This weekend we were lucky enough to be joined by a lovely group of residents from our target communities for a festive Christmas lunch at Gloucester Services.  Most of the group had never visited Gloucester Services before, and it was a great opportunity for us to meet new people and thank some of our community partners for the great work they do.

Some of our guests had had challenging years, and yet still amazed us with their passion to volunteer and help others in their communities.  Others shared their stories of living alone for a long time, and the joy they’ve found in building friendships through our partner organisations. ​

You may have already seen, a couple of weeks ago our Community Support Manager Clare took some of our community partners to Hobbs House Bakery for a cooking inspiration day - here's what happened.

You can check out another delicious recipe for stale bread with the Autumn Panzella, or this amazing treacle tart - hands down favourite of the day! 

​Serves: 12
Sweet and sticky with a nuttiness from the spelt breadcrumbs, great hot or cold.

A couple of weeks ago our Community Support Manager Clare arranged a cooking inspiration day for some of GGT's community partners with Hobbs House Bakery, a fantastic local producer stocked at Gloucester Services. 

Our community partners receive bread that can no longer be sold by retailers to cook and share with residents, and bread is something we all often have left over.  Here's the first recipe you can try too - big thanks to Hobbs House for sharing! 

On Thursdays, our community partner Together In Matson receives produce from Gloucester Services, Tesco and Morrisons, which volunteers and staff cook together and make meals that they then freeze ready for community members to collect. Bread, fruit and vegetables are always available for people
to take home to use themselves. Called the Redwell Re-stock, this service helps people restock their fridges and supplies them with food they may not otherwise be able to afford. Over the last year the demand for this service has risen.

Another of our community partners All Pulling Together (APT) in Stonehouse run the Neighbourly Food Project, which also makes food collections from local supermarkets available to residents, uploading photos of deliveries to Facebook.  Volunteers from APT are also available to talk to people about any additional support they might need.  They also run a 'Munchday' every Monday when anyone can call in for a hot meal and a drink for a donation of £1.  

Also on a Monday, our community partner Fair Shares Gloucestershire runs a lunch club at Chequers Bridge Community Centre. Participants can help with the preparation and cooking, or set the table or wash up - there's a role to make everyone feel involved.

We like to encourage our children and young people to experiment with food, trying new tastes and textures, but we also do lots of training and skills development so that they are equipped to cook simple meals. These are great life skills for them to have. Food is also used for creative purposes. We use it to make food masterpieces like pizza faces that can then be cooked and eaten and we turn potatoes and carrots into people! This helps us to reduce waste as food that we cannot cook is used for art."

This week they welcomed us in to their kitchens and taught us some fantastic recipes to create with leftover bread.  The treacle tart went down particularly well!"

Jacky Edwards from GGT community partner APT said: "A great day.  We learnt some amazing ideas which we will certainly use for the APT Monday Munch Day meals, where  Stonehouse residents can join us for a cooked meal for a £1 donation."

Sandy Brammer from another GGT community partner GL Communities who helps to run the food project agreed: "The visit was amazing, and the food was superb. Who knew you could make soup with bread (not me) and the treacle tart was definitely a treat. It was a fantastic experience and I am really excited to show everyone what I have learnt, bring such delicious food to the community and be able to do it all from free surplus ingredients."

A huge thank you to Hobbs House Bakery for making this day possible, and thank you to our community partner Fair Shares for the great photos.

“We’re over the moon that this partnership award recognises that communities can use their assets to create something of  scale that has a lasting impact. The fact that a charity and a business both have a stake in Gloucester Services has differentiated us in a very competitive field of finalists. Most importantly, this success highlights a new approach that can be replicated across the country to unlock a whole range of community assets. Businesses and charities committing to long-term partnerships which value each other’s strengths could be an important new route for local people to realise long-standing aspirations to create positive long-term social benefit."

Amid its success, Gloucester Services has exceeded its charitable goals and created over 400 jobs, employed over 80 people specifically from ‘target’ local communities, and supported over 130 local producers within 30 miles. In the last 18 months over £700,000 has been reinvested into community projects and development activity in the target communities to support regeneration. Local residents help decide how future funding is spent through Gloucestershire Gateway Trust’s annual Community Survey and an additional £2.5 million will be committed to these communities over the next five years.

Sarah Dunning, Chair of Westmorland said: "We are absolutely delighted to win this excellent award. We were once again up against some strong competition. It’s fantastic to have the hard work of everyone involved in the partnership recognised with another great award this year. The partnership with Gloucestershire Gateway Trust is about investing in our community for future generations. It’s a very exciting time for Gloucester Services, now in its fifth year we are very proud of everyone who has played a part in helping to build this incredible place and those yet to be part of our story as we continue to build on all the great things that have been achieved to date together."

At Gloucestershire Gateway Trust we receive up to 3p in every £1 of non-fuel sales from Gloucester Services to invest in our local communities.
 
The Third Sector Excellence Awards were created by Third Sector to celebrate and honour the great work being done across the charity sector.  Over 300 entries were received for this year’s awards and the ceremony in London on 19 September was a sell-out event.

 Looking for fun ideas and things to do over the summer holidays?  There's so much going on in our local communities in Gloucestershire.  This handy guide to events has been put together by the Matson, Robinswood and White City Community Partnership (you can download if the text is a bit small):

More great activities from our community partners at The Venture White City: 

Plus lots more from our other community partners on their websites - see the full schedule of activities from Play Gloucestershire and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.  Great reasons to get out and enjoy the summer and your community!

