BERESFORD Street Kitchen have trebled the printing capacity of their BSK Print Works programme, which they hope will ‘expand its profile enormously’.
The social enterprise, which offers structured education, training, and employment programmes for people with learning disabilities and/or autism, has also doubled the floor space of its print works area, adding two pneumatic presses and IT equipment.
At the facility, staff members fulfil printing orders for T-shirts, flyers, business cards, notebooks, tote bags, mugs, travel mugs, water bottles, clothing and more.
The upgrade to the programme means that crew members can now get involved with design and distribution as well. The BSK Print Works motto is ‘changing lives, one print at a time’.
A total of 50 people are currently on BSK’s training programme, with ten more on their employment scheme. Their crew train and work at cafés at Beresford Street Kitchen and La Hougue Bie Tearooms.
Gabby Ellmers, chief executive of BSK, said that making their printing initiative bigger would enable them to get more people into training and employment, and off BSK’s 40-strong waiting list.
She said: ‘We have been planning on expanding BSK Print Works for some time, and now, thanks to the amazing generosity of our supporters, this has been possible.
‘It is an important milestone in our story and has enabled us to increase from 50 to 80 print-crew sessions a week. This area is a focus in our business plan and the expansion is vital to us achieving significant growth in trading this year.’
The project was supported by the Roy Overland Charitable Trust, Apex, Kalmac Ltd and the Channel Islands Coop.
Speaking at an event to celebrate the upgrade facility earlier this week, Julian Clyde-Smith, chair of BSK, said: ‘In my naivety, I thought it was just expanding a partition, but it is much more complicated than that.
‘I hope we can expand its profile enormously.’
