Frome Festival 3.95

Frome is a market town of about 27,000, with a rural hinterland, on the Somerset/Wiltshire border, with Bath, Wells, and Bristol within easy reach. As a former centre of woollens and weaving, it started its recessions early, and so has become resilient. Its diverse housing stock has proved attractive to artists, writers and musicians.

About one-third of our 180 or so events in the ten-day Festival are by local performers, professional and amateur; last year’s Open Studios were a showcase for 67 artists in over thirty venues; and Hidden Gardens, another established feature of the Festival, gave entry to 27 private gardens.

A distinctive element in the programme are the workshops in music, other performance, art, and crafts for the young or for all ages; these sessions draw heavily on local talent.

As well as the people, Frome has the venues. There are two theatres, the Memorial, managed by volunteers, and the professionally-managed Merlin, a school and community studio theatre. Alongside it is an amphitheatre surrounded by monoliths, the European Community of Stones imported 21 years ago.

We also have three multi-purpose halls. The modern Assembly Rooms are attached to the Memorial Theatre, and house concerts, meetings, dinners and parties. Rook Lane Chapel, opened in 1707, is now a brilliantly remodelled hall for exhibitions, concerts and meetings. The Cheese & Grain was built in 1875 as a market hall, and now accommodates concerts, markets, meetings and shows. It can hold an audience of up to 800.

There is an art and crafts centre, with workshops, gallery, shop and ace café. A former almshouse and charity school, restored as a residential home, has a river garden used for, amongst other attractions, sculpture displays. In addition to two established galleries, a third has recently opened in a sensitively-converted silk mill, which houses concerts as well as exhibitions and is set to become a creative hub. A most encouraging development is the opening of a privately (and generously) financed concert hall seating up to 70, in the grounds of a manor house on the edge of town. It was inaugurated during the 2012 Festival. Several pubs and churches run or host events in the Festival. The independent cinema usually shows a Festival charity première.

The ever popular Super-market, now renamed the Frome Independent, promoting local produce and talent, is held on the first Sunday of most months.