Shepton Mallet Nub News aims to be supportive to every element of the town's community from business and shops to people and charities and clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and is desperate to get back to normal.

We are profiling some of these local businesses and groups regularly over coming weeks in a feature called UP CLOSE IN SHEPTON MALLET in the hope that we can be a supportive springboard for their full return to business as usual.

Today we talk to Helen Reader, well known in the town as the Fairy Godmother, who shares her thoughts on working in the town and her plans for the future.

During an in-depth Q and A session she also chooses which famous person she would like to play her in a movie about her life.

• ****

Tell us how did you come to open in Shepton Mallet and what were the key considerations about moving here?

We moved to Shepton Mallet from Bristol six-and-a-half years ago. My background is in junior school education.

On moving to Shepton the idea was for me to take things slower as I had been diagnosed with CFS/ME/Fibromyalgia. For a while I did just that and then I began chatting to people and noticed how small the weekly Friday market was and how there seemed to be continual moaning about it.

We had visited Frome market and seen the suitcase traders, and I thought I could bring the concept to Shepton, which of course I did. Even though people thought I was crazy.

I had my first pitch at the Friday market on Good Friday 2015, just over a year after moving here. By August that year up to 23 other suitcase traders also came along and so the Friday market had the most amazing feel to it again.

I also campaigned for a monthly Sunday market and the first trial one happened in November 2016 and was an incredible success. At about the same time the old pet shop at the bottom of town was going to have work started on it, such as a new floor and new walls, and so I seized the opportunity to open a shop, but not just any shop, I wanted a magical shop, something completely different, all the things that I loved.

Tell us a bit about your personal business background Helen and how you ended up as the Fairy Godmother?

Because of the involvement I had with attracting other traders to the Friday market, running a successful petition for free parking on Friday morning market days and the Sunday markets, people nicknamed me Shepton's Fairy Godmother so when I opened the shop that became the obvious choice to call it. I worked before in education supporting SEN pupils through mainstream school and was head of pastoral care and counselled bereaved children.

What do you like about Shepton Mallet?

I love the friendliness here and the sense of community. It's so different to where I lived in Bristol.

You have had to close your shop in town - what are your plans now?

It's not the pandemic that has forced me to shut my shop but the lack of maintenance by the landlord. Sadly the building has not been looked after and it is beginning to fail.

The flooring in my shop was replaced approximately four years ago, along with new stud walls, which had been necessary due to holes appearing in the floor. Sadly the same thing has happened again and the shop has become unfit for purpose and too dangerous to work in.

What other businesses do you like and use in Shepton Mallet?

This is a hard question, there are so many other fabulous businesses in Shepton. I love Loft, Maggie who runs it is super friendly and her shop is really quirky. She's let me put a glass cabinet with fairy garden goods in it.

The lockdown has been very difficult for many people - how do you think that Shepton as a town has coped?

I think Shepton has coped brilliantly, there was a host of volunteers to aid those who were shielding, local businesses adapted so they were still able to serve their customers, quite often with free delivery. Again the sense of community all coming together.

If there was one thing in the town you would change, what would it be?

I think landlords should look after their buildings, failure to do so should be penalised heavily. Too many beautiful buildings are being left to run into disrepair.

It's very sad and makes me very cross. The building my shop was in is beautiful, absolutely stunning and I think that it's criminal that it's not been looked after.

You have been involved in a number of events in Shepton - what has been your favourite one and why?

The first Sunday market in November 2016 has to be my favourite, after months of pleading with Mendip District Council to allow a trial they finally agreed. So much hard work went in to that, so many nerves, so many, what ifs.

The nerves on the day were intense and the worry that no one or not many would turn up was huge. As it turns out it was estimated that around 4,000 attended and it was likened to Oxford Street in the local paper.

If you could choose one famous person to play you in a movie about your life, who would it be and why?

Reese Witherspoon because in her film Legally Blonde everyone thought she would fail, she worked hard and proved them wrong. When I first asked to sell cards from a suitcase at the Friday market everyone thought it would fail, but I worked hard.

This is not the end of the Fairy Godmother, there will still be the snow machine at Christmas when the children break up from school. Santa's post box will still be happen, and sweet deliveries - hampers, party cones, etc - will continue.

Go to Helen's website:

Check out Helen's website and work here