Crime on the increase?

According to an article in the Frome Standard England feels Frome is so safe that they are closing the Police Station.

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Quoting the article (link below)

So yes I am saddened about the imminent destruction of our police station. However, I am a realist and have known for years that this was on the cards and also see that it makes financial sense to sell the land and downsize. However, I feel it has been handled in a very poor manner and as we approach "destruction day" we are still not told where "our" new station will be.

We are told that there may be a desk in the library. Great. Easy access and a good place for people to report minor matters or perhaps hand their documents in for examination. But it is not a police station. Maybe "we" will share with our social work colleagues in the old public office in Christchurch Street West or maybe we will share the Enterprise centre on Manor Road? Who knows? Surely somebody does and yet we are not told.

Bath Police Station is going to close. Lots of stations are coming to the end of their life. But, and this is the crucial thing, especially for the people of Frome, rather than worry about car parking charges, or what supermarket is to move into the town, ask yourself how you would feel if the 24/7 local emergency cover that the police currently provide was replaced with a local community team of a few police officers and a team of PCSOs who would not operate after midnight. I hasten to add, I truly respect the work that they do.

Read more: http://www.fromestandard.co.uk/need-police-cover-dark/story-20523575-detail/story.html

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When that crime wave starts and it is bound to now, who will be there to protect the people of Frome? Where does the police help come from?

The way of the Dodo

High Street Estate agencies; are they going the way of the Dodo?

All definitely need to watch out the small print on contract belonging to High Street Estate agencies. Take a tip: never believe that "our contract is the same as all others." "If you had one estate agent and all the others have the same rules". NEVER!! Or, "You really don't need to read the rules on the contract. They are stacked in your favour anyway". Then they chatter their dribble as you try to read the rules. High Street Estate Agencies have contracts that are not in the sellers favour. They are worded in a way that may be most misleading.

The cost of having a High Street Estate agent is high. 1% being the lowest and 2.5% may be the highest. Work that out according to the value of your property and you could be paying them a tidy sum. (Oh plus 20% VAT)

At 1% you pay them £1,000 on every £100,000 plus 20% VAT
At 2.5% you have to pay them £2,500 on each £100,000 plus 20% VAT.

Say you sell your house for £200,000 at 2.5% they get from you £5,000 plus £1,000 VAT.

Can you afford that?  

Open to the elements

There is an area where it is not safe to leave valuable things in a garden shed.

And 3 weeks later

Mail Depot Closes

Jobs threat in closure of Frome mail depot
By Somerset Standard  |  Posted: January 25, 2014

A Frome parcel delivery service will close in March with about 30 jobs under threat.

UK Mail, based on the Vallis Mill Trading Estate, has been run as a franchise for the past 20 years by Martin Ward and his wife Carmel.

The couple will retire in March but had wanted to sell the business, safeguarding jobs, but UK Mail said it no longer takes part in a franchise scheme and will take the business back into its corporate stream.

Saxonvale and what next?

FROME Town Council recommended refusal on the outline planning application to build a supermarket, shops, offices, car parking, hotel and a public square on derelict land at Saxonvale in Frome last night.

Catherine Hill

Interesting article about this shop and it's owner on this LINK Mail Online.

Frome under water

Today a friend showed me a newspaper cutting from the Frome Standard showing her home. The flood waters were stopping all traffic in that area. She said " I look out of my window and say as motorists drive into the water; "Don't do it!" but they do and they get stuck with the water over the bonnet. Then they get out and the water is so deep."

Having lived near this area, I have been driving around to miss it out.


Here are some pictures as found in the Frome Standard.

Our son lived very near here. 

The above pictures are on the map area where the road is badly flooded. 

The following pictures are in an unknown area???

Flooded Frome?

It seems some years since Frome has been flooded. In these torrential rain storms of January 2014 the town has remained flood free.

Goodbye to Papa Smurf'

Jenson Button's father dies aged 70 of suspected heart attack.
The Button family were previously from Frome. Recently living in warmer climes.

Poundstretcher closes

Six Jobs lost and also cheap shopping.

ONE of Frome's oldest shops will close its doors in two weeks, with the six jobs at the store hanging in the balance.

Staff at Poundstretcher, in Stony Street, were told just before Christmas that there was a proposal for the store to close and they were being put into a consultation process.

She said: "We can confirm that the store will now close on January 18. The consultation process with staff is in progress and so it is not possible to comment further at this time.

"The store employs six people and our aim, through the consultation process, is to offer them alternative positions within the area, should the store ultimately close. | Read more:

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Saxonvale will damage local trading. Read More: What is this about?

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Somerset Floods

Roads impassable

60 Homes Planned

Plan 1 / Welshmill Lane
(2 Jan 2014)

Plans have been submitted to Mendip District Council for the homes, 

in Welshmill Lane 

 Proposals have been put forward by the Yarlington Housing Group, a not-for-profit organisation based in Yeovil, to build 32, two and three-storey affordable new apartments and family houses, alterations and improvements to vehicular access to the Welshmill Lane site.



