The Good Heart, a café and community initiative dedicated to supporting and promoting acts of kindness in Frome, has celebrated its first birthday.
The Good Heart can be found at 7 Palmer Street, right in the centre of town near the bottom of Catherine Hill, and from 10am – 3pm on weekdays offers delicious and affordable vegan food cooked by Namdi and his wife Elissa of local caterers Tibetan Memories.
In addition to Namdi’s famous sweetheart momos (stuffed dumpings), the menu includes vegetable dishes with rice, seasonal salads, spiced Somerset apple juice and locally-made doughnuts and ice-cream. The café is also open on the first Friday evening of each month, and hopes to offer more evening and special events in the future.
The Good Heart is one of the first Pay it Forward cafes in the UK: a growing international movement that encourages customers to consider sponsoring an additional meal or cup of tea for someone else. Due to the generosity of people in the town, The Good Heart has been able to give out hundreds of free meals over the past year to homeless people, families in need, or anyone whose universal credit has been delayed. Anyone in need is welcome to pick up one of the pay it forward vouchers on the noticeboard by the front door and then sit down to eat with everyone else.
Evening and weekend activities at The Good Heart have included a weekly Extinction Café to discuss the climate emergency; meetings of Extinction Rebellion and the school strike; art groups; a meditation course called ‘kinder, calmer, stronger’; and a ‘pay it forward day’. Last September, it hosted the creation of a Tibetan Sand Mandala for peace, which was witnessed by around 80 local schoolchildren, as well as by neighbours and passers-by. The Good Heart has also helped birth a new initiative called Wellbeing Frome, set up to offer natural therapies, small groups and talks, on an optional donation basis, to promote greater well-being in the town.
“We’d like to say a big thank you everyone who has supported The Good Heart over the past year” say Namdi, Elissa, Simon and Alison, the team behind the project. “Please contact us if you’d like to offer your support, or if you have any ideas of your own for promoting kindness in Frome.” For more information visit www.thegoodheart.uk.
