The long summer break for our schoolchildren and students is now upon us. It is always a pleasure to be invited to attend some of the end-of-term activities with our Frome children and to see how excited they are to be away from school until September; I hope their adults can say the same!
I enjoyed hosting a visit to the Town Hall from Year 4 at St. Louis’ primary school. They asked if they could come and see how a council functioned and we were able to arrange fun activities that gave them an insight into the work the council does in the town. They told us what they enjoyed most about living in Frome and where they thought we could improve. They were then able to vote on what they saw as their priorities. Although a fun end of term day, it does help us get ideas about what our young people would like us to provide.
The next day I saw some older students when I attended Frome College prize-giving at the Merlin. The citations from the teachers of the winning students were inspiring and I was delighted to be asked to present the shield to the Student of the Year; well done Poppy. It was also the last event I will attend with the outgoing Principal, Emma Reynolds, who is leaving after nine years at the college. I would like to send Emma all best wishes for the future.
The town hosted two large events with a strong child focus; the We Are Nature Wildlife Parade and the Children’s Festival. The parade was the culmination of weeks of work by children making masks to celebrate our connection to the natural world. Thanks for making a mask for me to wear in the parade; I’m still not sure if I was a mouse or a larger rodent.
The Children’s Festival has become a much-appreciated annual event and I think this year’s was the best yet. It hit a sweet spot of wonderful weather and the end of term and there were so many activities for kids of all ages. Well done Purple Elephant and our council staff for organising such a great event.
Finally, I would like to celebrate the award of a Green Flag to our council for its work at Victoria Park. This award recognises the work we do in making the park a welcoming place and the community benefits it provides. It is a credit to all those in our Environment team but especially to our rangers who keep our opens spaces looking so wonderful. Well done all of you.
More about the Green Flag awards is at https://tinyurl.com/green-flag-frome. Find the Discover Frome summer holiday activity guide at https://www.discoverfrome.co.uk/your-summer-holidays-sorted/
