Frome's Great Big Green Week 2022

Wednesday 28th September ***RESCHEDULED***

Everyday Botany Walk with David Hamilton - 6pm-7pm, start from Frome Town Hall - £7
If you want to find plants from every corner of the earth with amazing stories to tell, where would you look? A botanical garden? Maybe a garden centre or a grand garden such as the Newt or Stourhead? On this everyday botany walk with author and horticulturalist David Hamilton, you discover some of the fascinating stories of the plants we pass by everyday on the streets of Frome. Find what adaptations these weeds, perennials and shrubs have naturally gone though which means they survive in our tiny town, tucked away in an eastern corner of Somerset.

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The Great Big Green Week returns with a week of events celebrating Frome's green spaces and how the local community is taking action to tackle climate change. We have a fantastic range of events lined-up from foodie events and guided walks to talks, climate action group and film screenings.  

You can find out more information on all the events taking place here.

The following events have limited spaces available and therefore advance booking is required.

Please note we have allowed for an optional donation to be made on free events, the proceeds of which will go to the newly established Frome Community Bike Project

Sunday 11th September

Eco Crafty Day for Kids - 10am-1pm, Millie Moon - £20
***Please note, this event should be booked via the Millie Moon website***
Fancy becoming a “Nurdlenerd”? Join Eco Queen and author of the Nurdle book collection, Claire, for a morning of fun and learning. Find out all about nurdles and other ocean plastics and what you can do to help. Make your own personalised Nurdle toy and have a go at becoming an ocean plastic artist.  Age 6 and upwards. Refreshments included.

Frome Heritage Tree Walk - 2pm-3.30pm, start outside the Cheese & Grain - £7
Join local author and ancient tree specialist Julian Hight on a walk to see some of Frome’s most majestic trees and hear about their history and lore. The easy walk will include Millennium Green, Rodden Meadow and the town centre, and take around 2 hours.

Monday 12th September

Great Big Green Community Connector Session - 11am-12pm, Frome Medical Practice - Free
***Please note, this event should be booked via the Green & Healthy Future and Health Connections Mendip page***
Green & Healthy Future's Charlotte Carson leads this short training session (approximately 1 hour) to help your community live greener and healthier lives. Tea and cake included!

Meat Free Monday Cooking Workshop - 6pm-6.45pm & 7.15pm-8pm, Welshmill Hub - £7
***Please note, this event should be booked via Eventbrite - 6pm session***   ***Book the 7.15pm session***
Join Ally Read from Foodage4Thought to prepare delicious pitta breads with seasonal salad and talking along the way about our own food habits and ways to reduce your carbon footprint. We’ll be using biodegradable food packaging, recycled foil and ‘no -plastic’ bio cling wrap.
Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans.

Planet Friendly Living - 7pm- 9.30pm, Frome Town Hall - Free
Join environmental educator, local teacher and author Claire Vowell who will shine a light on nurdles, “the worst toxic waste you have probably never heard of!”. What are they, what’s their link to single use plastics and how are they impacting on wildlife around the world? 

We can all make a huge difference, so join Claire for an evening of discovery and discussion to find out what we can do to lower our impact on the planet. To help start your planet friendly living journey, we’ll also be joined by local businesses and groups who provide and can offer advice on some simple environmentally friendly swaps.

Tuesday 13th September

MOTHERLOAD film screening - 7pm-9.30pm, Frome Town Hall - Free
Sustainable Frome present MOTHERLOAD - a crowd sourced documentary in which the cargo bicycle becomes a vehicle for exploring motherhood in this digital age of climate change. The film follows director and new mother Liz Canning on her quest to understand the increasing tension between modern life and our hunter-gatherer DNA, and how cargo bikes offer a solution. 

