As the Easter holidays approach, please note a few changes to our usual schedule so you can plan your visits accordingly.

• Good Friday (April 3rd) – Food Bank closed

• Easter Monday (April 6th) – Food Bank closed

• Easter Monday (April 6th) – Food at 5 will be open as normal

We’ll be back to our regular services following the Easter break.

This Easter, we’re incredibly grateful for the generosity of our local community. A huge thank you to Frome’s Nifty Knitters for once again donating their adorable handcrafted chicks — they bring so much joy every year! And a big thank you also to Frome Football Club for their wonderful donation of Easter eggs, ensuring families across Frome have an extra touch of sweetness this holiday.

From everyone at Fair Frome, we wish you a happy and peaceful Easter filled with kindness and community spirit.

Fair Frome is helping to share news of a new Easter Holiday Family Support Fund from Citizens Advice Somerset, offering supermarket vouchers to support families with food costs over the Easter break.

From Monday 23 March, families across Somerset whose children receive free school meals and who are struggling to afford food over the holidays can apply for £20 supermarket vouchers per eligible child. Applicants will need to provide evidence that their child is in receipt of free school meals and that the family is currently in food need. Full details of how to apply are available on the Citizens Advice Somerset website at https://citizensadvicesomerset.org.uk/ehfs/ 

If you live in Frome or the surrounding BA11 area and are worried about food, Fair Frome can also support you with emergency food parcels and fresh food vouchers through our Food Bank. Our parcels are tailored where possible to specific needs, and can include fresh produce, fruit and vegetable vouchers and items for babies and children. To access the Food Bank you will usually need a referral from a local agency such as your child’s school, Health Connections Mendip or Citizens Advice Somerset, but if you are unsure what to do please contact us at Fair Frome and we will try to help.

Families are encouraged to apply to the Easter Holiday Family Support Fund as soon as possible and to contact Fair Frome if they need additional support with food or other essentials during the school holidays.

We at Fair Frome want to hear from you. We are a dynamic and busy charity running a number of vital services for the most vulnerable people in our community, and we are looking for a financially literate Trustee to join our Trustee Board. All our Trustees are volunteers who share our enthusiasm for supporting the local community.

We want to appoint a new Trustee with the experience to help us manage our money, as well as take part in the wider work of the Trustee Board. The new Trustee will support a volunteer bookkeeper to keep our records up to date and will help staff and fellow Trustees to understand our finances now and into the future.

The time commitment is approximately one day a month, plus attendance at Trustee meetings around eight times a year. This is a great opportunity to use your skills to make a real difference to people’s lives in Frome.

To apply for the role, or to arrange an informal conversation about what’s involved, please email info@fairfrome.org.

A massive thank you to everyone at Frome Football Club – the team, players, staff, and supporters – for their fantastic generosity at the recent home game at Badgers Hill on Saturday, 14th February.

Together, you donated an incredible 136kg of food for the Fair Frome’s Food Bank, helping to support local individuals and families in need.

We’re so grateful for your continued support and community spirit – and a special thanks to Neil Mitchell and the team for organising the collection and helping us spread the word.

Fair Frome’s Director, Lenka Grimes with with Neil Mitchell and David Parry at Badgers Hill

We’re delighted to share some exciting news — our charity has been selected as one of three local causes supported by Waitrose Warminster’s Community Matters scheme this quarter!

When customers shop at Waitrose, they’ll receive a small green token to vote for one of the three chosen charities. The more tokens Fair Frome receives, the greater our share of the donation pot:

• 1st place charity: £1,500

• 2nd place charity: £1,000

• 3rd place charity: £500

Donations will be awarded in April 2026, so now’s the perfect time to pop into Waitrose Warminster and show your support.

Every token helps us continue our work supporting individuals and families who are struggling with the cost of living, housing pressures and other challenges in our area.

A huge thank-you to Waitrose and their wonderful customers for helping our community thrive — we can’t wait to see those green tokens stacking up!

Local charity Fair Frome has shared its annual figures for 2025, highlighting just how many people across Frome and the surrounding area have been supported during another challenging year. Many local residents are still struggling with rising food and energy bills, high rents and low wages, leaving more people needing practical and emotional support to get by.​

Throughout 2025, Fair Frome’s Food Bank gave out 422 individual food parcels and 615 family food parcels, ensuring people in crisis could access emergency food when they needed it most. The Community Pantry was accessed by 210 households, including 132 families and 78 individuals, helping stretch tight budgets further with affordable groceries.​

Fair Frome’s community food projects also made a major impact over the year. The Food at Five scheme provided 5,217 hot meals – sit‑down and takeaway – in three different areas of the town, as well as supporting YMCA residents and offering a warm, welcoming space. Holiday Lunches delivered 852 lunches across 28 sessions in school holidays, including a family Christmas party in partnership with Purple Elephant.​

Support went far beyond food. The Furniture Bank supported 120 households, repairing cookers and washing machines where possible, supplying 229 donated items, 65 donated electrical items and purchasing 30 white goods items, saving 6.7 tonnes from landfill at the same time. The Assistance Scheme supported 65 families with school uniforms, refurbished laptops, clothes and shoes, heated blankets, transport for appointments, carpets and other essential items, working alongside Frome Lions, Kevin Corcoran and Rotary to fund vital household goods. The Baby Basics Bank provided baby equipment such as cots and prams to 28 families.​

