Shop Local, play local, dance exotic...

Focus entirely on Frome this week, with the Frome Shop Local day on Saturday ~ an exciting range of performances in nine different venues throughout the day. With puppetry, poetry, and fantastic music in shops and cafes throughout the town, totalling six hours of free entertainment for all. We had Pete Gage, Nikki & Griff, and Dexters' Extra Breakfast with our croissants and coffee, Vikki Burke's harp and Gina Allen singing up the hill, Eddie Martin rocked Raves from the Grave, Annie Aldam held the children rapt in Ellenbray, and here's Hannah Teasdale in Hunting Raven Books and Al O'Kane in Frome Wholefoods.  Big thanks to the town council, this was a great initiative which will hopefully be repeated next year even bigger and better!

Moving on to art: two exhibition openings The Binding Grid of Creative Connection from Bridport artist David Smith, promoted by Black Swan Arts, is featured at the Round Tower and represents for the artist 'a celebration of the affirming nature of my experience of Twitter' to collect work on the theme of 'black squares black lines and black magic.' Frome painter Amy Yates, in contrast, uses lucent & evocative colour for her images of Frome: her work is displayed in the Grain Bar throughout November, with cards for sale.

Local drama company Tic Tac Toe were at Frome's Merlin Theatre with The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) ~ a lighthearted, often witty, sometimes very funny, deconstruction of the bard's themes & works that always entertains a young audience. For the more sophisticated, there was exotic dance at the Silk Mill with an amazing Bollywood routine.

Looking ahead theatrically, Nevertheless Fringe Theatre will be upstairs at the Cornerhouse with our new show Toxic Cocktails ~ 'contempory comedy with a toxic twist' on Dec 16 & 17. Hold the dates and watch, as they say, this space...

And finally, in international news:  one week after Frome Town Council won Council of the Year in the National Association of Local Councils’ Awards comes news that Frome, in its entirety, is now officially the greatest town in the country.  The Great Town Award 2016, identified by the Academy of Urbanism, looks for places with 'innovation and excellence in all aspects of urbanism' and Frome's list of achievements were recognised to include: progressive & caring work of the Town Council,  exceptional cultural & community opportunities, sympathetic blending of new with old (many listed)  buildings, lively events in the town centre (Frome Independent Market has been voted one of the best in the country by Observer Food Magazine), 'astonishing' commercial vitality & a vibrant independent retail sector, and 'impressive' response to environmental issues. No better way to end this post than in the words of Cllr Pippa Goldfinger, accepting on behalf of the town:
‘Many people in Frome have long felt that it is a great town but the secret is now out. This new award owes much to the spirit of community, innovation and enterprise in the town and I am certain that the people of Frome will be very proud that their efforts have received such national recognition.’

Autumn abundance

An artistic cornucopia in Frome this week, overflowing on Halloween night with witching costumes & happenings in cafes & shops around the town, an amazingly theatrical Haunted House-party (thanks Russ Ellingham, who'll also bring dark glamour to Cheese&Grain on Friday 13th) and a fiendishly good session at the Griffin by Captain Cactus and the spell-binding Screaming Harlots.

Two more of my favourite bands were also playing last week: We Used To Make Things, a brilliant indie-pop band from London, usually 8-strong though totally rocking the Cricket Club with just five. I particularly enjoyed their protest song 'What are we fighting for?' echoing around the flags... And local heroes Dexter's Extra Breakfast took to the busking stage at the Frome Independent penultimate Sunday market of the year. As always, this was a massively busy event offering every kind & colour of craft, costume and comestible. Writers were represented by the enterprising Frome Writers Collective with a stall on the hill and by Julian Hight's book-signing of his World Tree Story at Hunting Raven.

'Words at the Black Swan' always meets in the gallery on the afternoon of the market to explore the current exhibition as poetic inspiration, and the diversity of the Arts Open offered engaging stimulus.
It's well worth a visit but don't expect razor-blade art like the work of Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy I saw last week ~ a treat from my amazing friend Hazel Carey ~ which sears unforgettably. Here's 'Straight' - comprising 150 tons of steel rebar taken from the site of the earthquake that killed 5,000 children, truth about which the artist believes has been covered up by the Chinese government. Ai Weiwei was arrested & imprisoned for 80 days: he's also made an extensive installation to record the experience, with models of his captors.

So, a week of creativity in town, but as the artistic glitterball of Frome is surrounded by glorious countryside ~ not waxing too lyrical, am I? ~ these mild sunny days brought opportunities to relish the awesome colours of autumn too, in forests parks and gardens. This is the iconic Stourhead view..
I'll end with a quick look ahead: Frome Shop Local next Saturday: nine free performances throughout the town in shops and cafés - cancel everything and come along!