Frome will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with a weekend of special commemorative events, including a festival of remembrance, war grave walks, archive film screenings and a 1940s cinema night.
Events will start on Friday 7th November with a ‘Frome Festival of Remembrance’ at the Memorial Theatre, which will include original video interviews with past Frome veterans and music led by children, Frome Musical Theatre Company and Frome Town Band.
The evening will finish with a Drumhead Ceremony and Act of Remembrance with standards of the Royal British Legion, Royal Naval Association and Royal Air Force Association.
On Saturday 8th November, there will be three war grave walks starting at the Memorial Theatre at 9.45am. A reading of the Roll of Honour of the fallen of World War Two will take place at the Memorial at 11am. At 2pm in the Assembly Rooms, the premiere of a series of Frome amateur archive films taken between 1939 and 1945 will be shown.
In the evening at 7pm at the Memorial Theatre, formerly known as the Grand Cinema, there will be a film showing of the epic 1942 Noël Coward film In Which We Serve. Tickets cost £5 and 1940s costume is encouraged.
The weekend will then end with the town’s annual Remembrance Parade on Sunday 9th November at 10.55am at Frome Memorial Theatre.
Jane Norris of the Frome Branch RBL said, “This will be a once-in-a-lifetime weekend and will record the history of Frome during World War Two in a lively, relatable way, with anecdotes, humour and respect. It is including everyone and all generations, by bringing to today the history of those who stayed and worked or who went to school in Frome; the many who left, some not to return and many more who left and returned but who never spoke about their time until much later in life.
“In collaboration with local author and historian David Lassman of Frome Heritage CIC and in the only possible venue of the Frome Memorial Theatre, we are aiming to create a legacy weekend. We honour the past by passing it on to the next generation.”
