Grants Awarded in the First Round of Town Council Grants 2014/15

Grants awarded in the first round of town council grants 2014/15:-

The Wesley Church is a proud recipient of a £500 grant to help temporary restoration of an historic organ. The Church is a long established part of the Frome community, having celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2012. Not only does it provide a full calendar of religious service throughout the year but offers, or is a base for, a diverse range of care and educational programmes each and every week. The Wesleyan building is a local historic building, dating back to 1792, and houses a rare circa 1800 church organ, now in need of a major inspection and overhaul.

The Frome Happy Nappies library is a fantastic new initiative creating easier access to information regarding reusable nappies, they are delighted to have received a £695.41 grant to help build their library. Kits of various cloth nappies (flats, pockets, all-in-ones) will be available to hire on a weekly or monthly basis. The options for reusable nappies are vast, and often confusing, the starter kits are prohibitively expensive to invest in several different systems to try so this library provides an invaluable service. Cloth nappies are 40% better for the environment and can save a family up to £500, yet still disposable nappies are the most common consumer product in landfill sites (not surprising when the average baby gets through 8000 disposable nappies before potty training). That’s one tonne of landfill per baby that will take centuries to bio-degrade. The alternative is about 24 cloth nappies. The library will provide a friendly and supportive service to all Frome Mums and offer guidance and ongoing consultation on cloth nappies.

Julian Hight, author of ‘Britain’s Tree Story – the history & legend of Britain’s ancient trees’ and successful campaigner to save the Frome Plane Tree in the Kingsway precinct, is setting up More Trees Frome. This will organise, encourage and arrange community tree planting at public spaces in and around Frome, by and for the benefit of the community, they have been successful in securing a £300 grant. Participation and hands-on education are central to the project. The aim is to encourage wildlife and make Frome a greener and more beautiful place. Julian also wants to revive the legacy of the once great Selwood Forest by planting acorns gathered from local ancient Oaks.

Frome Museum will be marking the 100th Anniversary of the start of the First World War with an exhibition entitled ‘Frome on the Front Line, 1914 – 18. And have secured a grant of £950 to help make this happen. It’s an exhibition which pays tribute to Frome’s own war heroes, not only those on front line but the workers in the factories, the families who took in refugees and those tirelessly working for war charities. This grant will pay for printed panels so when the exhibition finishes at the museum in November it can be available to the local community, free of charge. A local children’s illustrator has been commissioned to make an artwork bringing to life a particular piece of Frome history relating to WW1. It will be of great interest to children as it has a ‘War Horse’ theme. Frome Talking Newspaper has operated very successfully for years bringing the local news to blind and partially sighted residents. To date tapes have been used and this grant will help pay for a much-needed update to memory sticks and players for those who need them, Frome Town Council has awarded them £1000 to help with this project

The Wessex Therapy Centre has received a £300 donation towards a new piece of equipment, the Easystand Glider exercise machine at the Wessex MS Centre. Physiotherapy and rehabilitation exercise play a crucial role in helping people to cope with the everyday challenges of living with MS. And Wessex therapy centre are delighted to have received the grant, which enables a great degree of movement and independence and will be of great benefit to the Frome residents who use the centre regularly.

Frome Roller Disco is a recently established service for families, which takes the form of a Disco taking place 5pm – 7pm every Tuesday night. The disco was set up as a way of offering families and young people the opportunity to do something healthy, engaging and fun together. The Roller Disco has been very popular with 241 skaters through the door in the first few weeks. This £300 grant will fund training for 12 local people in a First Aid in Sport qualification enabling Frome Roller Disco to develop a pool of marshals and mini marshals.

A grant of £270 was provided towards the start-up costs for the new Frome Writers' Collective (FWC). This is a not-for-profit initiative which aims to support local writers by: providing a network and information service; Liaising with other local organisations to organise reasonably-priced literary activities and events; Encouraging writing through community projects, and free events. Their launch event last month was a great success with a talk by Barry Cunningham, the man who gave JK Rowling her first break!

Frome Community productions CIC (incorporating FromeFM) was awarded £300 to help Frome FM to develop radio for and by children and young people. Plans for summer 2014 include: Providing work placements for teenage school students during Frome Festival.Taking part in the Children’s Festival on Sunday 27th July, with junior roving reporters interviewing young people at the festival and creating a special children’s festival programme. Running a 4 day Summer Radio Club for 10-18 year olds during the summer holidays.

The White Horse Decorative & Fine Arts Society were awarded a £300 grant towards series of year- round lectures held at the Standerwick Centre plus visits and study days to foster an appreciation of excellence in various art forms. The White Horse Decorative and Fine Arts Society is one of 36 local societies that make up NADFAS and this gives them the ability to attract top quality speakers for their events whilst keeping subscriptions affordable and being able to reach out to younger audiences.

New this year – Frome Youth Bank, for young people led project ideas

Frome Roller Disco - £1,000 for skates for hire for teenagers so they don’t have to bring their own skates

‘A New York State of Mind’ – £300 to support the development of a new musical production put on by a group of young people at the Merlin.