Where Kindness Grows

Daisy Steel
3 days ago
2 min read

A Different Kind of Podcast

This month’s When in Frome podcast is a little different. After the loss of our son, Ben, it didn’t feel right to carry on as normal - but nor did I want to stay silent. So, Sonia and I sat down together to talk about grief, and about the kindness of friends and neighbours that’s carried us through these past few weeks.

The Power of Small Gestures

It’s hard to describe how much those small gestures mean: a home-cooked meal left on the doorstep, a card through the letterbox, a message that simply says “thinking of you.” In the darkest moments, these little acts of care have felt like threads of light in the darkness.

Celebrating Kindness Through Community

That’s why it felt especially fitting that our Local Legend this month is someone who’s made kindness her life’s work - Alison Murdoch, founder of The Good Heart Café and organiser of Frome’s annual Kindness Festival. Alison believes that compassion isn’t just a feeling, but a skill we can all practice. Through the café’s pay-it-forward meals and get-togethers, she’s creating a space where everyone feels welcome.

Healing in Nature

We also ventured out of town to find another kind of healing: in nature. Sonia met George Linklater at the Rodden Nature Reserve to learn how beavers are transforming local wetlands, while I went to meet Jan Stannard at Heal Rewilding Somerset in Witham Friary, where a family of beavers has recently arrived. Watching these gentle creatures restore streams and create new habitats is a hopeful reminder that nature, too, knows how to mend itself.

November Highlights

And of course, it wouldn’t be When in Frome without Becky’s Fabulous Frome Forecast, her guide to all the wonderful things happening around town this November - from markets and music to the annual switch-on of the Christmas lights.

A Message of Kindness

If this month’s episode has a message, it’s this: that kindness really does grow here in Frome. It grows in cafés and riverbanks, in doorstep gestures and conversations that begin with, “How are you doing, really?”

Thank you, Frome, for all your love and care.

Where Can I Listen to the When in Frome Podcast?

You can listen to the When in Frome November edition right here on the Fabulous Frome website, on all major podcast platforms, on Frome FM throughout the month.

And if you’ve got a story, an idea, or a local legend you think we should feature in a future episode, do please get in touch! Especially if they’ve got a tunnel under their house or an alpaca in their garden. You know, the usual Frome stuff.

If you are a business and would like to have a Spotlight feature written about you and published on Fabulous Frome, please contact Becky on +44 7793 561696 or email her at becky@fabulousfrome.co.uk. For prices, click here.