Frome Carnival takes place on the 21st of September and this year it needs your support more than ever.
The event has been part of the Frome event calendar for many, many years and in that time young and old have been delighted to help organise, take part or simply enjoy the spectacle. The evening procession starts at Marston Trading Estate, parades through the town centre and finishes at the football club, bringing bright lights, dancing and a visual feast to Frome’s early autumn scene.
However, the attendance and donation levels have dropped off over recent years, with last year’s rain really having a detrimental effect on the level of funds raised for local good causes.
Quintyn Howard-Evans, senior managing partner of Cooper and Tanner, is a trustee of the Carnival Charity Trust, and he explained the work of the Carnival Trust.
“The Carnival is put together by a hard-working band of volunteers, with everything from the floats, individual entries, the road marshalling, signage and so on, all put together by this band of hard-working folk,” he explained. “However, the Carnival is facing a number of challenges. Firstly, and I am sure they will not mind me saying this, the volunteers who are the core of the Carnival are all getting older. They really need to bring into the organisation young blood – younger people with new and fresh ideas. Like everything, the Carnival needs to adapt to remain relevant and to achieve that takes young minds and enthusiasm.
“The second problem is encouraging ‘New Frome’ to take part in the actual event. In the old days Frome had a wide variety of employers who would have had their own entries, big employers such as Butler & Tanner would always have entered into the procession, but regretfully those firms simply do not exist in the town any more. The hope is that some of the groups, schools, clubs and even individual families will think about putting something on in the Carnival – if you don’t have time this year – maybe next?”
Quintyn is the treasurer of the charity committee and went on to talk about the financial situation saying, “We are always extremely grateful for the donations given on the evening – it should be borne in mind that the bulk of the actual cost of running the Carnival is raised throughout the year by fund raising activities by the Carnival volunteers. Rotary and Lions coordinate the bucket collection on the night – helping us to make sure that funds raised go straight to the deserving causes in Frome.
“This year we were able to help give donations to Active and In Touch – who provide vital contact for the elderly, Frome YMCA Routes who continue to do fantastic work with the young people of Frome, our longstanding friends at Fair Frome, a now vital part of the fabric of Frome providing a foodbank service and much-needed meals, as well as furniture for those who are existing on the economic margins of the town.
“We also helped Frome and District Mencap who provide vital help for people experiencing mental health difficulties. Finally, we were also able to help Rode Scout Group send some youngsters to the international jamboree in Poland.
“All of the people involved in these groups were very grateful to the people of Frome and the surrounding area who put their hands in their wallets to help.
“But, I regret to say that the level of donations is falling and I would urge people to be as generous as they can this year. Every pound raised can go towards assisting some of the vital charities and groups that this town unfortunately needs, but is so lucky to have.”
For anyone wishing to get in touch to either help or take part in a future Carnival, you can contact the Carnival via their Facebook page, or emailing Quintyn (quintyn@cooperandtanner.co.uk) and he will pass on your details to the Carnival volunteers.
Pictured: Quintyn Howard-Evans.
