This summer we welcomed two pupils from Longridge Towers School in Berwick-upon- Tweed for work experience. The girls, Lily Capes and Katie Blackman spent a week experiencing all things Silvery Tweed Cereals. As with all our new employees, the girls completed our company induction, which included an introduction to Silvery Tweed, our hygiene code, allergen awareness and health and safety information.
Both Lily and Katie wanted to know more about how new products are developed, in particular, our granola. They spent the first three days with Julie Telfer, our head of New Product Development working on a mock project to show them the processes and procedures we use when creating a new product.
We tasked the pair with developing some concept granolas suitable for use in a “top hat” on top of a pot of yoghurt. To help the girls understand more about the product, they visited local supermarkets to see what products of this type currently exist and what varieties of granola are popular.
The girls then got to make up their granola recipe and test it out on the Silvery Tweed staff who then gave their feedback. A Success! This gave Lily and Katie insight into the NPD process and hopefully gave them an understanding about Silvery Tweed’s role in creating ingredients.
Next, it was on to the Silvery Tweed farm, The Mead, to experience some of the work that goes on there and learn more about how we grow high-quality products with Managing Director (and Farmer) Bob Gladstone. Starting with a tour of the farm, the girls took a close look at the different crops that we are growing and learned the difference between winter and spring-drilled cereals.
From field to fork, Katie and Lily learnt about the steps involved to get crops ready for processing at our Berwick-upon-Tweed facility, and then on to our customers to be turned into products that end up on kitchen tables across the country.
Whilst on the farm, the girls went on to look at the livestock on the farm to learn the important part that they play in our processes. Crops that don’t pass the quality checks, go as feed to the livestock and the resulting manure is applied to the fields to reduce the amount of factory-processed fertiliser we apply to the crop.
We hope that we gave Lily and Katie a good insight into the workings of cereal production and Silvery Tweed, despite it being a whistlestop tour. Maybe we have inspired the next generation of cereal innovators… watch this space!