The Climate Emergency: Five Things to Change and Four Ways to Do It - 7pm-8pm, The Silk Mill - Free
We face a shortening time window to stop chaotic climate change. A quick run through of the problems with the current system, five things to change and four ways to do it. Whilst only the government has the power to make such rapid transitions in the next 2 to 3 years, it is vital we all do what we are telling the government to do.
Councillor Shane Collins is a long time Green activist involved with anti-roads protests, drug reform and climate campaigning. Lost 15 elections before being elected to Mendip DC in 2015 and Somerset Council in 2022. Shane is also a director of the Green Gathering Festival and programmes the Speakers Forum at Glastonbury Festival.

Sustainable Business Champions - ***unfortunately, this event has been cancelled***
Celebrating existing plastic free and sustainable businesses in town and an opportunity to learn how to become a sustainable business. A plant-based buffet and drinks will be provided.

Wednesday 14th September

Yoga in the Meadow - 12.30pm-1.30pm, Rodden Meadow - suggested donation of £5
Mindful Flow. Taking in the beautiful surroundings of Rodden Meadow, this class is designed to help unravel physical tension whilst calming the nervous system, taking its inspiration from Vinyasa Flow Yoga but without being too wild or intense. The class will help you connect considered movement with deep breath in fluid but easy to follow sequences. It is open to all levels from active beginners, continuing students as well as advanced practitioners. Bring your own mat. Meet at the Willow Vale end of the meadow. 

Hedgehog Storytime + 'How to be a Hedgehog Hero' crafty session for families - 3.30pm-4.30pm, Victoria Park bandstand - Free/£6 (with signed copy)
Join local illustrator Jenna Herman for storytime with her Hedgehoggy book Hedgehogs Don't Live in the City! as well as some games and crafts to encourage us all to help our local hedgehogs this Winter. This charming children's picture book invites little explorers to enter a tumbling leafy cityscape in search of one rare and distinctive animal... Produced with input from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, Hedgehogs Don't Live in the City! features delightful rhyming verse and enchanting detail to encourage hide-and-seek exploration. 

Climate Action Group - 7pm-8.30pm, Frome Town Hall - Free
The Climate Action Group is a space to network and share ideas about how we can keep healthy, active and green, where we can learn from and be inspired by one another. This meeting will focus on active and sustainable transport. Everyone is welcome whether you are part of a business, a community group, a charity or just an interested individual.

Frome Food Hub's 20-mile Pop-up Feast - 7pm-10.30pm, Projects - £35
***Please note, this event should be booked via the pop-up's event page***
Local takeaway business hēt (meaning food with heat) will cook up a menu showcasing hyperlocal ingredients and food products, all of which available from the Frome Food Hub, and grown or made within 20 miles of town. Local drinks will be available from the bar.

Thursday 15th September

Green Community Connectors - 11am-12pm, The Walled Garden, Mells - Free
***Please note, this event should be booked via the Green & Healthy Future and Health Connections Mendip page***
An informal Green Community Connector session at The beautiful Walled Garden Mells. Join the Green and Healthy Future team to learn about some of what is going on in Frome to live greener and healthier lives. Stay for wood fired pizza and chat from 12noon. NB: access details: one step at entrance and uneven floor.

Wild Bunch on Location - 1.30pm-2.30pm, Broadway Allotments - Free
Join the Frome Wild Bunch for their monthly gathering to promote and share ideas about Gardenign for Wildlife. For Great Big Green Week, they’ll be on location in Broadway Allotments, learning about this amazing nature space in the midst of our town, and looking at maintaining ‘wild’ spaces we may have created in our own gardens.

Frome Food Hub's 20-mile Pop-up Feast - 7pm-10.30pm, Projects, £35
***Please note, this event should be booked via the pop-up's event page***
Local takeaway business hēt (meaning food with heat) will cook up a menu showcasing hyperlocal ingredients and food products, all of which available from the Frome Food Hub, and grown or made within 20 miles of town. Local drinks will be available from the bar.

Friday 16th September

Future Shed Friday - 10am-12pm, Welshmill Hub, Free
***Please note, this event should be booked via Future Shed's event page***
This special Future Shed session focusses on 'Plastic Free Periods', hosted by sustainability researcher and menstrual advocate Poppy Taylor, with a workshop led by Environmenstrual ambassador & local yoga teacher Cecilia Allon. Expect demos, quizzes & new knowledge on how to have a greener, healthier period in this welcoming & non-judgemental space. Tickets are free but spaces are limited so book now to avoid disappointment. All welcome.

