How to live moment to moment, by Franc
WINTER picnics, afternoon tea with the girls and romantic backyard dates — life, says the exuberant Franc, is about the making of moments.
For his Thursday slot (starting today) on RTÉ’s new Cork day-time TV show, Today, the flamboyant doyen of the designer wedding sector is focusing on the simple pleasures that are often lost in the hectic rush of modern life.
Today is live each weekday and debuted on Monday.
The hour-long show will be fronted by the Today team of Dáithí O Sé, Maura Derrane, Norah Casey and Bláithnaid Ní Chofaigh.
What Franc brings to the table — aside from his trademark effervescence, irrepressible, fun-loving personality and indisputable sense of style — will be his ability to make magic from the ordinary.
“In a way, the show is about lifestyles in the recession. It’s focusing on having fun with the family and making moments out of nothing,” he says.
None of this is new to Franc, aka Peter Kelly, his wife, Eadaoin, or their four children, Mia (7), Jessie-Mai (10), Codí (12), and Cameryn (13) — Franc’s Today slot will include things the Kellys do as a family, anyway, like winter picnics, forest hikes and treasure hunts.
They’re an outdoor crew — Franc built the children a tree-house and taught them how to light a bonfire using a flint, while Eadaoin, who as a child enjoyed winter picnics with her own family, loves dreaming up creative, outdoor activities for the gang.
Franc nostalgically recalls a moment, a few years ago, when his eldest son, Cameryn, then 10, arrived into the kitchen with a cake he’d baked in a pot on the bonfire he’d lit in the garden fire-ring.
That, says Franc, was the kind of simple, but magical, moment that he hopes to recreate in his Today slot each Thursday.
“I think you should have an event at any excuse,” he says, promising this is what he will do each week with his allotted, three-to-four minutes onscreen.
One week, he’ll be showing viewers how to organise a birthday party, where the children make their own pizzas, muffins and cupcakes.
The next week could be about staging a winter picnic for children and adults alike, with tips on what to bring for the perfect winter afternoon outdoors, with treasure hunts, games and hot picnic food.
Franc has tips for loved-up couples, as well — take, for example, his ideas for a romantic backyard date: “You light a fire, toast some bread or dough wrapped around a stick, have a pot of mulled wine or punch, and sit there with the lights off, looking at the stars with a few tea-lights in a jam-jar.
“The neighbours will think you’re off your head, but I’m very much in favour of that stuff,” he says.
Isn’t it, he asks reasonably, so much better than just sitting in front of the TV?
It all comes down to the effort you put into making an event out of something ordinary — and if you do, he promises there’s a strong likelihood that you’ll be ‘transported’ as you get back in touch with the simple magic of just being alive.
Building a bonfire in the garden on a moonlit night, and bringing the kids out to listen to a fairy story, pays off so much more than simply reading aloud at the kitchen table, he says.
“Even breakfast in bed can be an event — it’s about making someone feel special by putting a really nice tray together. People don’t forget these moments, because they’re things you don’t do all the time. The smallest things are often the ones that deliver the biggest outcome in emotion or memory,” Franc says.
Why not organise an afternoon tea for the girls and make something special by which to remember it?
Franc will be demonstrating how to make an antique-style cake plate by using wine glasses, glue and a few pretty bric-a-brac plates.
He also has a fantastic chocolate dessert, the recipe for which he refuses to reveal until the show airs.
“I have this lovely table laid for afternoon tea, all made up with a nice table cloth and a china tea set. This is not about spending a huge amount of money or involving party planners or caterers, it’s about DIY moments that are very personal and individualised.
“It’s very down to earth; it’s about the small things in life — getting away to the beach in winter and being creative.
“My kids’ favourite thing to do is invite their friends over and light a bonfire — they know the safety rules around it and they know what to do. They’ll make the fire from scratch with a flint. It’s about giving kids a chance to be kids.”
When Franc’s first slot airs, next Thursday, viewers will be transported to the stunningly picturesque Glanworth Mill, with its House of Franc shop, bridal store and vintage tea-rooms — and who knows what adventures lie in wait?
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