ORGANISERS of Frome’s first Local History Festival, which finished on Saturday 20th May, are hailing the nine-day extravaganza as an overwhelming success as plenty of local people came out to enjoy the various events and to learn more about the town’s rich history.
Co-director of the festival David Lassman said, “It has taken a long time and a lot of effort, but it delivered beyond our expectations and confirmed our belief that Frome would embrace its own local history festival. The festival was originally going to take place in May 2020 but had to be cancelled due to the Covid pandemic and it has taken until this year for us to feel confident enough in the fact it would run.
“Even with this one, however, we had to move it back a week at the early stages of planning, as when the coronation of King Charles III was announced, we realised it would have clashed with our opening weekend.”
There were also some issues during the festival itself, as the organisers acknowledged. David added, “As this is the first one, there was always going to be teething troubles and we have learnt from them, but the support from the people of Frome has more than compensated for any difficulties. One issue was that a few workshops were cancelled by those running them, due to a lack of bookings in the early stages of the festival, but the ones who did stay the course found by the time of their events they were completely full up.
“From walks to talks, exhibitions to performances, and Open Days to a Local History Day, there has hopefully been something for everyone interested in the town’s rich and illustrious heritage. And what was gratifying was the number and variety of venues in which the different events took place.”
The venues included Black Swan Arts, Frome Town Hall, the museum, library, the Weavers workshops at Wallbridge, Rook Lane Chapel, Frome Medical Practice, Cheese and Grain, the Blue Boar pub and the village of Witham Friary for one entire day.
There were also many shops that hosted the ‘Frome Museum about Town’ initiative, curated by Dr Lucy Gundry, with objects and clothing from its North Parade location being displayed in various shop windows. The businesses taking part included Truly Sopel, Millie Moon, Poot, Dandylion and Frome Hardware up on Catherine Hill, as well as Popicoq in Vicarage Street
Although organisers didn’t want to single any specific events out as favourites, nevertheless they say there were a few that exemplify what the festival wanted to achieve.
David said, “The first was the Local History Day at Frome Library, which brought people and organisations together in the way we had envisaged the festival in doing, while others included the Keyford Asylum exhibition, with its interactive elements and fascinating story to tell, and the Open Day organised by the Witham Friary History Society.”
And the final one was the Dramakarma production about wartime evacuees from Coopers’ Company’s School who stayed in Frome for the two thousand days of the title.
David added, “It was not just the fantastic production but the fact it brought in audiences that contained many who wouldn’t ordinarily engage with history in whatever guise. Both performances were sold out – with more than 250 people attending over the two nights – and brought the house down each time with the stellar performances by the largely teenage cast.”
But as reported in the Frome Times previously, on the opening night the guest of honour was a 96-year-old evacuee from the school, whose heartfelt words at the end of the evening brought many of those present to tears.
With the festival now over, the question is whether it will run again next year. David Lassman said, “We, Lisa Kenwright and myself, are going to take on board everyone’s feedback, as well as our own observations, and then we will sit down to plan for next year’s festival, which we intend to make even bigger and better.”
