15 years of learning for fun — and a fresh crop of courses for autumn at Frome Community Education

Running classes for adults since 2011, Frome Community Education is 15 years old.

It was back in December 2010 that Malcolm Lloyd walked into Lidl and saw Sue Klepper. “How’s it going?” said Malcolm. “Terrible,” said Sue, “we’re thinking of running our own classes.” “That’s a good idea,” said Malcolm. And thus, Frome Community Education was born!

Joined by Margaret Binney, Sandy Usher, David Chandler and, later, by Mandy Crook, FCE produced its first brochure of classes for adults starting in September 2011, so that’s 15 years of bringing learning for fun to the good people of Frome.

Help was received from around the town. Kirsty Campbell, Jenny Dale and Mel Jones helped with various tasks while Butler & Tanner printed the brochure, Frome Town Council and Frome Lottery offered grants and the Cheese & Grain agreed to do the enrolments.

Frome Comm Ed is a Community Interest Company (CIC) run by five volunteers. As a not-for-profit company FCE has to balance the books with student fees as the only income. The tutors receive a majority of this, with FCE, acting for the tutors, paying for room hire, insurance, marketing and the services of a Programme Manager, Pia McGee (who puts the programme together) out of the remainder.

“It seems to work,” said Pia, “so much so that Yoga and Vedic Chanting tutor Elaine Marie Ewens has been here from the start, while fellow tutors Sara Gibbons (Spanish), David Lassman (Local History and Current Affairs) and Paul Chapman (Art Appreciation) joined in 2012 and are still teaching.”

15 years on, the reason FCE keeps ticking along is that the programme never quite stands still – and Paul Chapman is a good case in point. Alongside the Art Appreciation classes he’s been running since 2012, this autumn he’s trying something brand new: “Diego And Frida”, a three-week course starting on Friday mornings from 6th November. It’s the story of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera – the ‘fat frog and the delicate dove’ – and the tumultuous, on-again-off-again marriage that somehow produced some of the most iconic paintings of the 20th century.

Paul is in good company, because the Arts & Crafts line-up has a whole crop of new courses this term. For those who’d rather work outdoors, Danny Markey is taking the easel out of the studio and around town with “Outdoor Drawing and Painting in Frome” – five weeks of Monday afternoons from 21st September, spent responding to some of Frome’s more photogenic corners. And if you prefer to keep your hands busy indoors, Julia Blaker’s “Make Your Own Sewn Sketchbook” has you stitch and decorate your own journal before filling it with paint, collage, printing and stencils across ten Wednesday afternoons from 23rd September. As Julia says, it’s a chance to get the creative mind fired up again, even if it’s lain dormant since your schooldays – so don’t let the kids have all the fun.

There are three new one-day workshops, too, for anyone who fancies dipping a toe in without committing to a whole term. On Saturday 26th September, Cathy Plummer’s “Creating Natural Botanical Dyes and a Soya Binder” shows you how to dye fabric at home, and sends you off with a pack of naturally dyed cotton to use in your own projects.

On Tuesday 3rd November, Catherine Beale builds up a “Watercolour Field Full of Flowers” – a whole meadow’s worth of blooms in deep pigment and sunlit petals. And with the festive season creeping up, Jessica Wilker’s “Tailored Christmas Cards with Collage” on Saturday 14th November will have you cutting and gluing cards that are anything but shop-bought, whether your taste runs to traditional, decorative, humorous or spiritual.

“Whether you fancy a single Saturday or a whole term, there’s plenty to get stuck into,” said Pia. “You can see the full programme and book online at www.fromecommed.org.uk, or drop in to the Box Office at the Cheese & Grain on 01373 455420 — the same good people who’ve been handling our enrolments since the very beginning.”