Spring! bonnets & budding, ducks & Daffodil Day

It's blossom time: pink & white floral canopies along streets and gardens, wild garlic tanging the air, and a fecundity of bluebells in the local woodlands. Wow! No wonder we go spring-crazy and remind ourselves we're rural folk and rush about doing rural folk things ~ a bonnet contest plus duck race in Nunney on Sunday, while bank holiday Monday is ~ with or without blooming compliance ~ Daffodil Day in Mells. This year there's an abundance of flowers, and the sun shone obligingly on the marquees & bouncy castles, and presumably on the street stalls too although, after walking all the way from Frome along the woodland river path, we didn't get far beyond Milk Street Brewery's beer tent in the field where the rocking revivalist repertoire of totally fantastic Back Wood Redeemers made religion almost worthwhile. The four mile walk was glorious too, both ways.

Back in Frome, the refurbished Whittox Lane chapel, beautifully restored by new owners Ed Roberts and Io Fox, was officially opened as the HUBnub Centre last week. Cutting the ribbon here is Mayor Toby ~ whose 'impressive moustache' gets an awed mention in the most recent Times piece discovering Frome with surprised approval. Our 'lovely old town' must feel a bit like one of those bands that keeps getting the award for promising newcomer, the number of times it's been featured as a 'less obvious' spot to visit and listed on Top 10 charts. Confirming the thumbs-up journalist John Bungey gives Frome's regeneration since Independents took over the council, last week saw two more openings: Jo Black's Black Inc tattoo shop in Cheap Street on Saturday night, and the new Bottle Shop, Cheese & Tap Bar in Palmer Street ~ locally sourced food and drink, either sit in & relax, take home, or both, suggests entrepreneur & 'helmsman' Simon Bowden.

Contrasting holiday-weekend sounds in town to round off this bulletin: mellow jazz from Graham Dent Trio with Caroline Radcliffe at the Cornerhouse on Sunday afternoon, and Dreadzone at Cheese & Grain with a wicked Saturday night of rock/reggae. Like I said, Wow...

The media-mad edition - hits, misses & surprise-surprise...

This has been a week of unexpected occurrences.  The first was landing in Birmingham on my flight home from Dublin, and the biggest surprise came on Friday.
On Wednesday, Frome enjoyed the long-awaited reopening of Frome's Westway cinema with all the promised perks: viz bar and £4 entry for all. I missed the party atmosphere (also La La Land but no problem with that) as Alison Clink & I were being interviewed on the 'Afternoon Spot' on Warminster radio hosted by Richard Platts, talking about using personal experiences in writing.
The much bigger miss came on Friday...
Richard has a genial approach ('I'm not Paxman') and a relaxed broadcast style ('People tell me they like rough edges') for our enjoyable session of chat and readings.

Frome Art corner now: there's an exhibition of photographs 'From the corner of my eye' at Black Swan Arts, and there's also Tim Gander's impressive Routes exhibition in La Strada Cafe: This collection of portraits of those using this facility for 'young people looking for somewhere to go or someone to turn to' is an urgent attempt to save a Drop-In facility under threat. The youngsters' portraits each have a personal plea: "They really are the only safe space in Frome for people like me, and I’ve found a wonderful volunteering opportunity there in their youth cafe" says Mona Vaas.  Donations valuable & much appreciated.

In an outstanding week for live music in Frome, Wednesday's Roots Session at the Grain Bar had a fabulous double bill with Julian (Bugs) Hight launching his new CD Independent State of Mind, and indie-folk band Velvet & Stone back from Devon. Plus, for bonus, an afternoon drop-in too from Dreadzone at Raves from the Grave to sign copies of their powerful new album Dread Times.

On Friday, for Mutartis Boswell's poster as well as the 'post punk / alternative rock sound & visuals', I'd have booked for Are We Still Alive at the Wheatsheaves, but I was guest poet in Bath's poetry cafe
What a Performance at St James' Vaults - a cracking night of song and storytelling as well as poetry. Here's Dexter Selboy & the Shonky Trio, the band who make 'indescribable' a good thing. Thanks for making me welcome, small audience, and for buying all my books!

And Friday was the night Foo Fighters played in Frome - yes, really, live and rocking. TV's Points West featured the leaked-on-the-day secret visit, Frome Standard had a live feed outside the Cheese & Grain as rumour became reality, and facebook fizzed with excited snaps, selfies, and sensationalism all night.  The band left a public message as well as a big gloaty grin of delight for all of Frome. HEY.... (they wrote in a font that Mutartis would approve) STILL BUZZING FROM OUR FIRST GIG IN 1 YEAR, 3 MONTHS, AND TEN DAYS - SHAKING OFF THE DUST FOR THE SWEET PEOPLE OF FROME WAS THE BEST WAY TO DIVE INTO ANOTHER YEAR... AND MANY MORE SURPRISES...

This would be a good note to end this post of hits & misses, but there's a useful footnote I don't want to omit: our famous Independent market restarts next week and, to prove the cultural importance of Frome's first-Sunday-of the month celebration, Great Western Railways posters now feature it as an inducement to grab a train and head along. As their rail links extend from London to Taunton and to Cardiff (with a connection to Fishguard and Rosslare), be prepared for crowds. Best bring a thermos & leave the dog at home...