Bumper-packed events at this year’s Kindness Festival

The Frome Kindness Festival has a jam-packed line-up of fun events in this year’s programme.

Running from 14th to 21st March, festival highlights include the Annual Kindness Festival Lecture with time traveller and community activist Rob Hopkins at The Memorial Theatre. Rob will transport the audience to 2036, inviting residents to explore a future society reoriented around kindness and care.

A line-up of top comedians will bring laughter to the Kindness Festival for ‘Random Acts of Comedy’ at The Tunnels, hosted by Adam Grierson. Creative writing tutor Derek Niemann and his photographer wife Sarah are running a ‘Write to be Kind’ workshop celebrating the generosity of spirit within us all. Poet, comedian and musician John Hegley is joined by Angie Arnold and Mike Tomes for their mid-March musings at The Good Heart.

The Grief Opera, written and composed by Nigel Linacre and Vladimir Miller, will shine a spotlight on suicide, the most common cause of death in young men. Its creators hope it will enable people to have potentially life-saving conversations and to work with their grief. The Frome Grief Network will also be hosting a welcoming community event on the first day of the festival, offering a space to talk openly about grief and loss.

Back by popular demand, local choirs Songbirds, Frome Youth Choir and Svitlo will perform at St John’s Church for an afternoon of hopeful songs and scones. There is a talk on The Gift of Water with Jayne Sadgrove, Chair of Frome Society, and Simon Keyes, where they discuss the story of kindness and unkindness in Frome, past, present and future.

Poet Rosie Jackson and other local poets will join together to read poems inspired by the practice of kindness, while Barbara J Hunt will be ‘Exploring Forgiveness’ in a workshop at Rook Lane Chapel.

Festival coordinator Jess Francombe said, “We are also thrilled to add renowned South West seven-piece combo Seize the Day to the line-up as they fill The Tunnels with passionate, anthemic songs to inspire us in our struggles for a kinder world.

“This year we’re teaming up with the lovely folk at Frome Window Wanderland, the community arts project where people decorate their street-facing windows with colourful, illuminated displays to create magical after-dark walking trails.

“And make sure you drop in to the festival hub on Cheap Street to check out our Kind Lab and Imaginarium, explore the many ways in which kindness animates our town, and imagine how else we might embed kind acts into our community and supercharge your own kindness batteries.”

“As usual, there will also be a host of free and low-cost activities for all, including plenty for families. There will be arts and crafts, music, walks, well-being events, film screenings and a school poetry project, while the Neighbourhood Network will curate a photographic exhibition celebrating kindness at street level. Plus, there are plenty of events designed to be stumbled upon across town.”

For more information and to secure tickets, check out the Frome Kindness Festival programme online and pick up a free print programme at The Good Heart, the library, the town hall and other locations across Frome.

To stay in touch with what’s happening at The Good Heart, sign up to the mailing list on the website.

If you would like to join the Kindness Crew as a volunteer steward, maker or project lead, please contact Becky at beckyrgoodheart@gmail.com.

To access an online programme, visit: https://thegoodheart.uk