Make a pedal-powered smoothie and recycle your old bike at The Frome Independent

The Frome Independent is teaming up with Frome’s Missing Links to bring a host of bike-related activities to the next Independent market on Sunday 1st July.  As well as a bike jumble sale, visitors can delight in a Tour de France photo booth, listen to bike maintenance talks from a “bike doctor”, and even create artworks and make smoothies using pedal-power!

Frome’s Missing Links is fundraising to support work on the latest phase of the “missing link” of the Colliers Way cycle path, and are calling upon market-goers to support the cause by donating their old bikes and bike parts, as well as cycling accessories and clothing to the bike jumble sale.

Frome’s Missing Links is a project that began in 2010 to campaign for better and safer walking and cycling routes in Frome, as well as improved connections to neighbouring towns and villages.          Now a fully-fledged charity, Frome’s Missing Links has been working with Sustrans to develop traffic-free cycle routes in and around Frome, including extensive improvement of the Colliers Way cycle path by linking Frome and Radstock.

Charity chair and Mayor of Frome, Richard Ackroyd, is looking forward to sharing Frome’s Missing Links’ progress with visitors to the Frome Independent, as well as celebrating the joys of travelling on two wheels.

He said, “We are excited to be hosting a celebration of cycling at the Frome Independent next month. We are now entering phase two of the cycle path which can be enjoyed by everyone, whether running, walking, cycling or scooting. We will be sharing information, as well as raising much-needed funding to support with the upcoming work”

The Frome Independent will be encouraging visitors to ride their bikes to market on Sunday 1st July by providing extra bike parking provision, sponsored and installed by SAM Scaffold. Visitors can find this on Cork Street and Justice Lane on market day and use is free of charge.

The Frome Independent team is also offering anyone cycling to the market on Sunday 1st July a chance to win some market goodies.

Director Tabitha Clayson said, “We would like to encourage as many of you to cycle to market as possible, and for everyone who arrives by bike, we will enter you into a prize draw to win one of our Reclaim the High Street bags and one of our limited edition Catherine Hill prints.”

As well as all the cycling fun, visitors can expect to find another exceptional line up of designer-makers, craftspeople, plant growers, food producers, street food vendors and vintage experts across the market.

The Market Place stage will be hosting an eclectic lineup of local bands and musicians, spanning rock, folk, Americana and traditional Turkish music. For those looking for nostalgic tunes and bygone beats, the Vintage Mobile Disco will be playing down at the Village Green throughout the day, where visitors can also find all of the cycling activities.

The Frome Independent takes place on Sunday 1st July from 10am – 3pm.  If you’d like to donate “bike jumble”, please email the Missing Links team on  fromemissinglinkevents@gmail. com to arrange a drop off time. Donations can be brought to Frome Town Hall, Christchurch Street, Frome.

To enter The Frome Independent’s prize draw, simply take a picture of yourself on your bike as you arrive on market day and share to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #cycletoTFI. A winner will be drawn at random in the week following the market.