The Accipiter - Behind the scenes October 2005

Behind the Scenes - October 2005

Having previously worked on the park in Duffy's Coffee Shop and then gone off to gain more experience in the catering business at the local village pub, Jemma Lewis returned to Duffy's once more at the beginning of the season, ably equipped to carry out her new duties as manageress....

Duffy’s Coffee Shop

I returned here as Catering Manageress in March this year after being a licensee of the village pub. It has been an exciting season for me so far. There was so much to take on board in such a short space of time, I thought I would never get my head round any of it. There have been a few changes to the coffee shop this season and I thought in this article I would mention some that have proven to be successful.

In April, two Latvian girls came over to work here, Maija and Jolanta. They lived on site and helped me with the every day running of the shop, which made time for me to try and do other jobs, the dreaded paperwork being the one of them. They have been a great help this year.

The kitchen area

We only have a small kitchen area, which we had refurbished in May. This has made life so much easier, especially the dishwashing - as most staff and volunteers know, you could be stuck in the sink for hours on a busy shift - but with the new flow system and machine it is nearly enjoyable! Having the refit has also made us able to extend the menu. We have added a few items, but now the season is quieting down we will be making more home made recipes such as Lasagne, Shepherds Pie etc., which is much needed as the weather is changing.

We have recently changed our bread supplier to a local baker in Overton. This has made a big difference, and it is so much nicer having fresh bread and cakes delivered daily. We are making some of them here at Duffy’s, too. The cakes are 'flying out of the window' this season especially the caramel shortbread and chocolate brownies!! I don’t know yet whether that is due to staff consumption or to customers!!!

The Ice-cream Trike

If you have visited us over the summer you may have seen our Ice cream Trike around the grounds. Before the summer holidays we started taking it up to the meadow at the end of the Valley of Eagles display. It worked well for a few days and then Cheyenne, the Bald Eagle, started playing up. She wouldn’t fly to the falconer; she would fly around and sit in the tree for ages. At first no one realised why she was doing it, then one day it wasn’t ice cream weather, so we didn’t take the trike up. Cheyenne, after circling the flying arena, landed on the fist. As of that day my trike was banned from the display ground. For a few days she circled the trees to see if she could see it and as it was not there she landed properly with the falconer. I don’t know what she thought the trike would do to her!

Look out for more changes and improvements next year!

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