17 members of Frome ukulele collective the Frukes have returned from visiting Murrhardt, Germany, one of Frome’s partner towns. They were invited to represent Frome at a music festival marking the 150th anniversary of Murrhardt’s town band and celebrating Frome’s partnership with Murrhardt, Château-Gontier-sur-Mayenne (France), Pieve di Soligo (Italy) and Rabka-Zdrój (Poland), plus a delegation from Ukraine.
Sue Marshall, chair of the Frukes said “What a privilege it was and what a warm welcome we were given at this very special event. We were taken for train rides through the beautiful countryside of Southern Germany (as we played our ukuleles, I hasten to add!) and took part in a wonderful procession in Murrhardt along with town bands from surrounding villages. The highlight of the trip had to be our performance in the town square on Friday night and although we were somewhat different to the other bands, we seemed to go down a storm, with the audience singing and dancing to our songs. After beer keg tapping by the local dignitaries (a new experience for me) and some wonderful musical performances by the other bands, we were delighted to lead the dancing late into the night and were thanked by the officials for ‘getting Murrhardt dancing’.
“One of the coolest things I saw was a signpost in Murrhardt saying ‘Frome 649 miles’, together with all the other distances to the twin towns. We made lots of new friends and learned about the other towns in the twinning partnership. It was a very special experience, especially listening to the Ukraine delegation and how the war in Ukraine has affected their town. What an emotional experience it was to listen and spend time with these brave people.
“Huge thanks to Philip Campagna, Councillor responsible for Partnerships and Cooperation for being our go between and giving us this opportunity to represent Frome; it was a very special trip. Special thanks to Sue Klepper our musical director who worked so hard in the run up to the weekend and during the festival (thank goodness she spoke German as did Kirsten and Rosemary who we must thank for their invaluable and often timely translations) and to Sue and Justin Worringham.
“So where next we say? Italy, Poland or France? Hats off to all those who keep the Frome’s partnerships going – links like these are even more important and special in challenging global times.”
Follow the Frukes on Facebook and find details of forthcoming gigs, including an fundraiser at the Silk Mill on Friday 4th September in aid of The Blue House and We hear You (WHY) at https://www.facebook.com/Fromeukuleleclub.
