The story of how Shepton Mallet saved its library is being retold in a picture book – and the authors have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise £2,000 to pay for the publishing.

Helen and Rob Heaton have written The Town That Saved Its Library, re-living the campaign.

Both Helen and Rob are trained teachers – Rob is a biology teacher in a secondary school and Helen is a school librarian – and they say they both know the importance of books and how they can teach people about historical events as well as act as a memorial to ground-breaking efforts. The couple said: "In a time when local libraries are a dying breed, this book is to be a ray of hope for other libraries that may be facing similar cutbacks and problems as well as documenting this turning point in our town's history. So we decided to create a picture book to tell the full story!" Children in the town have been asked to send in drawings to illustrate the book, and the plan is to use as many of them as possible. All the entries will be displayed at an exhibition later this year or early 2023.

The book will be officially launched at Literally Shepton on November 19.

If you would like to make a donation you can visit the Kickstarter page HERE