Tour of Frome Medical Practice Wellbeing Garden and Hot Composters - 1pm-2pm*, Frome Medical Practice, Free
***Please note, this event should be booked via the Green & Healthy Future and Health Connections Mendip page***
Come and meet some of the staff involved in the Frome Medical Practice Wellbeing Garden, have a nose at what they are growing and find out more about how they are working towards Closing the Loop at Frome Medical Practice with composting their food waste on site.
Expect hands on composting, picking herbs for your own tea and enthusiastic staff sharing their stories (not necessarily in that order!)  *Please note, the time of this event has changed from the printed programme

Pond Dipping & Community Wildlife Mapping
Join our Resilience Officer Jo Morris to investigate the wildlife at the new pond in Welshmill. Try out some pond-dipping methods, learn about amphibians and explore the variety of insects and their larva in and around the pond. There'll also be a chance to find out about the Community Wildlife Mapping project and how you can get involved.

Mojo Moves Silent Disco - ***unfortunately this event has been cancelled***
Did you know Mojo Moves silent discos in the meadow are a place for you to dance just like you would at a gig? There’s no routines to follow just a good boogie to be had by all. You’re in your own world of music but hanging out with some ace people who don’t give a monkey’s if you can do the fandango. Oh and as a bonus you can dance an average of 10,000 steps. Thinking about it? Just do it!

Saturday 17th September

Frome Churchyards' Biodiversity Trail - 10am-12.30pm, start from Dissenters' Cemetery - £3 per adult (children free)
Explore the churchyards of Frome and discover the biodiversity flourishing within them. Churchyards are among the few areas unaffected over the centuries by farming and development, and each provides its own unique blend of plants and habitats for wildlife. This one-mile trail starts with a short talk at Dissenters’ Cemetery, BA11 3EH, and continues to Christ Church and Wesley Methodist, finishing at St John’s churchyard.

Bat Box Building - 5.45pm, 6.05pm & 6.25pm, Roundhouse - Free
Come and build a bat box with the Frome Wild Bunch. There will be easy to put together kits so you can make your own on site, ahead of the guided bat walk taking place that evening. There will be 3 sessions with only 6 boxes to build at each. These can be made by individuals, pairs or groups, so please book per box rather than per person. Soup will be available to those staying on for the bat walk. Please note, tickets for the bat walk need to be booked separately.

Bat Walk - 7pm-9pm - £5 per adult (children free)
Join FROGS for a Bat Walk, led by Adel Avery of the Somerset Bat Group. Meet near the Canoe Club in the Cheese & Grain car park and learn about our local bats, then take a short walk alongside the river to spot them flying. Children are welcome but must be accompanied by a parent or carer. Sorry, no dogs please.

Sunday 18th September

River walk with Friends of the River Frome - 2pm-4pm, start from Welshmill Weir - £3 per adult (children free)
Walk along the river with FORF to find out why our river is how it is. The walk will start at Welshmill Weir and head through the town along the Retreat and to Adderwell, then back to the town centre by road. FORF will explain everything from the history of the river and the otters, beavers and other wildlife that lives in and near it, to pollution, flooding, development and the FORF strategy.

The Draw of the Sea with Wyl Menmuir - ***unfortunately this event has been cancelled***
The ocean fires our imagination, provides endless joy and solace but also wields immense destructive power on people, communities, and their environment.  Join us to hear Wyl Menmuir in conversation with conservationist, author and natural history broadcaster Philippa Forrester to explore the incredible power that water has in our lives and why it has such a magical power to cast its spell.
This event is part of the Frome Lit Fest (16th-23rd September)

Cancellations
If you're unable to attend the event you've booked a ticket for, please contact us at the Town Hall on 01373 465757 so we can reallocated your ticket and issue a refund if applicable.