3 Poems of love, for Valentine's Day
Beauty
What is beauty
Beauty is a dream
Beauty is a sunset
Beauty is life
Beauty is love
Beauty is waking up to the person you love
Beauty is nothing but a moment
That dream of beauty is you
A Dream
A dream is magic
A dream is beauty
A dream lasts a lifetime
A dream brings hope
A dream is peaceful
But with you who needs dreams
Love
Love can save
Love can last
Love can conquer
Love can lead to move
Love can give others peace
Love to be given can warm hearts
Your love warms mine
My love is everlasting
By Blue, Doncaster Foyer
Britain's Best Dish
Our little star in April 07 was Tom Skillcorn who prefers to be known as Blue. One of Blue's former tutors gave him details of a cooking competition she thought he would be interested in, it was called Britain’s Best Dish and would be judged by a celebrity panel. The auditions were to be held in Manchester and Tom came up with a spicy mackerel dish to prepare for the auditions. Tom was very excited about wanting to take part and the Foyer agreed to fund Tom’s practice sessions (which were all very popular with everyone as Tom is an excellent cook) and traveling expenses.
Tom traveled to Manchester on 21st April and was thrilled to be told he had passed the audition and would be appearing on the show. He was interviewed and filmed on the day and came back to cheers all round.
We then started to help Tom to prepare for the show itself. An ITV researcher called Catherine Dulla was in regular contact through emails to us and we liaised with her and Tom ensuring all their criteria was met. We sent a detailed copy of Tom’s recipe to Catherine as she was ensuring all ingredients were in place.
However, before going on the show Tom had to have a food hygiene certificate. Tom had previously passed food hygiene certificates etc but could not find his copies due to his past homeless situation, so we contacted Catherine who sent out a web address and Tom resat an exam on 04.06.07 over the internet. The exam included food hygiene, personal hygiene , cleaning in the food premises, waste and pest control, identifying food hazards and controlling food hazards which he passed easily.
Tom received his travel details and he was to travel to London on the 28.06.07 spend the night in the President Imperial Hotel overnight and go to the studio to start the competition the morning after, all at ITV’s expense. Tom was interviewed on Trax FM, the local radio station, and he was also in the local free press newspaper the same night - how exciting was that!?
Tom thoroughly enjoyed the experience, again he came home full of news of his 2 days away. Unfortunately Tom received a phone call from Catherine the following day to say he had not got through to the next round but to congratulate him all the same.
We all watched the show on Saturday 13.10.07 in the lounge at Doncaster Foyer with Tom and the residents all cheering him and we all felt he should have got through to the next round but we do admit we are biased - ha ha!
