FROME Times’ Person of the Year award is back – and this year there is a new category, Group of the Year!
As well as recognising a resident who has made a real contribution to the community in 2019, Frome Times readers can now nominate a local group who have made a difference in the town or surrounding villages. It’s been an exciting year for Frome and many individuals and groups have worked hard to improve the town, raise money for charity or help other people. With so many people doing great things in their community, we need your help to find them.
For the Person of the Year award you can nominate a friend, family member, community leader, colleague or even someone you don’t know – any person who lives or works in the Frome area who you think has contributed most to the local community. Perhaps your nominee has been involved in a local charity, helped run a sports club or offered voluntary services which have benefitted the town.
For the Group of the Year award you can nominate a group, organisation, or committee – any group that does work in the Frome area who you think has again contributed most to the local community. Don’t worry if not everyone from the group comes from Frome, what’s important is that the work of the group benefits the town in some way. Perhaps your group organises a local event, provides a valuable service to the community, or goes out of their way to make Frome a better place to live.
The only conditions for both awards are that the person or group is from Frome or one of the surrounding villages or works in the town. Nominees for the Person of the Year award cannot be someone that has previously won this award.
Nominations must be received by 3pm on Wednesday 8th January. A shortlist of nominees will be published in the next issue of Frome Times. The winner of each award will this year be chosen by a panel of local representatives.
Ian Drew, editor of Frome Times said, “This is a chance to nominate someone or a group who deserves recognition for their outstanding contribution to Frome over the past year or who has had a big impact on life in the town.
“We’ve introduced the Group of the Year award due to public demand – there are so many fantastic groups in the town who work so hard to give back to the community, and sometimes it can be a bit unfair to single out just one person from that group. This award will be a real opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge the work of these people.”
Last year’s award for 2018 was given to charity fundraiser Rachel Clark, for efforts to support local charity We Hear You (WHY) by setting the town a fundraising challenge every year. Other previous winners have been Frome Collegians co-founder, John Fuller; Beaver Scout leader Ben Reynolds; Pete Dayman-Johns, vice-chairman and membership secretary of Frome’s Royal British Legion branch and a volunteer for the Memorial Theatre and Royal Air Force Association; Martina O’Connor, owner of Westway Cinema; Tony Perry for his local community work; Nigel Williams, of Williams Butchers in Baker Street; Peter Smith, the chair of the Friends of Frome Hospital; street cleaner Mike Hall; and Memorial Theatre stalwart Humphrey Barnes.
Nominations can be made by emailing news@frometimes.co.uk stating your name, address and contact number with your nominee’s name and why you are nominating them. (We won’t disclose who has made the nominations). If you have contact details for your nominee, please include these.
