BBC’s Simon King to open Frome’s first ever children’s festival

FROME’S first ever Children’s Festival will be held at the Cheese & Grain on Sunday 27th July, with tickets now available. 

The event, which will be officially opened by the  BBC’s Simon King, promises to be fun for all the family with a huge variety of activities on offer throughout the day.

These include arts and crafts, story-telling, forest school, wildlife encounters, bike track activities, puppet theatre, magic, performances, beach play and much more.

There are also a limited number of free kids tickets to the Pee Wee Ellis Assembly in the evening, a night of music and entertainment featuring Huey Morgan and Electric Soft Parade, along with Pee Wee himself.

Tickets are £5 per child for the day festival and £10 for the evening. Both are available from the Cheese & Grain.

Centred around the popular Cheese & Grain building and Welshmill Park, community groups, local businesses and parents will be laying on a fun packed day of activities to suit all ages and interests.

Organiser of this highly anticipated event, Sue Willis said, “FROGS and Young People Frome, as well as individuals from the town and surrounding locality have come together to lay on what we look forward to making an annual calendar highlight. We hope to make this one of the ‘must attend’ events of the summer holidays.”

Starting at midday and running through to 8.00pm, the festival will feature zones of activities suited to a variety of ages and interests. Whether your kids want to get their faces painted, learn circus skills, try any number of dance classes, climb trees, check out local wildlife, mess around on the river or simply chillax with friends in the Teen Chill Out Zone, they’ll be a plenty of activities for them to enjoy.

Tickets for the event are priced at just £5 per child and concessions can be applied. With eight hours of non-stop fun, the price of admission will allow visitors to enjoy a long list of activities, including:

• Wildlife/nature walks, forest school, tree climbing, wildlife den and pets corner • Arts & craft making and willow weaving • Outdoor cooking skills and bread making • Face painting, dressing up theatre, puppet shows and story telling.

• Acoustic music, drumming workshops, dancing, open mic and children’s radio • River activities, bike and running races, obstacle courses, remote controlled cars and football •   Graffiti wall, radio controlled cars and more…

With a range of food and refreshment stalls scattered around the zones, and roving performance artists mingling in the crowds, the energy will be pumping throughout the day and into the evening. Dedicated marshals and activity organisers will ensure a happy and safe environment for all, and areas have been set aside to cater for breastfeeding mums and lost children.

Sue added, “We have worked to ensure this is an inclusive event; an event that recognises the needs and interests of all age groups from toddlers to older teenagers. I’d like to thank all those who have given so generously of their time and the organisations that have come on board to help make the Frome Children’s Festival a success.”

Frome Town Council, Knightstone, Aster Communities, Frome Children’s Centres and Frome Development CIC have all added their support to the event.

Tickets are available at the Cheese and Grain and are on sale now. The organisers would like more volunteers on the day so if you are interested and have some spare time on the day please get in touch.

For more information visit www.fromechildrens festival.org email rachel@ fromechildrensfestival.org or call 01373 469071.

Following Frome Children’s Festival will be the After Party with a fantastic night of music planned for music loving families.

Pee Wee Ellis is something of a legend; having played, written and recorded with James Brown is his genre defining period during the late 60s, going on to produce and arrange for George Benson and Ester Phillips in the 70s, Van Morrison in the 80 and 90s and working more recently with luminary drummer Ginger Baker. The Pee Wee Ellis Assembly are his hand picked band of soulful players that know how to back ‘the man who invented FUNK!’

Joining Pee Wee on guest vocals and guitar, is none other than Mr Huey Morgan, that silky Manhattan drawl that we know so well from the radio, both as a BBC 6 music presenter and lead singer of the Fun Loving Criminals is poised to blend effortlessly in an evening of cool and funky music, a collaboration not to be missed.

The Electric Soft Parade bring their enchanting brand of English psych pop band from Brighton but have strong connections with the West having released their acclaimed 4th album ‘Idiots’ with Bath based Helium Records. The creative core of the band are brothers Alex and Tom White whose distinctive ELO-via-The Everly Brothers blood harmonies shine though continually complimenting the five-piece bands gorgeously melodic sound.

Tickets are £10 with accompanied children free.  They are available from the Cheese And Grain now.  Any profit goes to the Frome Children’s Festival to make next year’s event even better.