Wilmslow Town Council has approved a £5000 grant application from The Clink Charity which will be opening a new restaurant at Styal Prison.
The sole aim of The Clink Training Restaurant is to reduce reoffending by providing training in a real work environment, with support before and after release for those who want and deserve a second chance.
The restaurant requires members of the public to support their work by dining with them and giving prisoners the opportunity to cook and serve. At the same time they would like to think that training the public and changing the public's perceptions of prisoners.
The charity offers prisoners the chance to gain food preparation, food service and cleaning qualifications, as well as experience within an operational business.
The Clink also places these individuals upon their release into employment in the hospitality industry, with the support of the Clink's ex-offender career mentoring scheme. As part of the programme graduates receive feedback and dedicated support from their mentor to seek full-time employment within the hospitality sector - as well as help to secure accommodation, obtain financial help, open a bank account and anything else to ease their reintegration into society.
The requested grant will be used to purchase a semi automatic traditional coffee machine that would enable the women prisoners to train on their barista skills which is part of the City & Guilds NVQ level 2 in Food and Beverage Service.
Jane Sanderson, who heads up training and operations at the charity, attended the Town Council meeting on Monday, 19th January.
She explained "We have to raise £500,000 to fit out and buy light equipment for The Clink. We've come a long way but the light equipment budget is around £80,000 and we've asked for a donation for a barista style coffee machine where you make expressos and the girls will learn how to make those type of coffees. We just wanted a specific piece of kit where we could say Wilmslow Town Council donated it, it could be the cutlery, the glassware or a mixer in the kitchen."
Additional funding is coming from 15 other grant making trusts and philanthropic individuals.
The Clink restaurant concept has provided 94 training positions at HMP Down and placed 19 Clink graduates from HMP Cardiff into employment. During 2013 they served 20,000 members of the public at both of their restaurants.
The charity aims to open The Clink Training Restaurant in the former Styal Church building in late Spring/early summer.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
http://bit.ly/1GpLB87
Why are Wilmslow tax payers being made to contribute to something outside of their area?
Not that I think this a bad idea, but does that mean that anyone can ask for a grant from the town council?
If the councillors are stuck for ideas just as the public what they want. Public toilets at the Carrs would be a start. 5K would probably cover a portaloo for 18 months.
Personally I welcome the move. Those who re-offend often say it is because they cannot find a job or somewhere to live. They then fall back on what they have always done. This may give them a chance to break to cycle. Good Luck.....
May I suggest some possible solutions to your discourse.
1) Don't vote for them on on May 7th when they are all up for re-election.
2) Stand for council yourself and if you get elected then you can make these decisions yourself.
3) Attend the meetings and participate in the public speaking session and speak for or against Grant applications
We live in a democracy. If you don't participate then please expect others who do to make decisions that you might not be content with.
With all the talk of £7K for ipads, it seems to me that WTC may need some better and more local ideas on where to spend the spare cash. I am in favour of temporary toilets for the Carrs playground. Any other ideas out there?
Drew Donaldson
I take it Drew does not try to live on the Minimum Wage then !
Please don't take offence as none was meant.
I found the following
“...
WILMSLOW TOWN COUNCIL - CRITERIA FOR ISSUING GRANTS AND DONATIONS
That the Town Council has the Statutory Power to incur expenditure for the purpose indicated.
That organisations requesting donations should be asked to submit a copy of their audited accounts for the last 12 months or failing that, their most recent accounts.
Organisations that have only recently set up and do not have audited accounts should not be discouraged from applying but should provide a financial statement regarding their proposed budget instead.
That requests should only be considered from local organisations or local branches of national organisations where evidence of local involvement can be provided (except in exceptional circumstances).
That the organisations applying should identify the specific use for the donation and the residents who would benefit from the donation.
That in the case of sponsorship, the event is promoted as being sponsored by Wilmslow Town Council.
...”
It says nothing about grants only being given to organisations within the Civil Parish of Wilmslow. Instead it uses the term “local”
As the prison is physically less than one mile from the Wilmslow civil parish boundary and in an adjoining parish I would define this as falling within the term “local”.
Styal Civil Parish is much smaller than Wilmslow and has a significantly smaller precept than Wilmslow. As such I personally am happy that my councillors have decided to be generous and neighborly and give a donation of less that 1% of the annual precept to a charity. (Yes Charity registered with the Charities Commission)
I too want to see toilets provided at the Carrs, But the simple matter is "that there isn't the political will to do toilets" at Cheshire East Council. Quote accredited to Councillor Gary Barton on a separate article of this site.
See http://bit.ly/1ycUvLC
I totally understand your comment. Maybe I am just fortunate that I do have the time as I am single, don't work due to a long term disability and have an interest in local government issues.
Can I suggest another means of having your opinion heard before decisions like this are made in the future. You could contact your local ward councillor by whatever means is most convenient to you and give then your opinions on future grant / sponsorship applications.
At least then your opinions will have been heard and they may or may not take them into account when voting.
Link to WTC councillor contact information http://bit.ly/1GO3CwS
http://bit.ly/15GZ6Qp
Perhaps Friends of the Carrs can put in a bid for the cash as a local charity, it might actually get done then!
Regarding the Clink Charity grant application, to be honest, I reviewed the application document and my initial intention was to vote against it as I didn't see the benefit to the town. However, I was made aware of some information that swayed my decision.
Firstly, I understand that some companies in Wilmslow have offered to provide employment for graduates of the restaurant. Given the significant influence that environment has on probability of re-offending, if such an offer of employment gives the graduates the opportunity for a fresh start away from their former (negative) environment then, as I see it, (a) that can only be a good thing for them and society and (b) it would suggest to me that there are jobs in Wilmslow that employers can't fill and this seems to be a way of providing resource for those employers.
Secondly, the Clink Charity is getting some very good press at the moment particularly due to the success of their Cardiff and Brixton restaurants. If the Styal one goes the same way, then Wilmslow (being the nearest big town) will more than likely benefit from that publicity.
I obviously can't speak for the other Councillors who voted but I think those benefits over the term of the restaurant (or at least the design life of the Coffee machine) would equate to at least £5000. That was my rationale, some people will agree with it and some won't. With that in mind, the agenda for the town council meeting is published ahead of the meeting so if anyone has opinions on any of the agenda items (not just grant applications), I will always welcome your views so please feel free to drop me an email ().
As for the toilet issue, I suspect the suggestion was a little tongue in cheek but Portaloos really aren't the solution from neither aesthetic nor practical perspectives. They really wouldn't create the impression we are trying to develop in Wilmslow, the costs wouldn't be as indicated above as they would need to be the plumbed in and disabled access versions and can you imagine the state of them following a busy summer weekend? A longer term solution is required and there are reasons (that you can easily find on this website) for why we don't have them yet.
Cheers
David
£5,000 for a coffee machine is outrageous!
HMP Styal is one of the few closed women's prisons in the UK and its record prob reflects that fact.#
Hopefull,y the WTC grant (£5K) will be used to provide equipment for the Clink restaurant, opening in HMP Styal, for the benefit of visitors.
The aim of the Clink is to provide useful, transferable skills to inmates in preparation for their eventual release and avoid re-offending.
Note £5K is approx. half what WTC spent on the Wilmslow Christmas lights switch-on and reindeer parade in 2014