Frome celebrates kindness at local festival
It's the third year - and it's bigger than ever
The Good Heart in Frome is hosting a Kindness Festival this week, to promote being kind to others, the environment and ourselves.
The event includes music concerts, film screenings, community litter picking, talks, advice centres, toy swaps and pop-up cafes, to promote kindness.
"It's a week of celebrating kindness, hopefully encouraging people to reflect on kindness and how they may be able to share a little bit more or give a little bit more - and be kind to themselves as well," said Gemma Annan from the Good Heart.
"Through the Kindness Festival, we've had donations from local supermarkets so anyone who uses the local foodbank, will receive a bunch of flowers as well.
"A kind gesture to brighten up someone's day."
The festival is in its third year, after the foundation started the event coming out of the pandemic.
"The whole ethos of the Good Heart is to promote kindness anyway, so they thought why not have a festival? It was to promote and bring kindness to the town and three years on it's bigger than ever," said Gemma.
At the centre of the festival is the UK's first ever Bank of Kindness, where locals can open a "thank" account and enjoy the festival.
“Everyone is welcome to drop by and experience the joy of kindness in action” said Jess Francombe, the Kind Bank Manager.
“Our Kindness Crew volunteers have been working hard for weeks to transform a disused building into a warm, colourful and welcoming community space.
"We’re thrilled to introduce Kind Bank as the HQ of this year’s Frome Kindness Festival, a place where people of all ages can come together to celebrate kindness and compassion in our community.”
Inside the bank there is a café, full with free tea, coffee, biscuits and the chance to chat to volunteers.
There's also a map on a pin board, where people can stick angels of kindness.
"The idea is that you pick up an angel and any place in Frome that you've been touched by kindness, maybe someone has helped you with your shopping, you can place an angel on the map and that highlights all the acts of kindness in Frome."