Help!

Help! We need workers.
Here they are, the last group of Vodafone helpers arrived and got to work.

Help! We need ingredients.
Missing in action, one truck, driver and order.

After some frantic phone calls a new one was despatched, but not before the Tearooms were relieved of every grain of sugar they could spare!

And thus the bake was saved and continued...

Pleased to meet you! Final group of Vodafone volunteers
are here and ready to go.

Cat and Tony decimating the butter...

into 140g portions of course.

Mathew, Karen and Tom threading gumnuts - as fast as
they can the packing table take them!

Seeing the bottom of the gumnut tray! 

Rebecca concentrating on threading.

Kelly and Rod in the dry mix corner, 

counting till 10 takes on a whole new meaning here.

Luke's done the counting.

Shane, Janine and Brian working with Brice.

Is Jennifer all on her own here in the kitchen?

No, she's not, Josef and a few applicants for the ovens.

The pantry is business as usual too, Stacey and David
with a fresh bowl of mix from the kitchen.

Nena's no stranger to this job either.

Concentration at the lifting table, Layla and Jacquie.

Not me says Anita, one strategically placed tray...

Virginia and Tahnee at the packing table.

With Jeremy and Ollie opposite.

Joel with another tray ready for...

Beppi and Karen who are a little swamped but
they didn't let the pressure get to them and calmly worked on.

Julie proudly showing the morning's effort, all of which have
since been loaded into the van for delivery.

What evidence can be gained after lunch? And what has this morning frenzy done to the tally board? We shall find out later!

It is here!!! 

More orders...including one going to Queensland.

Hard work at the butter table, Joel, Rebecca and Stacey.

Janine on the other side.

Rod working on labelling the bags.

Tony, Jonathan and Wayne, teamwork!

Chris and Josef on the other side also threading gumnuts.

Dry mix measuring and stirring - Jeremy and Tom.

Layla adding bicarb to another batch for Brice.

Ollie rolling in the pantry.

Jacquie, Tammy and Jennifer

also in the pantry for the afternoon.

Serious work here, Mathew at the lifting table.

Rachel packing with assistance from Karen.

And that makes 10 - Rebecca.

Look at all those bags on the table behind these ladies!

Sylvia and Cat have been busy this afternoon.

And that folks is it till next week - a day and a bit of baking left to do...we can do it!!!

A quick reminder to finish the week, the Flags of Our Blogs competition winner will be announced on Tuesday, get your entry in quick! Click on the link below for competition details:

Flags of Our Blogs Competition

1988-2018 - 30 years of Aurora

The Barn, Chigwell

Were you born in a barn? Well, actually yes, we were! Aurora opened its doors in 1988 and the early activities were held in The Barn in Chigwell. This facility was shared with a number of other users meaning everything had to be packed up at the end of the day and at times the day would start with a cleanup especially if there had been a party over the weekend.

The Old Chapel Tearooms
1A Chapel Street, Glenorchy

The old, and at the time, sadly neglected O'Brien's Bridge Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on the corner of Chapel Street and Main Road became available and Aurora packed up and moved...one of several moves.

The building was originally purchased, and the mortgage paid by Joy Cairns herself, so that Aurora would have a place to call its own. A donation from Friendly Care Pharmacies some years on saw the mortgage paid out and Aurora now truly had its own home.

With many working bees, and some serious maintenance, the building came back to life. What else is generally associated with churches of this era? They tended to have graves around them and this one was no exception...one afternoon someone took a walk in the back garden when the ground gave way and they disappeared into an abyss of sorts!!!

Fortunately no one was hurt and no evidence of its past occupant was found, however when the driveway for the service station next door was dug up, work had to be stopped as a skull was found. The tombstones may have been moved (to behind the Supreme Court Building in Salamanca Place, Hobart) but the graves themselves remained...

Very soon Aurora not only outgrew this building but another idea for its use also started to take root...a silver service tearooms, staffed and operated by trainees of Aurora. This meant another building needed to be found to house the day program.

15 Mill Lane, Glenorchy

Enter a Council owned building at 15 Mill Lane that was sitting empty, having been earmarked for demolition for carpark spaces.

Again, needing a lot of work and many a working bee, this building was set up for running the day support program, the Learning Centre, cottage industry and catering, as well as administration, and to this day remains the main base of the organisation.

At the end of 2006, and with new compliance regulations, it was deemed no longer up to standard and Aurora faced yet another move. Negotiations and fundraising resulted in major renovations, the cost of which was shared between the Glenorchy City Council and Aurora Disability Services. That left just one question. The renovations would take place over the summer holidays but where would the office run from? From a sea container, like the ones that were used to pack all the furniture, materials, craft, kitchen and other supplies and equipment?

