Homeless Robert Balmer met his future wife while begging on the streets of Oxford. Now the happy couple are setting up a business together, writes David Duffy.
Robert and Kathryn are taking to the road with a mobile grocery business, thanks to cash help of more than £5,000 from the Prince's Youth Business Trust.
Robert, 27, said: "The trust has been a blessing for me. I was brought up in children's homes and left them without any skills at all. It is almost impossible to get a job if you are homeless and I had to resort to begging."
Robert, who lives with Kathryn, 24, at Forresters Tower, Wood Farm Road, Oxford, said: "That's how I met Kathryn. She was an assistant manager of a shop in the centre of Oxford and walked past where I was begging every day.
"One day I plucked up courage and asked her if she fancied a cup of coffee. We have been together ever since.
"After reading a lot about village shops closing down I had an idea for a mobile grocery van, targeting villages and housing estates where there are no shops. Kathy has several years' experience in retailing and refined my ideas."
The trust gave the couple a £250 test marketing grant and found an adviser to help them for three years. It also awarded a bursary of £1,500 and a loan of £3,500 to start up the business as a partnership.
Robert added: "I know the mobile grocery is not going to make me a fortune, but we will be making a living and I shall be saving up to open up my own grocery shop in the future."
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article