Meet Franca

Memories by Franca Porter-Sanders
My first meeting with Julie and Dominic was on 22nd March 1994 on a company event in the studios in Aalsmeer. At that time I was working for Texaco in Rotterdam and we were organizing a dealer meeting, for at least 700 guests, with a business part but also enough room for entertainment. I was very lucky to be a part of the group who organized the event. 

The whole show was presented by Koos Postema, who I’ve met several times in our office as well. (Yes, he is the same nice man as we all know him on TV, a typical Rotterdammer with a no nonsense mentality). I was in the position to suggest inviting Grant & Forsyth for a performance, besides Jan Vayne, Hans Klok with Sita, Gordon and the Bob East Show Band.

At the event itself, I gave Julie and Dominic the flowers, after their fantastic performance and later I’ve met them for the first time in real behind stage. I was very nervous because a sort of dream came through. Dominic gave me tickets for their try-out concert which was including a buffet. The pictures were taken by -after all these years a now very- well-known photographer Roy Beusker (Roy, I’m sure you don’t mind that I’ve used some). Also I was lucky that the whole concert was filmed on video by the Advertising & Sales Promotion Agency Texaco used at that time, and it’s still a pleasure to watch it. There was a time that Julie and Dominic remembered me as the ‘Texaco girl’. 

Many years later, it must have been 2001/2002, my (British) husband Darren and I went to see Dominic’s exhibition in ‘t Gooi. Again I was lucky that Julie and Dominic arrived a bit later as well and it’s a small world because Dominic grew up in Greenwich, were my husband used to live nearby and they even knew the same people in that area. Furthermore they were talking about cooking programs with Keith Floyd. It was a very nice chat with both of them and since that day even Darren became a sort of fan!