Frome’s young students have given themselves 24 hours to raise £2,400. They need your help!
On Saturday 5 May at noon, Frome College students will stage a ‘24hour takeover’ of FromeFM to raise funds for their radio club and provide mental health counselling.
Frome College Radio Club is a student-led group for young people to express their views and opinions on local issues that affect them and the wider Frome community. The average age of the Radio Club is just 14, and over half of the Club have some form of Special Educational Needs or come from a disadvantaged background. They will broadcast live for 24 hours continuously on FromeFM community radio. Please do listen on 96.6 FM locally, or online at Frome.FM from anywhere in the world.
The Radio Club have the unique and exciting opportunity to broadcast both live and pre-recorded regular shows on FromeFM. Students meet in their own time to research, plan, edit and broadcast their own shows. The Radio Club make features about life in the College, as well as wider local, national and global issues that matter to them. It enables our young people of all abilities to work with and get to know people within the wider community of Frome. It allows them to have a say in services that affect them and to develop the confidence and expertise to articulate what matters to them, providing vital skills and experience that last for a lifetime.
This funding drive will buy the equipment to help more students to be part of the radio project and bring their views to the whole community and beyond. The project will expand into the middle schools of Frome, helping the year8 students with the transition to College, as well start to equip them with the skills they will need in future life. For this, we need to buy laptops, printer, headphones and monitors, and employ the services of a media production trainer.
For many young people, working with the Radio Club is enough to help them develop the confidence and skills that will last throughout their lives. However, some students need more intensive and professional support. 1 in 5 young people experience a mental health issue in any given year. Half of mental health problems are established by the age of 14. By addressing these problems early, our young people can grow to be healthy and fulfilled individuals who will make a valuable contribution to our community. Part of the funding we raise will be used to provide professional specialist one-to-one counselling support to those young people that will benefit from it.
Please give what you can by visiting www.frome.fm/24, and don’t forget to tune in from midday on 5 May for 24 hours! More information and a schedule for the 24 hours is here.
If you are a small business and want to sponsor the children on this day, please go to the donation page to donate a minimum of £25. Make sure to add ‘Business sponsor’ to your message and we’ll get in touch with you for more details. Business sponsors will receive a special poster, created by the college, to display in a window or to keep as a memento. Logos/links will be placed on the 24/hour takeover schedule page and your business will get mentioned on air during the day. For privacy reasons, we are unable to respond to Anonymous donations.
