Festival Friday: One way of life, that's your own... in a range of flavours

A Literary Lunch with a difference at the Archangel as Daisy Behagg revisited Frome in her own special way, by train & Raleigh bicycle, to give a fabulous reading of her recent poems to a rapt room. Daisy writes about love and pain and ordinary life in a way that is both accessible & astonishing. This delightfully unstuffy event was organised as a fundraiser for the Wessex MS Therapy Centre by Rosie Finnegan, with Archangel donating our excellent 2-course meal. stayed for a mooch around before making her eco-friendly way back to Brighton, promising to return ~ hopefully when her winning Templar pamphlet Cockpit Syndrome is out.

Teatime Treats at the Library is a chance for all our local children's authors ~ there are quite a few ~ to meet their readers, with crayons & card & stick-ons for the kids and cake for everyone. It's always a delightful event, thanks to Wendy Miller-Williams and her team. Here's Anna Shuttleworth, writer/illustrator, also exhibiting in the Open Studios trail at the Bennett Centre.
Change of tempo next with The Levellers at Cheese & Grain, with 800+ enthustiastic loyal supporters punching the air as the band opened with It's a beautiful day, and by One Way of Life we were all pogoing through a fine mist of beer spray.  Another vintage band that sound as high-energy great as they did in the 1980s...And then a stroll up the moonlit streets for another change of style.
 Prohibition Night at the Archangel promised song and burlesque and gin. I'm not a spirit drinker so I joined Morgan & partner Tom and shared their champagne, enjoying the effervescent atmosphere, possibly down to the free cocktails, and great songs from Cherry Bomb. My highlight though was the burlesque fan dance from Chilli Martini, gorgeous and alluring and provocatively discreet... until the final dramatic reveal. A day of variety, you could say.