Bay Cafe at The SAND Project has three autumn events left: pumpkin arranging on 22 October, a supper club on 13 November and a Christmas fair on 28 November.

A cafe run by trainees at a Worthing college is opening in the evenings as an events venue, and the first date is this Friday 25 September.

Bay Cafe sits on the ground floor of The SAND Project at 1 Thorn Road, BN11 3ND. The college is an independent provider for young people aged 16 to 25 with Education, Health and Care Plans. The cafe is one of its enterprises: real businesses the trainees run as their classroom.

Until now Bay Cafe has been a daytime operation, open Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 2pm. The new programme, SAND Waves Events, puts something on in the evenings and at weekends through to the end of November.

The SAND Project says the aim is to bring different communities together at the cafe, to establish Bay Cafe as a venue for local events and activities, and to create “new opportunities for SAND trainees to gain valuable work experience and paid employment”. It says the programme builds on the regular employer networking sessions the college already hosts there.

The five autumn dates

Timeline of the five SAND Waves Events dates at Bay Cafe, Worthing, from 25 September to 28 November 2026
The autumn programme as The SAND Project has announced it. Graphic by The Worthing Express.
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Autumnal wreath making with Bloomin’ Great, Friday 25 September, 6pm to 8pm. A workshop led by Bethany Coley, a florist the college describes as Shoreham-based, in which participants make their own autumn wreath.

Worthing Arts Trail, Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September, 11am to 5pm. An exhibition of artwork by SAND trainees in the cafe and the community area alongside it.

Halloween pumpkin arrangements with Bloomin’ Great, Thursday 22 October, 6pm to 8pm. A second seasonal floristry workshop with Bethany Coley.

Same Table supper club, Friday 13 November, 7pm to 10pm. This is the one to watch. Same Table is a frozen food business The SAND Project is currently developing, and the college says this supper club is the first of a planned series.

Christmas fair, Saturday 28 November, 11am to 2pm. A Christmas event with a range of local artists.

Why a college cafe is doing this

The SAND Project runs four enterprises rather than workshops that mimic work. Alongside Bay Cafe there is East TOAST Cafe, run by trainees on the supported pathway; ArtiSAND, a creative goods store selling products the trainees design, produce or curate; and SAND Bay Suites, an apartment the trainees renovated and designed that sleeps up to six and is listed on Airbnb.

The college’s stated measure of success is not qualifications but “confidence, capability, and real progression into the world of work and paid employment”. An evening events programme adds shifts, and shifts of a different kind: setting up a room, serving a supper club at 10pm, handling a fair full of stallholders. The college is explicit that paid employment is part of what it wants out of this.

Bay Cafe’s own description of itself is worth reading in that light: coffee roasted and blended in house, teas blended on site, a changing menu made in its kitchens. It is not run as a training exercise that happens to sell coffee.

What it means for you

If you want to go to any of these, note that the announcement gives no ticket prices and no booking route. Anyone who wants a place should contact the cafe directly at 1 Thorn Road or through its social channels: the college’s own Bay Cafe page points people to Facebook, Instagram and Google for up-to-date times, and notes that opening hours vary during school holidays.

The Worthing Arts Trail weekend is free to walk into during the cafe’s advertised 11am to 5pm hours on the Saturday and Sunday, and it is the cheapest way to see what the trainees actually produce before committing to a paid workshop.

For the supper club on 13 November, an early ask is sensible. It is a first outing for a food business the college is still building, in a room the college’s own photograph shows holds only a handful of tables.

If you are looking for other things to do locally, our things to do in Worthing page carries the standing options, and the Worthing roadworks and travel page has what is closed before you set off.

Sources

  • The SAND Project’s announcement of SAND Waves Events, sent to The Worthing Express on 23 September 2026, with a photograph of Bay Cafe.
  • The SAND Project, Bay Cafe and Our Enterprises pages, read 23 September 2026.