Issue 345 – Peter Smith is Frome’s Person of the Year

FROME’S Person of the Year 2011 is the chair of the Friends of Frome Hospital, Peter Smith.
Votes came in thick and fast in the poll organised by Frome Times to find the person who had contributed most to life in the town during 2011. And Peter came out ahead of the other candidates; Gillian Baker, Anna Brindle, Veryan Conn, Gavin Eddy and Jo Fordham.
Peter is the chair of the Friends of Frome Hospital and led the hospital’s Centenary Appeal, which raised over £700,000 for the new hospital which opened in 2008.
He is also a member of Frome Rotary Club and was the club’s president in 2001. He set up the Rotary’s mock interviews at Frome College, which give 15-year-old students their first experience of being interviewed, proving valuable preparation for further education or employment.
In 2000 and 2008 he arranged for visits by the Lords Taverners celebrity cricket team to play Frome Cricket Club to raise money for the hospital. Peter spent 23 years as a governor of Frome College. He was chairman of the 1st Frome Scout Group in the 1970s when they built their new headquarters in Welshmill Lane, and was chairman of Frome Round Table in 1971 when they built the adventure playground in Welshmill. He is also a member of Frome Health Forum. In the late 1990s Peter was a member of the Millenium Committee, organising Frome’s celebrations.
Peter said, “I’m absolutely delighted to have won, it’s incredible! But I think all the nominees are real unsung heroes and show how strong our community is here in Frome.”
Ian Drew, editor of the Frome Times presented the winner’s shield to Peter last week. Ian said, “I’d like to congratulate Peter on being this year’s winner of the ‘Person of the Year’ competition. All of the nominees work extremely hard for their local community and they all have reason to be proud. We hope this award helps to highlight all the fantastic work which is carried out to help make Frome such a great town.”
Jo Fordham, who runs highly valued rehabilitation classes at Frome Leisure Centre came second in the poll with Gavin Eddy, founder of Frome’s Artisans Market and managing director of Forward Space, third. The other candidates were Gillian Baker, of the Mells Barn Social Club for the Blind and Partially Sighted; Anna Brindle, for her work with Active and In Touch and HOPE Frome among other initiatives; and Veryan Conn, who has run Frome Breastfeeding Group for over 20 years.
Pictured: Peter Smith receives his award from Frome Times editor Ian Drew.