From The Mayor

HELLO everyone and welcome to this week’s column.

As we finally start to see longer days and some sunshine, I’m appreciating how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful town. The town centre has been looking sparkling. You may have noticed if you were there on Thursday 30th March, that 50 volunteers turned out to work alongside Frome town councillors and staff for the Big Town Spring Clean. Luckily the rain stayed off and a van full of rubbish bags were collected. With the fountain on and the lovely planters in full bloom, it’s great to see people sitting in the sun and enjoying the Boyle Cross as a place to spend time.

It’s important for our own wellbeing, as well as for wildlife, that we make the most of our green spaces however we can, so I’m really happy to hear that Frome Town Council’s Rangers will be working with Frome Medical Practice to create wildlife habitats and open spaces as an extension of their work at the Old Showfield.

I’m sure lots of you are getting your gardens ready for summer, and maybe some of you will be entering Hidden Gardens. For me it’s a great opportunity to be nosy around other people’s gardens as well as looking for ideas and inspiration. If you can, leave a little bit of your garden to go wild and you’ll be amazed at what wildlife you might attract! We have plenty of advice and information about supporting pollinators and other creatures at this time of year through our Wild Bunch project. You don’t even need a garden! You can find details on our website, www.frometowncouncil.gov.uk/wild-bunch

One of the things I’ve loved most over this last year is the range of musical experiences I’ve had, whether with small specialist groups like Songs for the Memories, or the town takeover of Frome Busks; we also have some great choirs, like Songbirds, Jackdaws and the Rock Choir. Last weekend I was invited to hear Frome Voices perform Mozart’s Requiem in concert at the Cheese and Grain with a full orchestra; it was outstanding, there is something very powerful in hearing many voices singing together and clearly a huge amount of practicing was needed to get 50 plus people in perfect harmony!

And on the note of harmony, as always, look after yourselves and each other. If there is anything you’d like to contact me or my fellow councillors about you’ll find our details, as well as lots of other useful information on our website.