The company is a registered provider of affordable homes and first gained planning permission for up to 37 homes in 2011.

The site, which covers just over one acre, was formerly CEP Ceilings Ltd and Yarlington was recently granted planning approval to clear the old factory.

If the application is given the go-ahead there will be two three-storey buildings consisting of 12 units in each block, which will be social housing, and eight two-storey homes, which will be shared ownership properties.

See more here

READ (Source) MORE

Plan 2 / Little Keyford Lane. 

Frome 3 give us the run around

Two endurance athletes who have run at least 10km (six miles) every day for the past year plan to "finish with a flourish" in Bristol on New Year's Eve.

Jim Plunkett-Cole and Neil Taylor will mark the 365th day with a circular 74km (46-mile) run around the city.

The pair, from Frome, Somerset, began the challenge on 1 January, along with eight-year-old dog Alfie.

Throughout the year the trio have run some 2,800 miles, so far raising more than £6,500 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and Positive Action against Cancer charities.

Asda Extension Plan

Frome Leisure Centre

In need of a complete update. 

Coleford recycling centre

Don't eat the Cheese

The Frome and District Agricultural Society was founded in 1861 with the aim of staging a "Great Exhibition" of the two local specialities, cheese and butter.

In the autumn of 1861 the first Frome Cheese Show was held on a Wednesday in the Market Yard and cheese was both exhibited and sold. It was reported that Messrs Gayton of Trowbridge bought 28.5 tons of Cheddar cheese.

Mr Carey used his own family history and photographs to record changes in farming practice in parallel with the development of Frome Cheese Show. His talk was illustrated with photographs ranging from early shows on the Market Yard to today's activity at West Woodlands.

In 1919 the show moved to Fromefield and, after gradually acquiring more of the available land, remained there until 1998.

It flourished at Fromefield but by the 1990s it was clear that the show had outgrown its accommodation.

There is now a permanent show ring and a livestock village at The Woodlands which hosts the hundreds of cattle, sheep and goats which compete for class and show honours.

A countryside pursuits area has been created along with a nature reserve. Cheese continues to be at the heart of it and has its own pavilion and the show, as a whole, continues to thrive.


Read more:

Cork Street

Cork Street from B3090

Frome's tunnels

Frome's historian Terry Cliss, made a mention of Frome's Tunnels.

Here is what he has shared.

Little Jack Horner?

The nursery rhyme says:

Little Jack Horner sat in the corner

Eating his Christmas pie,

He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum

And said "What a good boy am I!"

This nursery rhyme that was taught to young children and we learned it by rote. But we never knew what it meant. But with the aid of local historian Terry Cliss we are getting to the bottom of this pie. 

The Dippy ~ Have Your Say!

A SERIES of events are being organised to encourage people to have their say on what they would like to see done in The Dippy.

F1 McLaren passing through

Frome's Georgian Buildings

ARCHITECTURAL historian Amy Frost, the collections manager of the Building of Bath Museum and curator of Beckford's Tower and Museum, was speaker at the Frome Society for Local Study and the Frome and District Civic Society November talk.

Bath is famous for its Georgian buildings and the names of the architects became well known beyond the city boundaries.

Despite the fact that Frome is so close to Bath and that, in Frome, Thomas Bunn was so keen to emulate (overtake) Bath in the architectural stakes there would appear to be very little known of the work of Bath architects in Frome.

Orchardleigh

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Orchardleigh (also spelled Orchardlea) is a country estate in Somerset, approximately two miles north of Frome, and on the southern edge of the village of Lullington. It comprises a Victorian country house, the Orchardleigh Lake with its island church, and an eighteen-hole golf course. Various accommodation is provided, both in the house itself and at adjacent lodges and cottages in the extensive grounds.

Rugby Ambassadors

Awarded for Bravery.

A FROME Special Constable has been awarded a Royal Humane Society Bravery Award after saving a drowning man in Frome.

At an Avon and Somerset Police ceremony in Taunton, Special Constable Steven Cook received the award after he waded into the river near the Cheese and Grain in the town to save a man from drowning in January of this year. Despite the freezing conditions and steep banks, he managed to drag the unconscious man out of the river and saved his life.

Reported "Frome Times" on

• Friday, November 22, 2013

New Homes Planned

AN OUTLINE application to build 58 homes at TH White, in Frome, has been recommended for approval by planning officers.

Next Wednesday's planning committee will be deciding whether to go with the recommendation and allow the development in the main yard and buildings of the agricultural merchants' business on the east side of Vallis Road.

The site was identified for housing in Mendip District Council's local plan in 2002. So far the council has received six letters highlighting possible problems the new houses could pose with overlooking existing properties and increased traffic on the busy road with no traffic calming. Some neighbours fear there are too many houses proposed for the size of the site.

Planners believe the site is within a reasonable distance of local facilities and services. The developers will be putting two bus stops on the site.



This is Somerset ~ Thursday, November 14, 2013

Britains WW2 Defense was in Nunney

The following was contributed by Historian Terry Cliss, of Frome.

Nunney is holding a World War 2 exhibition about its involvement in the war.

