Living and feeling better can start with a simple step-connecting. Health Connections Mendip is provided by your Mendip GP practices to improve your health and wellbeing.
Cycling can help improve people’s health and wellbeing but many people are put off using a bicycle in Frome because of the hills. So Frome now has available a couple of electric power assist bicycles (ebikes) that helps to reduce the strain of cycling up hills and makes cycling more fun.
Provided by Frome Town Council and available at Pronto Bike Shop Tuesday – Saturday 9am – 5pm for either half day (£6) or whole day (£12) hire.
Community fridge and larder tackles food waste and food poverty. Previously located in the Cheese and Grain car park, Market Yard, Frome it has now been temporarily moved to Frome Town Hall and can be found in the brick shed outside. Open daily 9am-5pm. Help yourself to food- no charge.
Community fridge and larder tackles food waste and food poverty. Situated between Screwfix and Aldi within The Haskins Retail Centre, Townsend, Shepton Mallet, BA4 5AX.
Open daily 9.30am-5.30pm. Help yourself to food, there is no charge.
Grants of upto £10,000 for home owners or £5,000 in rented accommodation for cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, solar PV installation, air source heat pump and new storage heaters.
Criteria; a home with an Energy Performance Certificate of D or below, household income of £30,000 or less, in receipt of benefits.
More information and application through website.
Home energy advice and assistance, grants and loans to improve energy efficiency, energy saving tips, home energy checklist and more from Mendip District Council.
This is not a garden maintenance service. Rather, the aim is to establish mutually beneficial partnerships between frustrated gardeners and garden owners, providing guidance and support to both parties to foster a successful collaboration. Offers a simple and user-friendly platform for connecting individuals on allotment waiting lists with those willing to share their gardens.
A fun opportunity to get out in nature, get fit, meet new people, take part in practical conservation, and grow local food with a new social enterprise, Frome Field 2 Fork.
Sundays 10am till 1pm in Frome. No experience is necessary, guidance is provided and all questions are welcomed! Work at your own pace in a relaxed environment and choose between activities suited to all levels of fitness. Typical activities include sowing seeds, planting, weeding or pruning, creating no-dig veg beds, digging up brambles, constructing new garden features, hedgerow harvesting and building bug hotels.
Growing Food and Friendships is a free weekly session for anyone who feels that they would benefit from a regular meet up, in a safe and supported space, where we will be working together to design and grow a beautiful, edible, community market garden while enjoying the land and forming friendships.
Tuesdays 10am – 1pm
No experience necessary and COVID guidelines will of course be followed. Spaces will be limited to 10 to allow for ease of physical distancing etc. Please contact 07857437608 for more information and to reserve your place.
The Volunteer Network are running this allotment project every Tuesday and Wednesday in Glastonbury. They are looking for people who want to get involved in outdoor projects, have an interest in growing produce or want to improve their knowledge and understanding of growing their own food. This project enables participants to gain knowledge to improve their diet and nutrition. It is great for fitness and strength.
If you are interested, please visit their website and complete the online sign up form or contact Sue on the number below.
We aim to ensure that people in Frome who are at risk of cold homes get the support they need. For households on low incomes living in houses with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D or under this could include financial support of up to £10,000 towards improving the energy efficiency of your home.
The free Energy Essentials course is designed to enable you to provide energy advice to people in Frome. If you work in a role where you are in contact with the public, give advice or support on other issues, or would like to become a Healthy Homes volunteer, this training is for you.
This is an online platform where you can find out about local cycling projects, track your cycling, set goals and find out about local rides. Love to Ride has been designed with behaviour change principles, techniques and tools at its core. This is to ensure that our approaches are as effective as possible at encouraging cycling. “We get more people cycling using our online platform, local promotion and good ol’ human interaction.”
Get outside on the farm! Join Paddington Farm in Glastonbury for a morning’s work on the farm, or in the organic vegetable garden, before coming together to share a tasty lunch (made using organic produce).
Tasks vary according to the season, but may include planting and weeding, tree work, fencing, or helping with the apple juice enterprise. You’ll be part of a friendly, welcoming group and you can work at your own pace. Everyone is welcome and no experience is necessary.
Volunteer days are every Wednesday, from 9.00am to 1.00pm.
Contact Paddington Farm for further details or to reserve your place.
Parkruns are free, weekly, community events all around the world. Saturday mornings events are 5k and take place in parks and open spaces. Parkrun is a positive, welcoming and inclusive experience where there is no time limit and no one finishes last. Everyone is welcome to walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate. Register for free on the parkrun website before your first visit. There is a simple form to complete and a barcode to printout. Local events listed below.
