“COULD you do with some more kindness in your life right now? Is there something thoughtful and considerate you could do for someone in need? How can we make Frome a more kind place to live and work?” ask the team behind the second Frome Kindness Festival taking place from 5 – 11 March.
This year a new feature of the festival is the Kindness Challenge, designed so that everyone in the town can take an active role. The challenge is an invitation to schools, businesses, local groups, families, friends and individuals to make the festival their own by devising and carrying out actions – both big and small, seen and unseen – that will help us all experience the transformative power of kindness.
“We’ve already heard about some amazing and heart-warming challenges,” says Susie Temple, one of the organisers. “Someone’s come up with the idea of putting cheerful notes on all the bus stops in Frome during the week of the Kindness Festival, and pots of bulbs are being grown as gifts for everyone who visits the food bank at Fair Frome. Children at St John’s School are also organising a cake sale. Olly Davy, who runs a spoken word and storytelling night called ‘Dirty Laundry’ has booked a room at the Archangel for an evening on the theme of Kindness and Cruelty; Millie Moon on Catherine Hill is one of the shops planning a kindness window display, and Asda is supplying the food for the celebration party at the end of the festival.
“There will be free yoga and makers’ classes, and much much more. It’s wonderful to see how the town is getting on board.”
Everyone who takes part in the challenge is invited to upload photos and descriptions onto the festival website and facebook page, and there will be an interactive window display at the library next to the week-long Caravan of Kindness.
“Frome is already full of kindness, but there’s always scope for more – particularly towards the people that we don’t feel close to,” says Alison Murdoch, founder of The Good Heart.
“The scientific evidence is that doing something kind will lift our spirits and is a kindness to ourselves. What can we do to stretch our kindness muscle and set a ripple of positive change in motion?”
For example, one of the more provocative events in the festival programme will be an evening on Kindness in Social Media. Led by restorative justice expert Charlotte Calkin, this will be a unique opportunity for anyone who’s suffered a lack of kindness and respect online, or watched in dismay as someone else is harassed, to share their story and help create a Kindness in Social Media charter for Frome.
To book your place, view the full Festival programme or join the Kindness Crew volunteer team, visit www.thegoodheart.uk.
