COMMUNITY radio station FromeFM will broadcast its first-ever play later this month.
The station has teamed up with town performing group, Dramakarma, for a performance of The Last Matron, set to hit the airwaves on October 29.
An original production, The Last Matron brings to life the “rich, often untold history of Keyford Asylum, a once-pivotal institution in the heart of Frome”, organisers said.
“First performed on stage in 2023 to wide acclaim, The Last Matron now reaches a broader audience through this atmospheric radio adaptation,” they went on.
“Written by Kevin Ross in association with Dramakarma and Keyford History Group, the play is inspired by real events, personal diaries and historical records spanning over a century.”
The story is set against the background of a crumbling institution facing demolition, with characters including a defiant young girl desperate to escape institutional life, elderly residents clashing and reminiscing and brave evacuee children confronting the chaos of WW2.
And at the heart of it all, the Matron – a stoic figure holding together the fragile threads of life inside the walls of the ‘home’.
READ MORE: Frome news from your Somerset Leveller
As the Matron bears witness to the spectres of the past, The Last Matron becomes more than a tale of loss – it’s a call to remember and honour the lives shaped within those historic walls.
Writer Kevin said: “This is not just a drama – it’s a tribute to a building that once was the soul of the community.
“Through radio, we’re able to breathe new life into the voices of those who walked it’s corridors.”
The Keyford Asylum was established in 1804, following the charitable legacy of Richard Stevens, a local currier who left funds to educate poor girls and care for elderly men in the town.
Serving multiple roles in the town over its 150-year history – including as a hospital to a military auxiliary during WW1 and a refuge for evacuees and a billet for soldiers in WW2 – the institution stood as a beacon of care and resilience until its demolition in 1957.
Now, decades later, The Last Matron ensures that the building’s legacy is not lost to time.
The Last Matron will premiere on FromeFM at 8pm on October 29. Tune in to 96.6FM, or simultaneously online at www.frome.fm.
READ MORE: History news from your Somerset Leveller
My great aunt, Eliza Matilda [Tillie] Moody was , at the 1881 census listed as at the Asylum. Her father Lemuel had been discharge, sick, from the Army after serving in the Turkish wars. He soon died leaving his wife with six young children. The Matron at that time was Miss Vardon, whose photo I have.
Tillie became a linfterm maid/companion to Mrs Lydia Flatman , wife of Edward Flatman, an Alderman of Frome, who ran a private boys school and was a Deacon of Zion Congergational Church.