Hear from our dedicated people who create a caring, fun and inclusive environment for everyone at Workbridge each day!
Tracy Farmery is a Senior Vocational Skills Instructor at Workbridge and has just started a new role looking after the Charity Shop on Bedford Road in Northampton. Tracy has worked at Workbridge and St Andrew’s Healthcare for 20 years. We thought it was about time we heard from Tracy, the Charity Shop and what makes her so passionate about working with our service users across Workbridge!
Hi Tracy. Tell us about when you first started working at Workbridge and St Andrew’s Healthcare?
I started working for St Andrew’s Healthcare in 1999. I began as a Health Care Assistant (HCA) working on the Townsend Division, as it was known back then. I worked on several different wards during my time as a HCA and particularly loved working with elderly people. I went on to become an Occupational Therapy Technical Instructor. In 2007, I started at WWASP in Workbridge, before moving to the Coffee Shop as a Senior Vocational Skills Instructor.
I’ve worked in most of the departments at Workbridge since then…
What’s your best memory at Workbridge over the years?
I remember in 2018 I was part of the Food and Drink Awards with the Coffee Shop. We attended the awards event and I brought with me one of our service users, to say thank you to them for all their hard work. They had the best day, even coming up on stage to accept the award! That’s a fond memory that I’ll always cherish.
What is the role of Senior Vocational Skills Instructor at the Charity Shop?
My role is to manage the day to day running of the Charity Shop and look after our dedicated volunteers and service users. Everyday there is a different set of volunteers in the Charity Shop. They all work well together. I also support Workbridge service users inside the Charity Shop, which is fun and great to see them in a different environment.
So how’s the first week been going and what have you been up to?
I can honestly say that I have really enjoyed it and found it very rewarding. I’m meeting so many people in the Charity Shop and getting to know who our regular customers are and what they come in to look for or what they collect.
So far... I have worked in all areas of the shop. I’ve been cleaning, filling up the shelves, pricing stock to put out, sorting stock to go out, working on the till.
It’s a very busy shop and most days donations are brought in to us for us to sort and stock.
Does the Charity Shop accept donations?
Yes. We receive so many lovely donations from customers and colleagues. All the money made in the Charity Shop supports our service users at Workbridge.
We are currently accepting the following donations:
What are your plans for the Charity Shop going forward?
Over the coming weeks, we are going to be looking at ways that we can make the shop even better, so watch this space!
I want to make sure the Charity Shop can accommodate all service user needs including wheelchair users. For service users, they can also gain an AQA qualification by working in the Charity Shop so we’ll be looking at offering this. There is so much for them to learn!
We’ll also be advertising shortly for work placements, in which service users can develop their work experience in a retail environment.
Honestly, if I could do anything for our service users, I’d do it!
