Our Approach
- Here at Sweet Surprise we do things differently -
About
It’s our mission to include everyone and create meaningful moments and relationships within our local community. Our day service and cafe/shop is based in the heart of Ilminster, which means that everything we do is closely linked to the people and places around us.
Sweet Surprise came to life in 2009, offering a vibrant town centre alternative to day services for adults with learning disabilities. We offer a non-buildings based service for local adults. We started small and grew organically, and now welcome around 50 people as part of our community.
We don’t pay lip service to what we do. There’s no patronising here. The people that attend Sweet Surprise create beautiful work in group sessions with talented artisans, serve real customers in our cafe and take part in work experience with local businesses.
Our range of activities encourage a real change in the people with learning disabilities that come to us. We’ve seen many people find their confidence, express their sense of humour and develop their socialising skills. It’s these changes that continue to inspire and motivate us to do what we do.
The team
Sweet Surprise is home to a team of around 13 dedicated staff who have years of experience and training in special needs. Each of us has artisan skills like cooking, pottery or horticulture, music and textiles which we use to create fun and worthwhile experiences.Many of us are also trained as work coaches, giving us extra skills to support people as they take part in work placements.
A Community Hub within Ilminster
Our town centre location means that we are truly a part of the world around us.
We serve the people who live and work nearby in our café. We chat to them about their week in our shop and as we do our daily shopping for the business. These conversations and interactions do wonders for the confidence and socialising skills of the people that come to us.
Much of what we do is linked to our community. We source ingredients from local suppliers, before using these in our kitchen for meals served in our cafe.
We also take part in community projects around Ilminster including: Midsummer experience, Victorian evening, fetes and craft sales, scarecrow competition and window dressing competitions. Our groups have been involved in buying seeds, planting and potting up the hanging baskets which are brightening up our town. We also rent out our space to local community groups three nights a week and host parties for customers – including birthdays and anniversaries. We’ve also played host to Burns Night in recent years.
Experience that Sweet Surprise welcome
We’re known for the vibrant and happy atmosphere that you feel as soon as you walk through the doors of our community hub. Why not stop by and experience this in our shop and cafe?