We're delighted to announce that the unique partnership between Gloucestershire Gateway Trust and Westmorland has been shortlisted in the Third Sector Charity Awards 2019.  In recognition of the success Gloucester Services on the M5, the partnership is shortlisted alongside some well-known competition, a huge achievement as over 300 entries were submitted to the awards this year.

Amid its success, Gloucester Services has exceeded its charitable goals and created over 400 jobs, employed over 80 people specifically from ‘target’ local communities, and supported over 130 local producers within 30 miles. In the last 18 months over £700,000 has been reinvested into community projects and development activity in the target communities to support regeneration. Local residents help decide how future funding is spent through Gloucestershire Gateway Trust’s annual Community Survey and an additional £2.5 million will be committed to these communities over the next five years.

The results will be announced at the Third Sector Awards on 19 September 2019.

You can also read more about all of our Community Partners and how they support our local communities.

Last week Gloucestershire Gateway Trust (GGT) invited residents from communities across Gloucestershire have their say about where they live and to help shape its future. 

Over 60 people from communities including Matson, Robinswood, White City, Podsmead, Tuffley, Stonehouse and the GL10 area came together for the ‘Future Creating Workshops’.  They talked about what they love about their areas, what their dream communities would look like, and what can be done to make it happen.​

GGT ran the workshops for the second year running as part of the annual Community Survey it conducts in its target areas.  Residents unable to attend the workshops still have the opportunity to have their say, as a specially trained team from the local communities will be conducting surveys door-to-door and at community events and day trips over the summer.

Mark Gale, CEO of GGT said: “The Community Surveys give us amazing insight to our communities, encourage people to come together and make life better, and also informs GGT funding. We added Together In Matson and The Venture: White City as community funded partners as a direct result of what residents told us, and now both receive £20,000 a year from GGT, alongside our six other community partners.”​

The 2018 Community Survey also highlighted that despite the ups and downs of community life neighbourliness is still strong, so GGT launched the LOOP Project to build on that spirit and to support communities in making new connections and sharing their skills.

Mark said: “Many of those who took part in the 2018 survey did say they didn’t feel able to influence local decisions, this a great chance to share thoughts as the results of the survey will be shared with local councillors, community groups and decision makers.”

Matson resident Sandy said: "I think as a resident the future creating workshops are a great way to get your voice heard and to have the possibility of instigating positive changes."

Another resident at the workshops talked about changing mindsets: “If we all took a minute to pick up some rubbish, tidy a hedge or help a neighbour, we’d be even prouder of where we live.”  

Professor Mary Brydon Miller from the University of Louisville added “I come to Gloucester each summer to help facilitate the Future Creating Workshops and train the local survey team. Gloucestershire Gateway Trust, Gloucester Services and the work they are doing together is growing a worldwide reputation for Gloucester and their community driven development work. I have spoken about this work in the USA, the Philippines, South Africa and Europe and I know many other organisations across the world are now independently looking to learn from the experience of this project. There’s no doubt it is a trail blazer showing how communities and business can work together for mutual benefit.” ​

Gloucester Services is a great place to work (not least because of the great food) so it’s no surprise they can receive over 100 job applications every month.  Some applicants have no prior experience in catering, retail or customer service, whilst others may need a little more support around CV writing, interview skills and communication.
 
In January, GGT funded a three day ‘Bridging the Gap’ course with Charlton HR to help potential applicants to work on these skills, and guaranteed an interview for anyone successfully completing the course.
 
Six people completed part in the course and went on to be interviewed, three of which had developed their skills so well that they were ready for employment and were each offered jobs at Gloucester Services.
 
Participant Brian described his experience of the course: "Inspiring, motivational and worthwhile. Stand out service station and never been more excited to join a new company and the views are stunning… people doing the course were great too.”
 
Fellow participant Katie said her highlights of the course: “[the course] made me more confident, meeting the staff, visiting the site.  Really excited about the new job, can’t wait.”
 
Jason Dunsford, Head of Employment and Skills for GGT said: “We’re proud that people really got involved and completed the course, which will have helped them all to move closer to employment, but of course delighted that three of them now have paid jobs with a great employer as a direct result of Bridging the Gap.”
 
The course is open to anyone who is interested in applying for a job at Gloucester Services but feel they need some pre-employment training.
 
The next course will be held on 5th-7th March 2019 at The Phoenix Centre, Matson.  See the attached flyer for details as to how you can find out more.

Other colleagues from Gloucester Services helped out at the event, and the incredible food was prepared by the catering team and funded by Gloucestershire Gateway Trust.

GGT partner Fair Shares also brought along their ‘Chance to Chat’ cards, which give people topics to talk about and bought back memories of family holidays in caravans, cars they used to drive and stories of where they lived and travelled.  Guests were also entertained with music from Ross at Footlights.

The Memory Café were recently selected by Gloucester Services colleagues as the charity to benefit from any sales of 5p carrier bags, which has to date raised around £900. 
​

​Gloucestershire Gateway Trust and the Westmorland Family are inviting people to share their views on the proposed hotel development on the highly successful site at Gloucester Services Southbound.

The development is proposed in response to needs of existing Gloucester Services customers and presents an exciting new opportunity for further local jobs and support of local suppliers.

A public consulation website has been set up to give an overview of the plans and to give people an opportunity to share their views on the proposed development, until 26th November.  Gloucestershire Gateway Trust and the Westmorland Family will read and consider all responses and use them to help shape the proposals. 

Visit  www.gloucesterserviceshotel.com to find out more.