2onMAIN

My arrival in October seems many moons ago; in fact it has been only two months! 
In that short time we have been setting the foundations for the upskilling of Saints who want to work in the hospitality industry. 
This has been done by the creation of a small training restaurant which will pave the way for a larger more permanent training centre.  
 
It was fortunate that a number of offices in Jamestown were being vacated in early November and one of them was perfect for a temporary training centre.  The idea has always been to create a centre as a place to inspire people to work in the hospitality sector.  This is because not only is it a great industry to work in for those with the need for full time work or a career.   Many staff who work in the many hotels, bars and restaurants world over are part time and these are the folk who sometimes miss out on appropriate training. 
With that in mind we set about planning the physical aspects of the building, setting up the format for the restaurant,
recruiting trainees and managing the many other aspects of starting up a new  business. 

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Front room of the restaurant

The Kitchen, eventually

Front room of the restaurant showing entrance

The journey from then to now has not always been a smooth one as the logistics of getting things onto an island 1500 miles from anywhere were just one part of the jigsaw.  

Other snags included:  
  · Not enough paint of the right colour on the island for the restaurant walls…we mixed some up!
 · Not having any decent halogen light fittings on the island, so carpenter Mark made some out of MDF
 ·    Not having a safe staircase down into the basement of the building, again thanks to Mark who made a great staircase in less than a week!
 ·    Sourcing tables, chairs, crockery & cutlery locally, many, many thanks to Hazel at the Consulate Hotel who has loaned us much of the equipment to get started and to all who have helped get this show on the road
 ·    Getting enough refrigeration to hold food for the times between the ship’s visits
 ·    Having to install a hot water system into the building  and other plumbing nightmares, thanks to Dave Marr from Scarborough!
 ·    Getting a cooker from Johannesburg to Cape Town in time for the RMS to carry it over here and getting it through the door once it arrived!
 ·     Parts for the Three Phase Electric only available on Ascension Island 700 miles away
 ·     Getting the cooker connected with permission from the authorities BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

 When I look back on all this I cannot believe that we have gone from office to functioning restaurant in 8weeks! 
Perhaps the pictures tell the story better.

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Getting the cooker into the building

Hot water and a butler sink donated by the hospital!