Alongside this, Fair Frome gave out 2,120 vouchers through the food bank for fresh fruit and vegetables from a local shop, over 150 Christmas food parcels, and 400 wrapped, personalised Christmas presents for children. The charity was also part of The Frome Christmas Get‑Together team, which provided around 200 meals and company on Christmas Day so that no one had to spend the day alone.​

Fair Frome’s support also includes welcoming spaces and specialist help. The charity has provided weekly shower and clothes‑washing facilities for people who are homeless or in temporary accommodation, and hosted housing advice drop‑ins, homeless and inclusion GP sessions, Citizens Advice sessions and digital inclusion drop‑ins. Staff and volunteers have also brought partners and referrers together to look at levels of need and coordinate practical support for those most affected.​

Throughout 2025, Fair Frome continued to campaign and raise a voice on issues related to local poverty, supporting national campaigns from the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN), the Living Wage Foundation and The Equality Trust. Senior Co‑ordinator Lenka Grimes said that for many people in Frome the year has been extremely challenging, with many beneficiaries in work but still unable to make ends meet due to high housing costs and low wages, and emphasised that Fair Frome has provided both hands‑on practical support and emotional support to those arriving at their doors in crisis.

The Frome Christmas Get Together is a free community Christmas Day celebration offering a warm space, a two-course festive meal and companionship for anyone in the BA11 area who might otherwise spend the day alone. The crowdfunder helps cover the costs of food, small gifts, activities and transport so that everyone can attend without worry.​

What is the Frome Christmas Get Together

The Frome Christmas Get Together takes place on Christmas Day at The Assembly Rooms on Christchurch Street West, providing a welcoming, inclusive space in the centre of town. Guests are invited to enjoy a free two-course Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, plus refreshments, entertainment and the chance to share the day with others in the community.​

The event aims to support anyone for whom Christmas is a difficult or isolating time, offering warmth, company and a friendly atmosphere. As well as the sit-down celebration, home deliveries remain available for people who are unable to join in person, ensuring they still receive a festive meal and a connection to the day.​

How to Reserve a Place

The Get Together is open to people in the BA11 area who would like company and a Christmas lunch on the day. Guest forms are available from Frome Library and from Fair Frome, and local community organisations are encouraged to recommend anyone they know who might benefit from attending.​

If you or someone you know would like to come along, you can complete a guest form or get in touch via the contact details on the Big Christmas Get Together website to reserve a space. Lift support and transport to and from the venue can also be arranged so that getting there is not a barrier.​

How to Donate to the Crowdfunder

This year’s crowdfunder is raising money to provide around 200 Christmas meals, including crackers, a small present and festive activities for guests. Donations help pay for food, venue costs, entertainment, transport and all the little touches that make the day special.​

To support the event, you can visit the Christmas Celebrations crowdfunder page and make a one-off online donation of any size. Community members and local businesses who would like to contribute items such as food, gifts or activities can also contact the organisers via the Big Christmas Get Together website to discuss how best to help.

Please donate to the Christmas crowdfunder at the link Here.

If you or someone you know would like to register to attend the Christmas get together, please find our forms here:

Fair Frome is celebrating the kindness and creativity of local craft group Nifty Needles, who have made 300 beautiful handmade Christmas stockings for families receiving our food parcels this December. Thanks to generous support from Frome Rotary, each stocking is being filled with chocolates, adding an extra festive treat for children and adults alike. These special stockings have been going out in food parcels since the start of the month and will continue to be shared right through to Christmas Day, bringing colour, warmth and a sense of celebration to households across Frome.​

Nifty Needles regularly support Fair Frome with lovingly crafted items for our clients, and their latest project shows the power of local people using their skills to lift up neighbours who may be finding this time of year difficult. Together with partners like Frome Rotary and the many volunteers and donors who give time, money, food and talents, they help make our town a place where no one is forgotten at Christmas. Fair Frome is incredibly grateful to everyone involved for showing what a caring, connected community Frome really is.

A local family on Critchill Road has turned their home into a festive wonderland to support Fair Frome’s work tackling food poverty in the town. Throughout December, their Christmas lights display is helping to collect vital donations for Fair Frome’s food bank, which provides emergency food parcels to individuals and families who are struggling.​

Visitors are invited to stop by, enjoy the lights and, if they are able, drop non-perishable food items into the collection box at the front of the house. The family then delivers all donated items directly to Fair Frome’s food bank on the Marston Trading Estate, where they are sorted and distributed to local people in crisis.​

Demand for Fair Frome’s services continues to grow, especially during the winter months when many households face higher bills and increased financial pressure. Community-led efforts like this Christmas lights display play an important role in keeping the food bank shelves stocked and ensuring that no one in Frome has to go hungry over the festive period.​

Fair Frome is encouraging residents to visit the Critchill Road display, donate if they can, and spread the word to friends and neighbours. Every tin, packet and jar makes a difference and helps Fair Frome continue to provide practical support, warmth and dignity for people across the BA11 area this Christmas.