“… a good opportunity to be in partnership with Greenfingers – they care and look after plants, we, on the other hand, care and look after our Mental Health.”
In May we were delighted to be asked by Greenfingers to bring our pop-up cafe to their annual plant sale. Although we have run cafes in the past as part of our 
events, we had only run Depressed Cake Shops at other people’s events. However, we had decided that we were a bit fed up of all the grey cake and wanted variety and choice beyond Depressed Cakes, including some lunch items that were not all about the sugar. This aligned with Greenfingers hopes to have a celebratory day for their volunteers and students.
To plan the event a few of us reflected on success from the past and explored some new ideas for promoting wellbeing and challenging stigma through food. We decided to try some emoji rice cakes for cake toppings, some raw and vegan options for snacks, and savoury snack selection plate for a lunch option. As well as the food we wanted to trial a ‘menu of conversation’ – having a menu board on each table with discussion topics for our champions to encourage people to explore.
The food donated was at an extreamly high standard. People took a great deal of effort to create beautiful tasty treats, with the star of the show being the amazing rainbow cake and rainbow topped cupcakes.
Two of us manned the stall, keeping the food serving area separate and hygienic. Six champions manned the tables and our resource area, encouraging conversations and signposting people to local projects.
All our ideas worked well and Greenfingers staff and volunteers gave us enthusiastic feedback. Had the sun shone we would have had a good turnover, as it happens we broke even due to the investment in more materials. However, just because we did not make money does not make the event any less of a success. Well done the champion team!
Heidi, MWH champion.
“A big thank you to you and the amazing champions for all that you brought to our Open day on Saturday. Despite the weather we had great verbal feedback (I’ve yet to collate the written feedback) of the day, including the quality refreshments that you were able to provide in quite a tight timescale and the talking points that followed.
Thank you once again, same time/ place next year & hopefully better weather.”
Menita, Greenfingers Manager.
Yesterday, I hoped the sun would shine, but we got rain that never stopped. The Moray Wellbeing Hub, hosted a Pop-up-Café for ‘Greenfingers Garden Nursery’, which is a Training College for Adults facing challenges in accessing education and employment. It’s run by Moray Council and based in Cooper Park, opposite the Biblical Gardens at Elgin Cathedral.
The influx of people who had come to purchase plants from the Nursery, and have cake and coffee, up until lunchtime, was consistent. The provisions that had been provided by various people in the Hub and donated by the wider community, were selling literally like hotcakes.
The day gave the Hub champions, which there was eight off us, including Heidi and Marion who were providing the drinks, and eats; a chance to speak with people about the stigma people face in their everyday lives, whether it was a mental health problem, a disability of learning or just loneliness. The plants on sale were stunning, and it seemed to be a delightful day for the Garden Nursery. Everyone was friendly and helpful and everyone seemed to have a lovely time.
Our day went well despite the rain, and everyone was happy. This was only the second time I had been to a Pop-up Café, at first I found it difficult to speak to people – I am normally fine, but lately, I have become unsure of approaching people as I don’t like intruding on their downtime – so I found having to speak a tad challenging. But I managed to speak about a variety of subjects, from loneliness, the stigma people face in their lives on a day to day basis and recent events the Hub has been involved in.
I was unsure how the day would go, but I was glad I went. I came home with goodies I bought for my husband John, who really enjoyed the depressed rainbow cake and the cupcakes with the rainbow icing on top.
Ailene, MWH Champion
It felt good to be part of the event promoting The Moray Wellbeing Hub:
I felt we promoted the Hub and helped to reduce stigma. It was a good opportunity to be in partnership with Greenfingers as they care and look after plants, we, on the other hand, care and look after our Mental Health. I enjoyed talking to the customers and I also introduced a friend to Menita (Greenfingers Manager) as she wanted information about Greenfingers for her son who had a disability.
The only downside of the event was the weather as it was a little wet inside as well as ou
tside on the day.
Rita, MWH Champion
