FROME’S first ever River Festival is next month and will see a week of free talks and activities celebrating the river on which the town is built.
The inaugural river festival will run from Sunday 17th to Saturday 23rd July. Full details are still to be confirmed but there will be talks all week about local wildlife, fish habitats, environmental challenges, the Friends of the River Frome and more. There will also be a day of family events on the Saturday.
Organiser Ian Mock, of the Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART) said, “This festival is the first in Frome that specifically focuses on the river. It began as a way of building a legacy to the work completed in the town and was intended to be a celebration of recent progress.
“Last month’s pollution has tempered that, but we’re determined to use this as a spur to action rather than let it thwart our efforts. The festival will be about raising awareness of the river and showing how local people can contribute to and enjoy the river.”
Talks will be held every day throughout the week at Frome Medical Centre from 7pm to 9pm. They will be:
• Monday 18th July: ‘Wildlife of the Somerset Frome’ by local naturalists Tony House and Eve Tigwell.
• Tuesday 19th: ‘The fish of the Somerset Frome’ by Professor Mark Everard, and ‘Habitat restoration success stories’ by Mike Blackmore of the Wild Trout Trust.
• Wednesday 20th: ‘Partnership working within the Bristol Avon Catchment – how we are working to improve our rivers’ by the Catchment Coordinators and BART.
• Thursday 21st: ‘Community-led river restoration’ by Mike Blackmore of the Wild Trout Trust and Gary Hunt from CATCH.
• Friday 22nd: ‘What do we know about the Somerset Frome?’ by Jeremy Taylor of the Environment Agency.
On Saturday there will also be will be river dipping for bugs on the Egford Brook (meet at the Elm Lane public footpath car park at 10am), and a ‘Spray the way to change’ graffiti activity (meeting at 2pm outside the Cheese and Grain.)
There may also be a picnic and family walk at the weekend, but details will be revealed nearer the time.
For more information contact Ian on ian@bristol avonriverstrust.org.
