Rotary pop-up shop supports Frome children make healthy choices

The three Rotary clubs in Frome, in collaboration with Inner Wheel, are dedicating all proceeds raised from the Rotary pop-up shop throughout September to support Life Education Wessex’s Skills for Life education programme. 

The programme will see over 2,700 children in Frome in local primary and middle schools take part in workshops focused on their bodies and health.  

A member of the Rotary Club of Frome, Richard Lines, said, “Life Education Wessex is a charity delivering health, emotional wellbeing and drug prevention education, including help to build resilience and good mental health, to children aged 3 to 11 years old.  

“The age-appropriate workshops will teach children about the wonders of their bodies and what they need to do to look after them, as well as how to form positive attitudes and avoid risky behaviours that may damage their health and their futures. 

“The workshops will take place over 30 days and during the visits, specialist educators will facilitate fun, interactive workshops using Harold, the famous giraffe puppet who is adored by the children, along with music and the latest digital technology to explore children’s attitudes, stretch their thinking, role play real-life dilemmas and clarify values and emotions. 

“By visiting local schools every year, supported by Rotary clubs in Frome and Inner Wheel, Life Education can reach large numbers of children who can reflect, review and build on knowledge gained in previous years, building the skills and self-confidence to form positive attitudes, resilience to risky behaviours and decision-making skills from an early age.  

“As part of the visit, schools will be given free access to their Life Education’s online SCARF resources. SCARF stands for Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship and is at the heart of everything they do.  

“It gives teachers access to the SCARF resource toolkit with 360 downloadable lesson plans, providing a whole school approach to children’s physical and mental and emotional wellbeing, including planning and assessment tools. These resources help to underpin the knowledge gained during the school visit and can also provide information for parents to support their children’s learning at home.” 

Alan Glover, spokesperson for the Rotary Clubs of Frome and Inner Wheel, said, “We are keen to continue supporting this great work, as we realise the importance of early intervention education, in encouraging children to make healthy choices and reducing the need for more drastic intervention later on.” 

Fundraising manager of Life Education Wessex, Lorraine Hewitt, said, “We are so grateful to Rotary, Inner Wheel and the local community of Frome who will be supporting the pop-up shop and in doing so, they will be helping us to continue empowering children to make positive choices to keep themselves safe, healthy, happy and achieving their best.” 

Frome Rotary is inviting anyone interested in finding out more about Rotary and what they do in Frome to come along to the shop on Saturday 31st August between 11am and 2pm and to meet their members for a coffee.  

President of Frome Rotary, Kim Barter, said, ”We have great camaraderie in the club and everyone is proud of the success of the shop. We would be pleased to share what we do and how people can get involved.”