Frome Remembers

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THE people of Frome turned out in their hundreds to pay their respects on Remembrance Sunday.

The Frome Branch of the Royal British Legion is thanking everyone who took part in the parade and came to pay their respects in the service on Sunday 11th November.

Jane Norris, the Frome Remembrance co-ordinator, estimates that over 800 people attended, with all generations represented. She said, “It’s getting bigger every year. I think it’s hitting home, it’s part of our generation. Remembrance is a very personal thing; people don’t necessarily talk, but people come forward and lay their crosses and pray their prayers. You could tell that all the generations were needing and wanting to be there.”

This year, the service concluded with the presentation of the submarine plaque of HMS/M Thunderbolt, by the president of the Royal Naval Association (Frome branch) to the chairman of the Frome Memorial Theatre Trust.

Seventy years ago, in 1942, townspeople in Frome raised the sum of £175,000 to adopt the vessel. The plaque will now be kept safe by the town’s Memorial Theatre.

HMS Thunderbolt was rebuilt from the wreckage of HMS Thetis, and was herself lost with all hands off the coast of Sicily in 1943.