Boom! What a great time it’s been to be a Fromie! On Saturday I had the privilege, along with the Deputy Mayor Sara Butler, to give a short (and hopefully sweet) speech to formally celebrate the planting of some beautiful blossom trees in the Old Showfield. Planted in concentric circles, each tree represents a pillar of the community, and their formation was chosen to signify how Frome has come together during the pandemic and held each other together. I spent the day with the High Sheriff of Somerset Thomas Sheppard (geezer) and his lovely wife Michelle who spent the day meeting various members of the community, while educating me on the role of the High Sheriff and its fascinating and very long history. I can honestly say that I really enjoyed their company and will gladly welcome them to any other events in the future.
After this, we enjoyed the awe-inspiring main event at ‘Glow in the Park’ – the very first drone display in the Southwest! This came from a curious conversation I had over the counter at the Co-op with Tony Martin when I was a fresh Deputy Mayor learning about his work with Celestial drones. I thought it was a great idea but perhaps far too big a project to become a credible reality, but after a couple of subsequent meetings over a coffee with Celestials other founder Jonathan Hopkins, the incredible staff at FTC saw the great potential in this and ran with it! I’m so proud of all the staff at Frome Town Council for their incredibly dedicated hard work and vision for this event, moving mountains it seemed at times to bring this truly unique and trailblazing event to Frome. A massive thank you to Anita Collier who was the mayor at the time this idea was conceived, who immediately saw the potential and encouraged me to push forward with it and of course a thank you to all the councillors who backed and supported this.
This was a hometown show for Celestial, they wanted to give something to the town and celebrate Frome’s unique spirit and after the last year it become more and more important to celebrate this. It also must be noted how much hard work and dedication these guys put in to make this show a reality, truly a passion project from all involved. A big shout out to Laura Hales for writing that beautiful poem you could hear the children reading out so wonderfully during the display. A huge thank you to all Frome Town Rotary club volunteers and everyone else who generously gave their time to make this event a success, I was very proud to be your mayor that night (and most others!) and so proud to be associated and involved with so many dedicated and talented people at FTC and beyond. It’s been a joy to see the reactions to this all-over social media for the last few days and I’m so pumped that you all found it as moving and exciting as we did.
