Frome's Carol-Ann Vowles is spearheading a campaign to lift the town's spirits...with the help of the humble teddy bear.

Carol-Ann, who works as a carer, is asking residents to put a cuddly toy in their window for families and children to spot on their daily Government-permitted exercise during the coronavirus lockdown.

Carol-Ann came up with the idea after watching a national news item about other towns taking up the initiative inspired by Michael Rosen's Going on a Bear Hunt.

She set up a Facebook page - BearHunt Frome - on Friday which already has 86 followers and is receiving a steady stream of posts with pictures of bears peeking out of windows.

Carol-Ann told Frome Nub News: "It's a challenging time for many families and children.

"I understand explaining to young ones they cannot see friends or go to school is hard for them, so let's make the community more fun.

"Many people are already decorating their windows with beautiful artwork around Frome, I think it would be a beautiful thing to spread more joy around the town with a bear hunt.

"Together we can work on keeping the younger generation inspired and hopeful - and it's also a fun way for the adults to get involved too.

"Bears are popping up all over the place and it would be lovely for people to share pictures of their teddies on the Facebook page - but it's not essential.

"Just displaying them to lift people's spirits enough."

You can connect with the social media page and post your own teddy here The BearHunt Frome Facebook page.

Ironically, Carol-Ann lives on the third floor and reckons teddies in her window are unlikely to be spotted from the pavement.

So she has come up with a plan to execute following her next trip out for essential shopping.

"I'm going to get cable ties to fasten a teddy to a drainpipe outside the house - that way I know it will be seen," she added.