This information had been held in secret for many decades, but at last it is known by all and sundry that Nunney was one of Britain's secret plans to defeat Nazi Germany in WW2.

The Nazis had come across information that there is a castle in Nunney which could have prevented their invading Britain. The Luftwaffe and German Paratroops had been organized to do a drop in Nunney to take the castle and so minimize Britain's resistance. So the British War Office had organized a new division of Dad's Army to prevent the castle being taken. The Home Guard and Captain Mannering were put on full alert to prevent this happening at all costs.

Now it is to be revealed at the Nunney in World War Two exhibition. It will be fascinating to learn of this.

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What the press say:

Public Witnessing.

Many living in Frome are used to Jehovah's Witnesses knocking at their door. The local congregation have now added the above form of public witnessing to the streets in the town. This is because many of us are not at home when they knock. They feel their message is important and all of us should have a chance to listen to it.

Two Witnesses stand quietly with a trolley in the town centre. No need to worry that they will pounce on passers by, as they are instructed to stand quietly by the side of their trolley. They will answer Bible related questions and the interested pedestrian may obtain free any piece of literature on display.

Welshmill Lane

At lower end of Welshmill Lane we find this new building. Since I took this picture they have completed the building which is a Care-Home.

The previous pictures taken of the Riverside Walk were taken just off Welshmill Lane.[10]

Frome waterside walk

As I walked this day into Frome town centre, I had parked on Welshmill Lane and followed an elderly man on his electric scooter. He and his wife were also heading to the market square.

Starting from Weshmill Lane [10] and heading to the Cheese Market [11] is small but pleasant path. This path runs alongside the the river "Frome".

I had wanted to take more pictures of a kiddy's play [10] area and a skateboard park [12]on my left. But as there were many youngsters frequenting it, I did not want to draw attention.

See [10] [11] [12] on the map of Frome

Cheese and Grain Market

Every Wednesday – 9am – 2pm

A chance to uncover that prize heirloom!

Stalls range from a interesting mix of quality antiques to collectable models, figurines, and toys,  with an additional supply of second-hand books and gift items.

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Every Thursday – 8am – 12 noon

Frome Country Market has a huge selection of homemade cakes, savouries and sweets, along with a range of produce including jams, pickles, eggs, and home-grown vegetables, fruit and plants. These talented ladies (and gentlemen!) also have assorted quality handmade crafts and gifts on offer. Just remember to come early for the wonderful flowers and flapjacks!

Representatives of ‘Save The Children’ join the Country Market on the second Thursday of each month to raise funds with an interesting and varied assortment of gift items.

Frome Farmers Market is recognised as one of the largest and most successful of the Somerset Farmers Markets and offers  high quality produce and plants. Choose from organic meats, pies & pastries, delicious dairy products, juices and vegetables to name but a few.

Second Saturday of every month

Crafts at the Cheese & Grain has over 40 stalls selling an amazing array of local British handmade, quality crafts and produce direct from skilled artists and crafts people, all under one roof.

Demonstrations are also held by skilled crafts people and designers.

Free admission

Cafe open.

The Cheese & Grain is run by a charity, Frome Cheese & Grain Ltd, for community use and to support the regeneration of Frome and its surrounding villages.

Company information

Frome Cheese & Grain Ltd
Registered Charity No: 1108074
Company Number: 4736751

Frome Cheese & Grain Trading Company Ltd
Company Number: 5611310

VISIT THEIR OWN WEBSITE
Cheese and Grain | A versatile venue for Frome

Cheese and Grain can be found in the central car park (Justice Way) to the right of "Button Bridge"

Cheese & Grain

Market Yard
Frome, Somerset
BA11 1BE

Bath Street

On Bath Street (South) stands a church with a strange name. If any one knows about Christianity, they must be even more confused.

St John the Baptist

Why do I call the name strange? John the Baptist was not a Christian. Those familiar with the Bible and the account of Jesus' life and ministry will know clearly that John the Baptist was a devout follower of the Jewish religion.  John condemned the Jewish religious leaders as teachers of falsehood and displaying works that did not belong to true believers in God.
(read Luke chapter 3 verse 1- 20)

His brush with Christianity was in the baptising of Jesus (the Christ).(verses 21 - 23)  John was beheaded (Luke chapter 9: v's 7-9) before Christianity was established by Jesus Christ after the Jewish festival of Pentecost in the year 33 CE. (Luke 22:28-30)

Another strange part of using the name of John the Baptist is the actual ceremony of baptism. When the Jew John baptised Jesus and other Jews of that time, he did so by total immersion. The persons baptised were adults who were repenting and wanting to get back in favour with God. In this Frome church, babies are baptised by sprinkling water on their foreheads.

Gentle Street

From the bottom of Gentle Street going up

Argyll House, Gentle Street (Grade ll listed)

Knoll House

reaching almost the spot where the next picture was taken

Now from the top

From Christchurch St E, going down Gentle Street

closer picture of one of the three bedroom cottages on that side

Gentle Street marked in red, showing the directions the the pictures were taken from