The Frome Mayor Anita Collier has today (July 10) been out and about meeting with newly opened businesses in the town.

In her latest column she wrote about how pleased she was to see open doors in Frome.

Cllr Anita Collier writes:

As we start to ease out of lockdown, every week seems to bring new developments. I was delighted for all those associated with pubs, restaurants, cafes, hairdressers, and some leisure outlets, who were able to open their doors this week after many months of closure. In most cases there's been lots going on behind the scenes to make it safe for us all to return, and business owners have worked hard to mark a trail for safe distance, provide hand sanitisers, and in some cases, even masks.

It's been good to see the town busy this week and our thanks goes to all those shop owners and businesses who've made it safe for us all to buy the things we need. I think they're appreciating the Mendip car parks being totally free, as that's really helping.

We've also seen the play area at Victoria Park open up this week. As you can imagine it's not possible to sanitise every piece of equipment each time it's used, so we are relying on everyone to continue to follow the simple guidance of regular hand washing, keeping your distance, looking after yourself and looking out for others.

Our Town Rangers have been working very safely, keeping all our green areas looking good, building steps at the Millenium Green, doing maintenance at the Boyle Cross, planting flowers around Victoria Park's bandstand, looking after the flower beds, planting trees and being creative with their grass cutting! They've also been pruning back excess growth, making boxes and benches and generally keeping the town looking attractive. They're a really hardworking team and I'm delighted that so many people have written in to acknowledge the great work they've been doing.

I had a message from the High Sheriff of Somerset this week, Mary-Clare Rodwell. She wrote to offer her help with anything she could do to support Frome Town Council as we work to help the town recover and thrive.

Hopefully, we'll be able to invite Mary-Clare to Frome in the near future, so that she can see what amazing work has been going on within all our lovely community groups and neighbourhood networks, and what's been achieved by our fabulous staff.

I hope you've been visiting the Virtual Art trail, part of the Frome Festival which would have been celebrating its 20th anniversary this week. The Festival ran a quiz online last Tuesday, hopefully raising some funds and is also appealing for donations. We do need to support all these wonderful Frome traditions.

As Mayor, I should have been travelling to Murrhardt in Germany this week, one of our twin towns, along with Chateau Gontier in France and Rabka-Zdrj in Poland. This annual meeting celebrates our twinning relationship and offers the chance to keep each other up to date on the work we're doing to keep our towns clean, safe and prepared for the future.

I'm looking forward to having my own mini celebration this week with a barbecue in my garden with my family. Being separated from loved ones has been the hardest thing to bear during lockdown, and it's wonderful that we can start to get back in touch with our friends and families, albeit carefully and still keeping our distance.

I hope you continue to stay safe and prosper. Have a lovely week!

Cllr Anita Collier