The Green & Healthy Frome partnership programme is thrilled to announce that it has been successful in its bid for further funding from the National Lottery's Climate Action Fund, to accelerate health and climate action in Frome over the next three years. 

The partners – Edventure Frome, Frome Medical Practice and Frome Town Council – have been awarded just under £1.7 million to expand and deliver a number of pioneering projects which promote people's health and wellbeing, whilst also reducing carbon emissions. 

Over the past two years, the team has been testing out ideas to help people in Frome live green and healthy lives, from free energy advice sessions to e-bike loans, as well as encouraging and supporting people to develop their own green and healthy initiatives through Future Shed. We will now take what we've learnt and what's worked, and scale it up to support and include more people in our community with a 'whole town, everyone in' invitation. This funding means we can make further progress towards Frome Town Council's 2030 target for net zero carbon, whilst boosting Frome's health and wellbeing, and supporting its residents through the current cost-of-living crisis.  

Our work is funded through the National Lottery's Climate Action Fund, and as such we are part of a national cohort of 23 programmes delivering climate action across the country. This funding is a big win for Frome, helping to further our reputation as a town which champions community, wellbeing and sustainability, as well as developing innovative and groundbreaking ideas that impact well beyond Frome. We will be working hard to inspire other market towns to take similar action, and play our part of this national change-making movement.

Johannes Moeller, Chair of the Green & Healthy Frome Board said: 'The climate crisis is not a problem to be fixed in isolation – it's connected to every aspect of our lives. That is why we need to work in partnerships and find solutions that are not only good for the planet, but also tackle the issues that matter to us day to day – our health and wellbeing and the cost of living.'

Dr Helen Kingston, Senior Partner at Frome Medical Practice said: 'Working closely with Frome Town Council and Edventure in this partnership has provided opportunities to support everyone in our community to live well. As a beacon in driving sustainability forwards in Primary Care, this Climate Action Funding will provide Frome Medical Practice with the chance to amplify our work; benefiting those in the Frome community and within the wider healthcare system.'

In the next phase, we will continue to deliver our existing offerings around active travel, health, housing and community enterprise as well as beginning new projects with groups and organisations across the town. We have ambitious plans with plenty of opportunities for people to get involved and benefit from the programme. 

Over the next couple of months, we will be planning and preparing to launch the full programme. We are also recruiting for four new roles including a Project Manager and Communications Lead at Edventure, a Community Retrofit Lead based at Frome Town Council and a Sustainability and Evaluation Lead at Frome Medical Practice – see here for further details. These are important times to be working in the climate and health sectors.

Mayor of Frome, Cllr Sara Butler said: 'Frome is so lucky to be benefiting from this pioneering partnership which is now having a real impact on people's lives and the fact that the project has been awarded further lottery funding speaks to its success. Go Frome!'

The first events and activities of this new phrase are set to launch during Great Big Green Week in June. However we will continue to deliver many of our existing activities in the meantime, such as our Mend & Repair Your Clothes sessions at SHARE on the last Saturday of the month, the Sprouts Under 5s sessions with Frome Seed Library, and our Future Shed Friday meetups at Edventure. 

Our Energy Advice Sessions and home visits also continue with free energy and housing advice to help you save money and carbon, and our Green Community Connector training will continue at venues across the town, open to all for inspiration and signposting. You can also borrow an Electric Bike with all the kit, for free for a month to see for yourself the benefits of their power in our hilly town!

Sue Palmer, Project Manager & Future Shed Lead added: 'At Edventure, and across our programme so far, we have been supporting our community to start initiatives and projects that tackle health and climate. Important networks have been created such as the Everyone Needs Pockets Clothing & Textile Reuse group, and the Frome Food Network which has connected over 130 people and organisations, and other projects launched such as the Frome Seed Library. We are really looking forward to working with the community to take even more inspiring action.'

Everyone is invited to be a part of our programme and we're looking forward to hosting events and activities where you can get involved. More news to come! Follow us on social media @ghfuturefrome across platforms for updates and through www.greenhealthyfuturefrome.org

Contact us at [email protected] for more information.