News in Frome

The Frome RFC 2nd XV welcomed Marlborough RFC 2nd XV to The Lane on Saturday, as they continued their recent good run of form, but the home side were dealt a blow before the whistle with Garrie Webster picking up an injury in the warm up, and with the visitors bringing a very strong side, a tough encounter was certainly on the cards.

Line outs were a challenge for both Hookers due to the strong wind, but on five mins a Marlborough throw in saw Flanker Matt Smith steal the lineout resulting in a great drive with Prop Jason Barraclough crashing over the line for the first score. Captains David Abrahams unfortunately missing the conversion.

And they are off.

Frome's highly applauded local and multi-award winning theatre company has scored another hit.

Business groups in Somerset that have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic are being given the opportunity to apply for grant funding this month.

The grants are worth up to £5,000 and can be used by business groups (including Social Enterprises), networks and clusters to aid the recovery from Covid.

The projects that have been awarded money from the Mendip Climate and Ecological Emergency Fund, have now been announced.

Projects selected include, installing solar panels on a farm, establishing hedgerows, retrofitting a community hub and installing bat, bird and insect boxes, to name a few.

Research by UK charity, I Can & I Am, discovers that over a third of UK parents feel that their children's self-confidence has been a negatively impacted by the pandemic and 45% stated that their children are suffering from increased anxiety.

Stats also reveal that 80% of UK parents believe that that their children's education would benefit from learning how to improve their self confidence

Personal Injury - The Basics

Over the next four weeks Lauren Martin, from the Personal Injury team at Thatcher + Hallam Solicitors, will be sharing information about an area of law that is known as 'personal injury'.

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week (February 7-13), Somerset County Council is reminding local businesses and organisations of the support on offer to help them recruit apprentices.

As a large organisation within Somerset, the Council has the ability to support smaller organisations with apprenticeship qualification costs via an apprenticeship levy transfer.

Every Thursday we bring you our top picks of events in and around Frome happening over the coming weekend.

Browse our What's On section or read on for the can't-miss events on in Frome between now and Sunday.

Up to 5,000 communal properties across Somerset will not receive their new bin collections until the end of June, waste bosses have admitted.

The Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) is preparing for the final phase of its Recycle More roll-out, which sees more items being recycled at the kerbside and refuse collections moving to once every three weeks.

Children at Avanti Park School, Frome have been celebrating, learning and embracing the Chinese New Year.

Did you know that this Chinese New Year marks the year of the Tiger? There are in fact 12 animal zodiac signs each with their unique characteristics. If you were born in 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, or 1962 you were born in year of the Tiger. Now, what are the characteristics typically displayed by Tigers? It appears that they are expressive, courageous, with a bit of a stubborn streak! They also tend to make quick decisions and do not waver –in fact there may well be a few tigers at Avanti Park! With the zodiac aspects aside, we know you would like to know more about how the children and teachers at Avanti Park School made the Chinese New Year 'come alive'. Parts of the school were decorated in yellow, gold and red bunting. This made a great backdrop for the Tiger Procession which all of years one and two took part in. There was a lot of growling and menacing clawing as the huge, long tiger wove its way underneath the bright colours of Chinese New Year. All year groups chose an aspect of Chinese New Year to focus on, as part of a humanities session. Activities included marking China and the surrounding countries of South East Asia on a map, writing about hopes and goals for the future and finding out more about the Chinese Zodiac story. There were also lots of opportunities for creative work including making lantern sun-catchers, Willow Pattern plates, dragon spirals and tiger masks. It was great fun finding out which zodiac sign we are in Year 6. Lots of rabbits and tigers plus a monkey teacher. A beautiful display was set up in the Primary building for all the children to enjoy, that included some foods, books and most importantly, a pot of green shoots. New Year is all about new beginnings and these healthy-looking green shoots are the sign of hopes for the future. It is traditional for children around the world to be given little red envelopes full of money as part of this celebration. One class were a little disappointed to learn that they would not be providing them with such a treat. However, they did enjoy a fortune cookie. Festivals are an important part of our unique offer here at Avanti Park. The aim to give the children a global perspective and an understanding of the world beyond Frome. By celebrating festivals such as Mid-Winter and Day of the Dead, the children have fun and deepen their understanding of different cultures. Celebrating a wide range of festivals allows them to develop the skills and attributes that they will need to go on to make the world a better place.