Press Release:
Festival green with energy
Frome Festival plans to inject a little green into the lifeblood of the town and surrounding villages this year.
Niamh Ferguson of Sustainable Frome is co- ordinating a series of Green events for the 2007 festival.
Top of the bill is The Green Fair at the Cheese and Grain Sunday 8 July at 10am, opened by Channel 4's Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud.
McCloud, who lives on The Mendips, is a passionate supporter of sustainable architecture. Many will remember the episode of Grand Designs when McCloud and his team helped a charcoal producer build an eco-home in a Cornish wood.
Other green events include 'Have I Got Gardening Questions for You' at the Cheese and Grain on Thursday 12 July, 2pm-4pm. Strode Theatre director Liz Leyshon chairs a panel that will include Head gardeners from the Stourhead and Longleat Estates and Bruton organic producer Charles Dowding.
Drop in your questions to the Frome Festival Office at 25 Market Place , Frome BA11 1AH , or email them to office@fromefestival.co.uk.
Niamh said: "Forget Chelsea, come to the gardening event of the year in Frome and test our panel of experts with your gardening questions."
Entertainment at The Green Fair will include the Merrill family from Glastonbury , who took part in an eco experiment for ITV's The Green Life . The family of five will present a question and answer session from 12 noon. All welcome.
Every hour a different Frome musician will play live on stage and Frome film-makers will screen green documentaries.
Test drive a gas car with the Green Fuel Company, make beach furniture from plastic bottles with Korean artist Ji Young Moon, or book a green burial for a friend!
Enigma Pottery and Frome Slow Food Convivium will be running workshops for under 16s in a designated Children's Area.
An all day café, run by Cookery at The Grange, the nationally acclaimed cookery school in Whatley, will serve home-cooked organic treats and a Sunday Lunch special.
Green companies will be selling their produce from organic skin care and nappies to water butts and yurts - everything you need from the cradle to the grave!
National organizations such as The Soil Association and Friends of the Earth, and both our District and County Councils will be on hand to offer advice on sustainable living. Organisers will hand out green freebies, including low energy light bulbs.
During the Sustainable Trail, find the hidden clues to Frome's green credentials with a Green Treasure Hunt on Saturday 14 July, from 2pm.
From Easter, children from rome schools will create litterbugs from recycled materials with local artist Stina Harris.
The litterbugs will be used to decorate wastebins during the Literatti Street event in the Westway Shopping Precinct on Saturday 7 July from 12 noon. Members of Frome Youth Council in bright pink lab coats will ask the public to pick up one piece of litter in their street, for every day of the festival.
"Each person who signs the petition will be given a pink ribbon. Although we can't monitor everyone's progress, we are hoping people will honour their pledge. As an incentive, we are offering prizes for those who pick up the most rubbish. The important thing is adults will be thinking about litter thanks to an initiative started by youngsters."
Festival director Martin Bax said: "I have always been a passionate believer in recycling. Everything in the festival office has been furnished with other people's unwanted goods. The only item I bought was a base unit for the kitchen area! It still amazes me what people chuck out.
On a more serious note, we cannot ignore climate change any more. We must all do as much as we possibly can to create a sustainable town. Gradual, collective small changes can make a huge global difference."
