE HELP