My daughter is coming to the end of a three-year course at a wonderful Minehead college, Foxes Academy. The college helps young people with learning difficulties gain a qualification in hospitality which will enable them to have a greater chance of gaining paid employment within the hospitality industry.

Sadly, only a small percentage of people with learning difficulties gain paid employment. The opposite is true with this brilliant college and the students are much more likely to move into a job in hospitality and, of course, be paid for this. The young people learn so much more than hospitality. They learn life skills, travel training, socialising and interacting and work experience to name a few. our daughter is one of many young people who have thrived in this environment.

Athough these are strange and challenging times, we hope she will soon be able to show off her new array of skills perhaps in a hotel setting.

However, the main reason for this message is to pass on our great thanks to the people of Minehead who have been shown to be so supportive and welcoming. We travel down the A303 from Surrey every six to eight weeks and smile every time we pass Dunster Castle as we know we are nearly there. The sun always shines in Minehead.

Thank you to all the businesses both big and small who readily offer work experience which is vital for the students. Thank you to all the hardworking, dedicated and nurturing staff at the college and thank you to the people of Minehead as a whole who seem so friendly, accepting and welcoming.

Our family and particularly our daughter will never forget her time in such a brilliant college in a wonderful town. I liken her three years at college as her equivalent of university. Three years away learning skills which will help her to live with some independence with a job and friends she has made for a lifetime.

We wish everyone well and hope that the current situation will soon be behind us and that Minehead thrives in the near future.

Thank you people of Minehead, give yourselves a pat on the back.

From a very grateful family.

Simon and Kerrie Myall, Horley, Surrey