The board members of Frome Town Community Benefit Society (FTCBS) have acknowledged they are in ‘survival mode’ and have been unable to develop Badger’s Hill into the thriving community asset they envisioned since taking over the site last year.
In October 2022, Frome Town Council stepped in to prevent the imminent closure of Badger’s Hill stadium. This led to the formation of the not-for-profit FTCBS, tasked with managing the site and developing the stadium as a multi-purpose community facility. The society also works in partnership with Frome Town AFC to maintain the town’s strong footballing tradition but does not get involved in day-to-day football decisions.
However, speaking at this month’s full town council meeting, CBS chair Andrew Carpenter admitted that the society has struggled to fulfil its community objectives. He highlighted internal challenges, including cultural issues, resignations, financial difficulties and debt, which have hindered their ability to focus on community projects.
“The facts are, we are in survival mode because we can’t start helping others until we get our own act together,” said Andrew. “We have not got the resources to do everything that people think we should be doing.”
Andrew said there had been a number of resignations on the board, which left only three volunteers but said the group now has a ‘settled board.’
There have also been delays to a major refurbishment project for the clubhouse, changing rooms and first aid facilities. The works, initially planned for this year, have been postponed due to difficulties in securing grant funding.
Andrew further noted that missed fundraising opportunities and outstanding utility and building costs had consumed a ‘substantial’ amount of volunteer time. As a result, the volunteers have been unable to work with the community as much as they had hoped.
“We haven’t been able to do what we should be doing in the community, which is why I took on this role,” Andrew continued. “I don’t want to run football clubs – what I want to do is provide a community operation.”
“Our time has been taken up running the bar and clubhouse, leaving little room for the projects we believe we should be focusing on. We need to change the culture of the venue, making it more welcoming to everyone.
“A handful of community groups approached us to provide community facilities for them but we have had to turn them down. I have hated doing it but we have had to because we have not got the bandwidth.”
Lenka Grimes, senior coordinator of Fair Frome, which has been running Sunday lunches for local families at the club, has voiced concerns at recent council meetings about the lack of communication from CBS and last-minute cancellations of bookings.
Responding to this, Andrew told the meeting, “We are having to take a hard line at the amount of time we can spend bringing new or existing clubs in. We have had to take a hard line on what we charge an hour, to make it more business-like. Some of the people that have approached us are just hard work and taking too much time and energy.”
Lenka, who was also in attendance, responded, “Hard work and time and energy – sorry? Fair Frome lunches were paying £25 an hour. Despite rumours that we were having it for free. We were not hard work at all because next door at the bar, you had a lovely community atmosphere. Families were coming in on a Sunday and then we were using the main hall and we were getting a more diverse range of people at the football club, exactly what you were talking about.”
David Parry, CBS secretary and treasurer, outlined plans for moving forward. These include fostering better communication with the community, with the Purple Elephant group set to start using the facilities. The society will also continue monitoring costs and exploring options to secure the long-term future of the site. A membership email will be issued soon to keep supporters informed.
“What we need is the help of everyone in the community,” he said. “The council and the community have been fantastic but just with a little bit more help and working together, we will get this sorted and build a facility suitable for the whole community.”
The CBS is set to hold its next Annual General Meeting in November, with plans to recruit more board members before then.
