Annabel Bradford

20 May 2020

It’s time to taste a byte of Redgate

At Redgate, we launched the Community Circle back in April as a place our customers and the Data Platform community could visit to find free resources, tips and content to help them learn, develop and keep in touch during this difficult time.

It’s apparent that the world we’re now living in has changed in many ways and now, more than ever, being part of a community is providing hope to many. There have been many acts of kindness displayed over the past few months, and it’s wonderful to see how the Data Platform community has come together to provide support for one another to help reduce stress and aid wellbeing.

The Mental Health Foundation recognize this week as Mental Health Awareness Week, which they describe as: The UK’s national week to raise awareness of mental health and mental health problems and inspire action to promote the message of good mental health for all.

As part of the Community Circle project and in support of raising awareness of mental health, a group of us decided we’d like to give something back to both Redgaters and the wider community.

The result is A Byte of Redgate 2020, a unique recipe book which includes recipes from Redgaters as well as Friends of Redgate. We hope it will help everyone who reads it to exercise positive mental health through cooking, baking and eating. So download your free copy pdf/epub and start cooking.

Some Redgaters will be having a cook-off later this week, baking recipes from two key members of the community – Steve Jones, Redgate Advocate and Editor of SQLServerCentral, and Andy Warren, DBA and Friend of Redgate.

They had a conversation in March that inspired the creation of the recipe book. Andy told Steve that one of his team made biscuits while the rest of the team watched as part of a lunch and learn, and he thought giving away a recipe book to customers would be a good idea. Steve wondered if it would help people who may be struggling to learn to cook their lunches (while they’re away from their work canteens), or those looking for new activities to do with their kids (while they’re out of school).

A week after Steve shared the idea, a group of us decided we should make it happen. I love cooking, baking and eating good food, so for me, creating a Redgate recipe book was a great idea. A call out to amateur chefs, bakers and cooks among Redgaters and Friends of Redgate resulted in an overwhelming response.

Among those interested in contributing a recipe was Dave Rook, our Tech Lead on SQL Prompt, who has already  created two recipe books of his own. Another keen enthusiast was Elena Lockyer, our Product Designer on SQL Monitor, who offered to put her graphics skills to good use to make the idea a reality. And the title for the book? That was suggested by Collette Johnson, Redgate Product Marketing Manager, and it was voted as the winner by all of the recipe contributors.

With Mental Health Awareness Week on the horizon, I thought it would be the perfect time to launch the book, giving us a window of just four weeks to bring everything together. Many of us know the benefits cooking has on our mental wellbeing, so our hope was that offering you A Byte of Redgate during the week would be perfect timing.

Our aim is that A Byte of Redgate provides some fun and support at this time. Perhaps you’ll be able to dedicate a little time to preparing a dish from one of the 32 recipes available. Whether you choose one of the For Kids recipes, or perhaps something from the Veggie section, we’d love to see how it turns out for you. Please share your feedback, and a photo of your creation using the hashtag #RGCommunityCircle on Twitter, so that we can virtually congratulate you on making the time for yourself, your mind, and your taste buds.

If you can think of other ways to help people during Mental Health Awareness Week, please do share those too. At Redgate we believe in supporting people so that they can achieve their best. As a company we have a responsibility to look after our employees, not just with their physical wellbeing but also their mental wellbeing.

There are various ongoing active programs at Redgate, for example, that strive to continually support our mental health, and this week a series of activities have been planned to raise awareness of and promote good mental health for our staff. From webinars on motivation and focus to yoga sessions over Zoom, we hope it will help everyone stay healthy during these times.

A Byte of Redgate is, if you like, the cherry on the cake.