Faith and Our Generation

Wednesday lunchtime saw the main hall packed with over 150 students and staff listening to the powerful message of ex-WFC student Dez Brown.

The multi-media "Faith and Our Generation" presentation started with an extract from Keeping It Real, a video showing in a humorous way how we are all wearing masks.

Then it was the turn of Ace to spit some inspirational lyrics, before Dez Brown took to the floor.

Dez described in a very passionate way how he had previously fallen into a life of crime and self-centred activities. He graphically explained how this had led to him being convicted of killing somebody.

He explained how he had destroyed not only the lives of the victim's family but also those of his own mother and father, his brothers and his girlfriend.

He underlined the point that a person's actions can be far reaching, and appealed to those who might think gang, gun and knife culture was cool to not be scared to think again.

Dez explained that, bizarre as it might seem, it was whilst he was out on bail that he had a dramatic encounter with God.

It was this that radically changed him and put him on a path of helping the youth. He believes they should not fear seeking the right path. A path away from the lifestyle he once chose.

Dez Brown is the author of the book "Convicted or Condemned" which is available from Amazon.

The Truth about Islam

Monday saw the first event from the College's Waltham Forest Islamic Society designed to reveal the real truth about Islam.

During a short presentation before answering questions from the audience of about 40, each member of the WFIS spoke of important and influential Muslims from history.

Anwar (pictured on the left) celebrated the life of Malcolm X.

The origins of Islam were discussed, and strong points were made about how the media are to blame for the bad way some Muslims are presented in the UK.

After a few questions from the audience, Hasib (the Chair of the WFIS) thanked everybody for coming and invited those who were interested to stay for refreshments and less formal conversation.

The WFIS hold Friday Prayers in the Multi-Faith Prayer rooms, and welcome any enquiries about their activities.

If you wish to know more about the WFIS they welcome email to hasib13uk@hotmail.com.

A hair raising experience

For Nikki studying her Hairdressing Level 2 NVQ, there is one day she can never forget.

It was the day that one of the fussiest and most self-conscious members of staff asked her to cut his hair.

"He hasn't been here before. He seems very worried." admitted Nikki before approaching the unnamed member of staff with her clippers.

Despite his high pitched screams echoing down the first floor corridor and constant demands to stop so that he could look at himself in the mirror, Nikki managed to get to within a metre of his head.

An hour of talking him down from his hyper-sensitive state finally gave Nikki the opportunity to get the job done. Exhausted, Nikki told us, "I think he was fine with the end result".

If you recognise the back of the head of this difficult customer and can put a name to him or can provide any other details, just add your comments here.

The Referee's a what?

We started training together on a Tuesday after college.

At first it was like a little get together of the Project 100 / Vision 12 group. Then we started preparing together to make an 11-a-side football team of all the under-16s of WFC.

We entered our first 6-a-side tournament on Thursday (15th). We had two Project 100 teams entering the tournament, one in black and one in yellow. Both Project 100 teams were in the same league and even had to play against each other.

We battled to the end of the game and drew 1 - 1.

Both teams played 8 games each, with Project 100 Yellow's results: Lost = 3, Drew = 1, Won = 3, and Project 100 Black's results: Lost = 3, Drew = 3, Won = 2.

Both Black and Yellow played to the best of their ability and worked together as a team. Unfortunately we didn't qualify for the next round, but we're still working really hard to improve.

KGB and cakes

In the name of research, sub-zero temperatures of minus 10C were endured by the Travel and Tourism National Diploma Year 1 group.

That was the only down side when we visited Vilnius in Lithuania. We were out in Lithuania investigating tourism development in this evolving country, which is currently a case study in college coursework.
After settling in to our 3 star hotel we went exploring the sites.

We ate a traditional Lithuanian meal which consisted of Potato, Pork and Pancakes.

The next day we went on a sightseeing tour of the city and we were informed of the history and we managed to gather together many facts needed for the unit assignment.

We also got to visit the KGB museum which told the history of this former Russian state.

Some of us managed to get some shopping in as well. For 5 Litas to the Pound we made up the following list:

Soup 3,90

Chicken breast, chanterelle suace, carrot and cabbage salad 13,50

Cake of the day 4,50
Fresh made juice 5,00
Cocktails 8,50 - 10,50
Glass of wine 4,90
Pint of beer 5 - 6

(that's a quid!!!)

Ploughing through the snow

Whilst the gritter lorries and snow ploughs had to crawl out to try to get the UK on the move, it was down to the staff in the college to clear a path in time for what students were able to get in.

The overnight snowfall had even started to bury the college's own 'plough' as part of the 'whiteout' that we woke to yesterday.

For some people the snow can be very picturesque and artistic, even calming and peaceful. These pictures were taken at first light before work commenced on making the college grounds safe by clearing the snow away and scattering salt.

Proudly, the college grounds were cleared and ready long before anything was done for the early morning traffic on the Forest Road outside which had no option but to crawl and slide slowly along.(A sultry figure uses the showfall as an opportunity to bury someone she's just hit over the head with a shovel)

Lochness Monster scared by WFC students

Nessie, the Lochness Monster, decided to avoid students from Waltham Forest College despite us searching for her. We popped in to look for her during our trip to Inverness, but nothing.

We went to Inverness to undertake research for the BTEC 1st Diploma Travel and Tourism course.

We visited the Inverness College where the travel and tourism students did a presentation on the Highlands and Invernesshire.

Then it was our turn and we did a presentation on London and England as a tourist destination.

Afterwards we were served up Venison, Haggis and Shortcake in the form of a traditional Scottish meal.

It was served to us by the catering and hospitality students of Inverness college.

Then, before coming back to England, we managed to see more of the sights and take in a little of the evening life.

An Italian rival for the Mallinson

Can you believe it? Is this really a rival to the Mallinson Restaurant?

Well, it's very similar, just nearly two thousand kilometres away in Italy.

We discovered it when the BTEC 1st Diploma Travel and Tourism class recently paid a visit to Ancona, Italy. We went over to visit a college in Senigallia, a seaside resort, in the North of Ancona.

The college specialises in catering, hospitality and tourism.
When we first arrived we were introduced to the Principal of the college and the two Head Tourism teachers.

We did presentations on English food, lifestyle, culture and tourism issues and then the Italian students also did their presentations on similar matters.

After the presentations the catering students at the Instituto Panzini served us freshly cooked Italian food in their catering training restaurant - the one that looks a bit like the Mallinson.

We learnt a lot about Italian education systems and made some very good friends as well as getting to experience first hand, the Italian food and culture. All of this gave us some invaluable material for our assignments too.

Chocolate Frenzy

All too often we've suffered the greeny yellow haze. All too often we have to answer the call of chocolate. Today was no exception so, having read all about it on this very student blog, we headed down to the College Shop in room 034 to see what would satisfy our calling.

Students were working hard in the shop, but we interrupted them to see if they were enjoying themselves. Sian told us she was "Enjoying working on the till", whilst Hashim added that he, "Likes putting prices on items." They all enjoyed doing the books, and definitely liked communicating with customers.

Most importantly, your blog reporter was able to walk away with a bag of crisps and a couple of bars of chocolate to deal with that craving! Yum!

So, give the College Shop a visit any Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, between 12noon and 2pm.