45 Charles Street, Moonah

To the rescue came John Radcliffe, offering temporary accommodation and all the necessary services from a few rooms at his premises in Charles Street, Moonah. BYO computers and paperwork was all we were required to do to keep the administration of the organisation up and running. John has been a long term supporter of Aurora and his generosity was, and is, much appreciated.

Upon return to Mill Lane following the renovations we had to of course unpack these sea containers, something no one will easily forget. The kitchen was now downstairs where the learning centre used to be located, and a new spot needed to be found within the building. Soon this proved too small and too noisy and now the search was on for a new home for literacy, numeracy and tutoring activities.

Learning Centre
5 Eady Street, Glenorchy

A heritage building in Eady Street, previously used as a doctor's surgery was for sale and at around the same time as Aurora purchased 15 Mill Lane from Council, the premises at Eady Street were also bought - multiple mortgages meant a lot more fundraising! But the space and individual rooms were ideal for the purpose and both students and tutors were very happy to have all that space where they could work uninterrupted.

Car Yard Café
267A Main Road, Derwent Park

Demand for hospitality training, and so many trainees seeking a place at The Old Chapel Tearooms saw the organisation look for another facility to provide this, and in March 2017, coinciding with the Association's 29th birthday, a brand new café operated by Aurora's trainees was opened.

Like the Tearooms, the Car Yard Café operates 5 days a week within Aurora's term dates and has provided many of our trainees the opportunity to work and train in a café environment with the support they need to succeed, complementing the training undertaken at Mill Lane as part of the Certificate I in Hospitality.

New Learning Centre and additional space for activities
17 Mill Lane, Glenorchy

The Learning Centre at Eady Street did of course mean a lot of shuttling back and forth between the two facilities and when in 2017 the two workshops next door at 17 Mill Lane became vacant the decision was made to move out of the Eady Street premises.

The Learning Centre has been set up in one section, and the other building is used for many activities that are simply not possible at number 15. Think sport and recreational pursuits from table tennis to trike riding, as well as woodwork, gardening and other activities that are not practical within a building also used for catering and general food preparation.

Fast as we can bake 'em...

No, make that faster than we can bake them, they're being bought and eaten!!!

Good thing there's another fresh lot of Vodafone helpers today...

Good morning, hats, aprons and get cracking! 

And they did!

Louise cutting the butter.

Jessie and Laurie happily working together.

Gary, Jordan and Jennifer keeping up the supply of dated bags.

Cherie cutting baking paper to size, used a few metres of that by now.

Kodie and Layla threading gumnuts.

As is Josh supported by Jason.

This is where the serous counting happens...
10 cups of every ingredient to a batch
Eric measuring and Bron assisting with the counting.

What's this? Oh no!!! Faster please gumnut threaders,
we're down to the last one.

And we're having to dig deep for the gumnuts too now...

Modelling Inc. Sia starting a new trend perhaps.
We note the stylish way with the glasses!

Serious business here, Rachel adding bicarb to the mix ready to go.

Trays, trays and more trays, Chloe with a few
ready to go in the oven when there's space.

To the ovens...Jess is heading in the same direction.

Busy kitchen with Kelly on ovens this morning.

No more room at the inn... and every other oven's full too.

Here they come! Lyndon on biscuit transport.

Swift lifters, Rebecca and Sophie.

Jennifer packing, more counting to 10

but she has circles to keep track.

Skye with another one ready to go out the door.

Now what have we got here?

A novel way to deliver the biscuits, that's what!

Would that be the Phantom Blogger?

We couldn't be sure but we have a suspicion it might be...

And thus ended the morning, time for a quick break and we'll be back.

OK, here we go again...

A BIG thank you to this trio...Amy, Sally and MIchael

have been coming in in the middle of the day each day and

picking up wherever needed during the lunch break period.

Brian's first day today and the paparazzi has finally

caught up with him at the butter table.

Louise and Virginia concentrating on the bags.

Sally and Amy measuring and cutting some more tray liners.

Julie threading gumnuts with help from Chloe.

Ssshhhh, counting in progress...Debbie, Jennifer and Anita.

Rebecca taking a turn at working with Brice.

The job that never ends...Josh and Jason rolling in the pantry.

Guess what? more rolling!
Rebecca, Kodie and Sam.

One more! Sophie en route to the ovens.

Layla concentrating on lifting biscuits to cool.

With Jessie on the other side.

Michael and Lyndon at the packing table.

Biscuits to be as far as the eye can see.

And then the cleanup begins...again!
Jess giving Brice a well earned clean.

Sia is taking this cleaning to a new level...

And does the vacuuming and other housekeeping

get done by itself during the bake?

Nope, it still needs to be done too,

Beppi cleaning up in the lunch room.

And that's that for another day. Orders are still coming in thick and fast so we'll leave the building to enjoy a rest overnight before we do it all again tomorrow.