Long Live The Frome Festival
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Frome Festival 2008 ended on an all-time high with more sell-out events than ever before.
Creative director Martin Dimery praised the town for supporting the ten-day arts celebration.
"Thanks to the people of Frome, the eighth Frome Festival has been a tremendous success.
"The community put their hands in their pockets and bought lots of tickets. That means we are in a position to put on another festival in 2009.
"Like Martin Bax before me, I want this festival to continue long into the future," he said.
Festival founder Martin Bax said: "It was a wonderful for me to see a concert all the way through! I would like to thank everyone involved for giving me such a good time. Everyone made a great fuss of me.
"It's the best possible present to see the festival carrying on. Let us hope that this major West Country event finally gets the official recognition it surely deserves."
Bob Morris said: "There has been a real buzz about this festival, and I have been delighted by many comments about the quality of the events.
"Most of those I went to were brilliant and spellbinding - and, since we trustees pay for our own tickets, exceptional value for money."
More than 150 events ranging from pop culture to horticulture ran from Friday 4 to Sunday 13 July.
Paul Merton brought his Impro chums, Mike McShane, Suki Watson, Richard Vrance and Lee Simpson, back to the Memorial Theatre for a third time.
Mike McShane flew in specially from Canada to do the gig on Tuesday 8 July. "If we could play In Frome every time, we would," he said.
One audience member, who had seen Merton's two previous performances in Frome, believed it to be the best of the lot. "The three Welsh pirates had me in tears," he said
Among many other sell-out events, the charity preview of Pixar's summer blockbuster WALL*E on Thursday 10 July saw organisers bringing in extra chairs from the foyer to accommodate everyone.
FilmFrome's Nicki Marshall said: "Everyone cheered and clapped at the end. The atmosphere was brilliant."
A Disney spokesman said: "We want to stay involved with Frome Festival. We like the community thing."
Festival classical consultant Jason Thornton, conductor of Bath Philharmonia, picked out Maria Garcia Angel's "astonishing" Chopin recital on Wednesday 9 July from this year's classical repertoire.
Thornton drew a standing ovation as conductor of Bath Philharmonia's Façade evening, with soprano Isabel Buchanan reading Edith Sitwell's comic prose, at Longleat House's Great Hall on Thursday 10 July.
Jazz diva Clare Teal, from Bath, and Asian folk singer Sheila Chandra, from Wells, delighted packed audiences at theor respective concerts on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 July.
Una Woodruff won the Evolver Prize 2008 for Striped Wallpaper (Watercolour, gouache and pastel) on display at Rook Lane Chapel.
Colin Smith, from Trowbridge, won the fifth Frome Short Story Competition with Memory . He fended off entries from as far away as Australia and Malta to become the first winner of the £300 prize to live near Frome.
The Kumon Children's Book Review Competition drew a high standard of entries. Viola Carrier won the up to 6 years category, Ruby Plaxton 7-9 years, Kalvin Carrier 10-12 years and Zoe Louise Ferguson 13 years and above.
The Corsley Dragons won this year's Frome Festival Quiz at The Mill at Rode, pipping Frome Library's Chocolate Teapots and 23 other teams to the inaugural Martin Bax Shield.
The Penny Hill Show on Saturday 5 July raised more than £400 for Frome's Postive Action on cancer charity by drawing patterns in loose change on Catherine Hill.
A Gala Weekend to celebrate Frome's new Community Hospital ended with Frome Cricket Club beating Lords Taverners on Sunday 13 July.
