The annual ten-day Frome Festival usually starts the first Friday in July, in Frome

Frome

Frome is a town and civil parish in northeast Somerset, England. Located at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, the town is built on uneven high ground, and centres around the River Frome. The town is approximately south of Bath, east of the county town, Taunton and west of London. In the 2001...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England.

The Frome Festival was conceived by Martin Bax and the inaugural event was held in 2000. He stepped down as Director in 2007, having received the MBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 for his services to the Festival. In 2008 Martin Dimery, was appointed as his successor.

The festival programme offers classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 to indie, literature and drama, film, dance, workshops and free events.

Venues

More than 160 events are held at various venues in and around the town. These include the two theatres in Frome: The Memorial Theatre which was built in 1924 in memory of the fallen of the First World War, whilst the 240-seat Merlin Theatre is part of the Frome Community College

Frome Community College

Frome Community College is a comprehensive school in Frome, Somerset, England with specialist media arts status since 2002.It caters for approximately 1,380 students from the ages 13 to 18, as it is part of the three tier system. Students' studies at the college lead up to GCSE, GNVQ, AS-Level and...

 campus.

The Cheese and Grain, a former farm produce warehouse which was converted into a market and concert hall in 1997, has a capacity of up to 800 and hosts regular pop concerts. Frome's only cinema, the Westway, is in Cork Street in the town centre. There is also an arts centre, The Black Swan,

Festival events

In 2005, Van Morrison

Van Morrison

Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...

 played to three thousand in the grounds of Marston House a nearby stately home. Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

 appeared and more than two hundred players and singers performed Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius

The Dream of Gerontius

The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...

, at the festival’s annual Summer School.

2006 welcomed Paul Merton

Paul Merton

Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...

, and also included Tony Benn

Tony Benn

Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...

, Roy Bailey

Roy Bailey (folk singer)

Roy Bailey MBE , is a British socialist folk singer. Roy began his singing career in a skiffle group in 1958.Colin Irwin from the music magazine Mojo said Bailey represents "the very soul of folk's working class ideals.....

, The Troggs

The Troggs

The Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around"...

, Barry Cryer

Barry Cryer

Barry Charles Cryer OBE is a British writer and comedian. Cryer has written for many noted performers, including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsyth, David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie...

, Miles Kington

Miles Kington

Miles Beresford Kington was a British journalist, musician and broadcaster.-Early life :...

, Peter Donohoe, The Mangledwurzels, Rory McLeod and John Tams

John Tams

John Tams is an English actor, singer, songwriter, composer and musician.- Folk musician :John Tams was a member of Derbyshire folk group Muckram Wakes in the 1970s, then worked with Ashley Hutchings as singer and melodeon-player on albums including Son of Morris On, and as a member of the...

.

In 2009, 187 events took place over the ten days, including The Levellers, The Imagined Village

The Imagined Village

The Imagined Village is a folk musical project founded by Simon Emmerson of the Afro Celt Sound System. It is intended to produce modern folk music that represents modern multiculturalism in the United Kingdom and as such, features musicians from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds...

, Imelda May

Imelda May

Imelda Mary Higham, Clabby , known as Imelda May, is an Irish vocalist and musician. She began her career in music at 15 and released her debut album in 2005. She also plays the bodhrán and guitar...

, Adrian Edmondson

Adrian Edmondson

Adrian Charles "Ade" Edmondson is an English comedian. He is probably best known for his comedic roles in the television series The Young Ones and Bottom , for which he also wrote together with his long-time collaboration partner Rik Mayall.-Early life:Edmondson, the second of four children, was...

’s band The Bad Shepherds

The Bad Shepherds

The Bad Shepherds are a British folk band formed by the comedian Adrian Edmondson in 2008. They play punk songs with traditional folk instruments...

, and Still Black Still Proud, starring Pee Wee Ellis, South Africa’s The Mahotella Queens, and London-based Ghanaian rapper Ty

Ty (rapper)

Ty is the recording name of the British hip hop artist, Ben Chijioke.-Career:He was born in London, his family having moved from Nigeria to the UK. He is based in Vauxhall....

.

The ninth Frome Festival paid special tribute to Benjamin Baker, the Frome engineer who designed the Forth Railway Bridge, with a series of talks and exhibitions.