Members of Young Opinions Unite (YOU), a new grant-making panel formed by Frome Town Council in partnership with local young people, gathered at the Assembly Rooms on Friday 5 June to celebrate the conclusion of the first round of grants and meet some of the organisations that received funding.
The event featured presentations from organisations including Purple Elephant, who received money to extend their popular ‘Tea and Toasties’ sessions for teenagers, Youth Production Network for Frome Pride, Focus Frome, whose grant supports a young people’s drop-in led by counsellors, Rainbow Flow for young people’s workshops, and Vallis Farm for their nature-based youth club. The event was also attended by panel members’ friends and family, councillors from FTC’s Grants Committee and FTC staff.
The young people, recruited via a workshop in Autumn 2025, were all Year 8 students at Selwood, Oakfield and Avanti Park. They designed the grants process, including questions for the application form and met applicants to interview them about their proposals before deciding how to administer their £10,000 funding pot in February. The celebration event was also part of their project design, including detailed planning for the refreshments on offer.
Cllr Anne Hills and Cllr Philip Campagna presented panel members with certificates and thanked them for their efforts. Anne said:
“This has been a wonderful project and we’re so proud to see the diligent, thoughtful and enthusiastic way the youth panel approached it and the pleasure they took in funding some brilliant projects to benefit Frome’s young people.” Children and Young People’s Officer Melody Hunter-Evans shared the good news that the project will be the first of many, with another group of young people set to be recruited in the autumn. Find dates and information about all grant funding at FTC at https://tinyurl.com/ftc-grants.