Frome-The Old Showfield parkrun 5km run every Saturday at 9am. The Old Showfield, off Rodden Road, Frome, BA11 2AH (nearest postcode). Email theoldshowfield@parkrun.com
Shepton Mallet parkrun : 5km run every Saturday at 9am. Collett Park, Shepton Mallet, BA4 5PJ. Email sheptonmallet@parkrun.com
Southwick County parkrun: 5km run every Saturday at 9am. Southwick Country Park, Frome Road, Southwick, Nr Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 9QD. Email southwickcountrypark@parkrun.com
Street parkrun 5k run every Saturday at 9am at Strode College sports fields. Email street@parkrun.com
Every second Saturday of the month there will be a Repair Café at The Art Bank, 13 High Street, Shepton Mallet between 11:00am – 1:00pm.
Come along and get items fixed for free; volunteers can help you repair electrical, general goods, bags and other items that need sewing. No need to book, just turn up.
Root Connections is a community ‘not for profit’ market garden to improve mental & physical health & wellbeing. based at Stratton on the Fosse, BA3 4QF. We’re open on a Tues & Fri morning from 10am until 1pm, on a Friday we share lunch together. We make gardening accessible to everyone – from all walks of life. We have different areas within the garden to work on and enjoy. A warm welcome awaits anyone who would like to get involved in the garden & join a group of like minded volunteers
Adult Wellbeing Group that meets every Wednesday 10.30-14.30. Based in Frome at Vallis Veg (a farm near to Vallis Vale – nearest postcode BA11 3EJ).
Free. Activities include: Nature connection activities, nature inspired crafts, mindfulness, drinking tea, chatting, singing, campfire cooking, gardening and more…
‘Volunteer Saturdays’, at Vallis Veg every 2nd & 4th Saturday of each month from midday until 3pm. Volunteers are required to help and maintain the forest school site and allotments. Nearest postcode to the site is BA11 3EA.
Practical conservation groups carrying out seasonal outdoor tasks in the countryside. Suitable for those who are reasonably physically fit, no training required. See link for Somerset area programmes and contact details.
Worried about energy bills? The Home Energy Team provides free, impartial, local energy saving advice. This includes telephone advice on keeping warm and well in winter, cutting your energy bills, limited home visits and information on funding for energy saving improvements for people living in Mendip. The Home Energy Team provides in-depth support to households across Somerset who may be struggling with keeping warm and well at home.
Call free: Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm
This project aims to benefit people with learning disabilities and people who are isolated, elderly or vulnerable in the community. A gardening service, led by adults with learning disabilities will be available to people in the community who are unable to care for their gardens themselves.
The activities include: garden assessments – garden maintenance – garden waste disposal and some planting. Call the number below, leave your contact name and number and the jobs you would like done and the gardening team will call you back.
Provide information relating to volunteering and details of volunteer bureau across the country.
Gardening groups based at The Walled garden in Wells. Get in touch to book a place. Some parts of the garden are wheelchair accessible. No disabled accessible toilet at the moment.
Emotional Wellbeing Though Gardening: Mixed age active group, with younger adults. It’s aimed at people who may have been struggling with their mental health over the last year and are feeling isolated. Tea and cake is part of the session but people are welcome to work in their own space and at their own pace. Held on a Monday 10am -1.00pm
Grow with Us: Open to a mixed age group with light and gentle gardening and growing activities adaptive to physical challenges. The session has a strong socialising component to it with tea and cake. Held on a Friday 10am-12noon.
Free to attend. Nature and wildlife activities in Frome, for people with dementia or memory loss. Learn about wildlife together. Activities include arts & crafts, wildlife gardening, nature walks and more. Open and inclusive to suit all abilities and interests. Please call ahead to book your space and check location. Carers and family members welcome too. Free to attend, transport available.
Mells, Walled Garden – Mondays 2pm – 4pm
The Growing for Wellbeing Project is a small weekly group that welcomes people who want to get outdoors and learn new skills. It is a beautiful rural location easily accessible by public transport. It can cater for any weather with large areas under cover.
Mondays 10.30-1pm, Catsham, Baltonsborough, BA6 8PQ. Please use to the contact information below to book. Booking essential.
Autism Friendly Growing for Wellbeing Group is a small weekly group that welcomes people who want to get outdoors and learn new skills. It is a beautiful rural location easily accessible by public transport. It can cater for any weather with large areas under cover.
It offers quiet, calm working spaces and a small supportive group with lived experience in autism. Its main emphasis is horticulture, wildlife gardening and rural craft skills. There is no requirement to attend every week or the whole session. Its very much about what is right for the individual on the day.
Thursdays 10am-2pm, Catsham, Baltonsborough, BA6 8PQ