The Cheese and Grain’s long serving Programme Manager has announced that he will be leaving the hall at the end of June following his recent election to Somerset County Council.
Martin Dimery first joined the management team at the Cheese and Grain in 2005 after a career in teaching, performing, and theatre management. On appointment, he was entrusted with programming and running all major entertainment events in the hall, as well as marketing. The post was originally for three days a week and so he continued teaching part-time until 2007 when he was asked to combine the Cheese and Grain role with that of Creative Director of the Frome Festival. He will continue in his role as Frome Festival Director, this being his 10th anniversary in the post.
“This is a good time for me to hand over my responsibilities at the Cheese and Grain. We are in the midst of the busiest and most high-profile year in the hall’s history, and an excellent team has been assembled to run events, under the superb direction of Steve MacArthur. Rob Dahl, the current Production Manager has been helping me with programming in recent years and is the perfect fit to take over my duties.”
Mr. Dimery took on the crucial role at a time when the Cheese and Grain was struggling to manage on its financial resources. Following his first full financial year, the hall reported a surplus for the first time, and event bookings rose by over 30 percent. The hall began to host some major acts like The Stranglers, The Levellers, Seth Lakeman and Bellowhead. “I remember Bellowhead first playing in the hall on a wet Monday night in front of about 20 people,” Martin recalled. “The next time we hosted them they were BBC Folk Act of the Year and it was a sell out.”
In 2011 the 850 capacity hall was shortlisted for the Music Week Venue of the Year Award along with four other nationally known venues including the Royal Albert Hall. “That was a great accolade,” said Martin.”When you consider that we were a relatively small venue outside of a major city, with a part-time staff and limited resources, it gave us all a great boost.”
In 2009 though, the hall had faced a major crisis when the Frome Town Council threatened to remove it’s funding. The public outcry was directly responsible for the development of the Independents for Frome group who stood for election to the Town Council in 2010, and won a significant majority. “After all the energy we had put into developing the hall, the loss of funding would have closed us. We’d become a major tourist attraction to Frome having increased our footfall to over 100,000 per year, and were presenting some of the biggest current names in the world of music including Editors, Frank Turner and Pete Docherty.”
With the crisis averted, in 2013 Mr. Dimery decided to delegate some of his duties and reduce his commitment to two days a week:
“By then, I was in danger of burn-out and it was great to be able to concentrate on the part of the job I most enjoyed, booking acts. Steve MacArthurs’s experience as a fundraiser has enabled us to swap our annual Town Council revenue for long term investment in the building. The upstairs rooms, new cafe, and bar, have helped the Cheese and Grain stand on its own feet financially and the future looks very positive.”
The recently appointed Councillor Dimery pointed out that his decision to leave the Cheese and Grain was made some time ago. “I recognised that, if elected to the County Council, with many long trips down to Taunton for daytime meetings, I’d need to leave the Cheese and Grain to really do the responsibility justice. I’ll still be running the Frome Festival, which means I’ll have a lot of contact with my colleagues at the hall, so I hope the break won’t be too emotional.”
When asked which performers he has most enjoyed working with at the Cheese and Grain, Martin maintained he was spoiled for choice: “I have found it very rewarding to see audiences enjoying a wide range of acts. Many of them are bands we’ve been offered, but aren’t necessarily to my taste. These can provide some surprisingly entertaining evenings. The Bay City Rollers and Slade spring to mind in this respect. I also found John Lydon’s Public Image enthralling.
“Not really my type of music, but Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) was one of the most charismatic performers I’ve ever seen. Billy Bragg and Imelda May are two acts I booked into the hall during past Frome Festivals and they were memorable nights, as was Joan Armatrading.
“We’ve had some stunning blues acts over the years. Joe Bonamassa visited twice before hitting the big time. I’ve also enjoyed seeing some real legends from the past like The Zombies, Jefferson Starship, and Steve Harley’s Cockney Rebel. Of course this year’s surprise appearance by the Foo Fighters tops the lot. That was broadcast online and brought the Cheese and Grain into millions of homes world wide. That’ll be hard to beat.”
The Cheese and Grain will host some of the biggest acts in this year’s Frome Festival, including comedian Andy Parson’s, writer Germaine Greer, The Bollywood Brass Band and The Wonder Stuff.
