Pottery Spring Clean

Frome Community Pottery is having a “spring clean” – possibly for the first time in 25 years.
Led by pottery tutor and technician, Andrew Eddleston, and supported by the adult students who attend classes at the pottery, based at Frome Community College, with the other tutors (Russell Coates and Hiro Takahashi) also joining in. The spring clean has involved clearing the pottery, washing and painting the walls, doing small maintenance jobs and then re-stocking the pottery with all the equipment that is needed for the new year.
“It has been a great team effort,” said Andrew, “with almost 20 students signing up to help with this major clean and tidy. It shows how much they value the facility when so many of them roll up their sleeves and start cleaning and painting.”
The pottery classes are run as part of Frome Community Education, so the student fees not only cover the tutor salaries, but also the purchase of materials and equipment. With the kilns also being 25 years old, the group is hoping to generate enough income to start replacing these over the next two or three years. To help with this, the potters is running special holiday classes in “throwing” (for beginners and advanced students) as well as “raku” (an exciting method of gas firing the pots) and “smoke burnished” pottery. Details can be found on the Community Education website (www.fromecommed) or at the Cheese and Grain (where students book for the courses).
With the addition of two new tutors in September, there will be 11 classes offered each week, including Saturday mornings. Details will be found in The Frome Community Education brochure (out soon) or on the Cheese and Grain website, where booking for September has already started.
Above (L-R) Andrew Eddleston with students Chris Drew, Kate Short, Jo Casey and Andrew Pullin.