You will have noticed by now that I spend much of my time in this column celebrating our youth and their plans for the future. I will do this throughout my year as mayor but will also reflect on memories of the town and how it has changed over the years. As someone whose family came to Frome in the early 1960s I have seen much of this for myself, but the town’s corporate memory is mostly held by Frome Museum.
Recently, I was pleased to attend the launch of a celebration marking sixty years of the museum. Exhibitions show the way it has developed in this time, from rooms in Church Steps to its impressive current home in North Parade. This building was originally the site of the Frome Literary and Scientific Institution. Originally this would have been a resource for the working people of Frome to improve their education and to socialise, but by the time I discovered it in the late 1970s it was somewhere only to play snooker!
This year has seen a variety of exhibitions about Frome’s people and life in the town. From engineer Sir Benjamin Baker, who contributed much to the building of the Forth Railway Bridge and other civil engineering achievements, to Alice Seeley, whose photographs exposing human rights abuses in the Congo helped lead to improved conditions for indigenous people.
Further exhibitions are planned for the coming year, and volunteers are always welcome to join and assist in the running of the museum. Front-of-house and behind the scenes roles are available and on 24 October there will be an open day where potential volunteers can find out more about the opportunities on offer.
One of the many lives celebrated at the museum is that of Mary Baily. Many will know the children’s play area adjoining Victoria Park is the Mary Baily Field, and it is because of her kind donation of the field in the 1920s that Frome’s children have always had a place to play.
Thanks to Woodland Tribe, Super Roots and Neighbourhood Toolbox with support from Frome Town Council Over the summer, young people had the opportunity over the summer to co-design and help build a new area of the Mary Baily field, near the skate park. I was delighted to be asked to help them plant trees and to present certificates to all those who took part. Well done everyone; if the number of children using and enjoying the new area is anything to go by you’ve done a great job!
