MORE than 200 events are expected to take place during this year’s Frome Festival which takes place in July.

The Festival runs from Friday, July 6 to Sunday, July 15 and features top acts from every art form, as well as walks, talks, workshops and exhibitions.

Well- known names scheduled to appear include singer-songwriter Badly Drawn Boy; Celtic folk rockers Blazin’ Fiddles; front man from JLS, Aston Merrygold, and punk poet Dr John Cooper Clarke.

A special Festival Encore event on Friday, July 20 will also feature the legendary 1970s pop star Leo Sayer. All the above will be appearing at the Cheese and Grain.

The Memorial Theatre will be hosting the up and coming comedian, Tom Allen, increasingly well- known through his many TV appearances, on Tuesday, July 10.

Two popular acts on the UK comedy circuit will play at the Merlin Theatre: George Egg, the DIY Chef, is bringing his comical culinary delights to Frome (all the way from his garden shed) on Thursday, July 12; whilst on Saturday, July 14, there is a welcome return for comedian, writer and broadcaster Viv Groskop in her new show Vivalicious.

Among the musical highlights at Rook Lane Arts will be perennial favourites Praying for the Rain; and following last year’s rave reviews, the brilliant Busquitos, an internationally renowned jazz band from Holland.

This year, by special request, they will feature guest star Pee Wee Ellis, master of the Soul saxophone and Frome’s most celebrated resident.

The programme is again packed with great literary events: writer and broadcaster Michael Wood, following his sell-out Rook Lane appearance in 2016, will be enthralling his audience in a talk on his latest project The Trojan Wars- Myth and History.

The 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Gothic horror novel Frankenstein is celebrated at the Merlin Theatre on Tuesday, July 10 with a talk by biographer Tony Dalton on The Frankenstein Films of Director Terence Fisher, followed by a showing of his Hammer Horror classic Frankenstein Must be Destroyed.

Frome Cricket Club will host Grahame Lloyd, discussing his book The Six Sixes Revisited, recalling the great Garfield Sobers achievement and the controversy that followed.

There will also be a poetry walk around Mells, final resting place of Siegfried Sassoon, incorporating readings of his verse on Saturday, July 14.

Classical music is well represented notably with a series of concerts at Christ Church and Trinity Church and at Cooper Hall at Selwood Manor, which will feature the acclaimed pianist Clare Hammond in its vibrant festival programme.

Rodney Branigan and Reg Meuross are two hugely respected musicians and both will appear at the ever popular Silk Mill in a packed schedule for the gallery and performing space.

In all, over 200 events will take place in the Frome Festival, many of which are free or with minimal entry costs, including the annual Food Feast in the Market Yard Car Park on Saturday, July 7 which usually draws up to 4,000 visitors.

Over 22,000 brochures will be printed and delivered across a wide area by a team of volunteers. This year’s cover, once again distinctively designed by illustrator Sholto Walker, pays homage to Frankenstein.

The box office officially opened on Sunday, May 20, at the Cheese and Grain box office. Some events are already for sale at the host venue- check with the venue direct.

To purchase tickets for events, please call the Box Office on 01373 455420 / cheeseandgrain.com / fromefestival.co.uk /