The Beehive

About

We are a small business run by volunteers, whose aim is to sell lots of Fair Trade products to our local communities and provide information on Fair Trade.

Story

We run on a not for profit basis, any surplus money we make is given to fair trade charities - mainly Traidcraft Exchange. We aim to run our shop with consideration for the environment and in an ethical manner.

We sell: tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate (lots!), rice, pasta, sugar, dried fruit, nuts, muesli, preserves, biscuits, cards, crafts, jewellery, gifts, and much more.

We can provide customised packs for stalls on a Sale or Return basis for coffee mornings, fairs, church or school events etc. This means you can have a fair trade stall without having to pay for goods upfront and what you don't sell we will take back. We may also be available to run a stall at an event you have.

We are hoping to ‘grow’ the Beehive’s business and part of that is to expand our regular stalls at churches, schools, events etc. We are always looking for new connections with churches and organisations and new people willing to take a regular stall each month.

We desperately need volunteers for the Beehive!

At the moment, we are running on a skeleton staff. Holidays, illness, moving away, change of working hours deplete the number of volunteers we have to call on to fill the rota. Which often means that our hard working regulars have to take on more or we have to close the shop if there is no-one available to volunteer.

Working at the Beehive is for a 3 hour shift at a time on the following days:-
Wed 10 am to 1 pm
Wed 1 pm to 4 pm
Thurs 10am to 1 pm
Fri 10 am to 1 pm
Sat 10 am to 1 pm

Volunteers usually work alone, but it is fine to bring a friend.

Although it is good if you can work every week, it is also helpful if you can work less frequently, and even occasionally especially on a Saturday. We are flexible!
Our recruitment process is as follows:-
Come and spend an hour or two working in the shop with an experienced volunteer to get some idea of the jobs involved.
If you want to proceed, we will ask you to fill in an application form, and will require references.
We find it then takes about 4 sessions working alongside an experienced volunteer to learn the till, making up Sale or Returns, receiving and pricing stock, filling shelves, making displays (optional), opening and closing the shop. It is ideal if these can be done consecutively ie once a week for 4 weeks. You can train until you feel confident. Help is usually a phone call away, if needed.
If you can help, please leave your name, address, phone number and email address in the shop. Or contact Katherine Wyatt via [email protected]