UP CLOSE: Sue Ayton, Shepton Mallet entrepreneur and community activist

Shepton Mallet Nub News aims to be supportive to every element of the town's community from business and shops to people and charities, 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 Sue Ayton, the driving force behind a number of Shepton Mallet businesses and projects including the Pocket Money Studio and Ayton System Software, who shares her thoughts on living in the town and her plans for the future.

During an in-depth Q and A session she also talks about what she would change in Shepton Mallet to make it better for businesses.

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

I used to teach beauty therapy at Lowestoft College in East Anglia. My head of department sent me on a course at a private college in Bath which would enable me to apply for promotion while keeping my teaching job.

When I arrived in the South West I just fell in love with it and didn't want to return. There were no key considerations because I arrived with 50p and a defunct credit card.

So every aspect of my beginnings in Somerset were a knee-jerk reaction to that initial decision. I soon began teaching beauty therapy and aromatherapy at University Centre Somerset and City of Bath College.

Money was scarce and house prices in Shepton were about £10,000 to £20,000 less than anywhere else in the area so I decided that this was going to be my forever home. I haven't looked back, although I'm pleased to say that property prices now match other towns.

Tell us a bit about your personal business background Sue and how you ended up undertaking the wide variety of organisations you are involved with?

Business has always fascinated me for many reasons, one of which has never been money. I get bored very easily.

I was in business at 19 selling leftover cloth from clothing factories and making garments alongside teaching in night school. Broadly speaking I enjoy making solutions and still feel afflicted by the mad inventor gene on most days.

I invented a couple of products which my then partner, Johnny Bennett, helped me to patent. We had great fun inventing various things together and invention was the main focus of our relationship for nearly a decade, along with music.

He was at the time managing Ozric Tentacles. Through Johnny I learned a little about computing and an awful lot about music and sculpture.

I did take one of my inventions on Dragon's Den which was a bit if fun. It was an aerosol leg wax and I managed to wax Richard Farleigh's legs, but I didn't get an investment.

When Johnny died I finally put the patents to rest and I found I had a knack for creating internet solutions. My main invention is Ayton System Software which provides financially for my family and an amazing team of 14 staff.

The software augments research in any language anywhere in the world. We always invest some of the profit in community activities. My son Rob Ayton has taken over a large chunk of business management to allow me time to enjoy my community.

Music and art are my two main passions aside of business. I'm a second-time-around member of Shepton Mallet Art (SMART).

In the 90s SMART exhibited in and around Shepton and Jeff Body was the main lead. We both did a stone carving course at Shute Farm and tried to get sculpture tracks embedded in and around Shepton.

I was largely inspired by Sir David Wynne who was the late Johnny's father. But while Jeff took sculpture to a professional level, I only ever maintained it as a hobby.

I was lucky enough to film Sir David a couple of years before he passed away and I still feel a compelling sense of duty to spill sculpture onto our local landscapes. And I still feel grateful to be involved in music. By sheer coincidence I sold a franchise of my research business to an artist and repertoire manager who is highly successful and I gained yet another insight into the music industry.

Today SMART has some amazing members with a wide range of skills and contacts and we aspire to receive a sizeable grant for Shepton Mallet to make a permanent arts centre one day. Who knows... maybe we will exhibit a David Wynne in it one day.

I have a new project under way right now at Five Trees, Bowlish. I am making a national collection of cosmetic plants and hope to build a classroom soon to teach Cosmetic Formulation and provide plant specimens for botanical and medical research in conjunction with Kew Gardens and Exeter University.

Meanwhile my daughter Millie, and her partner Jake are opening Eco Food Creations on the same site. Its been very exciting to watch the development of an aquaponics farm and its not been easy during the Covid changes.

Between the two businesses we will be offering a wide range of outdoor courses as well as cookery at some point in 2021. And we will be making a feature gateway from the town to the East Mendip Way via a public footpath that leads through our land in the direction of Rock Farm, the Food Forest Project and the Good Life Projects.

I have been learning a lot about the history of Five Trees from the Darshill and Bowlish Conservation Society. It used to be owned by the Strode family and records go back as far as 1700s.

I have a feeling that this project will be keeping me busy for a very long time and I can't wait to reveal more as it develops. I've been in the cosmetics industry since I was 16 so you can imagine what a privilege it will be to finish my career on this note.

What do you like about Shepton Mallet? How are you involved in the local community?

Arriving in a new town with little to no money enables you to meet with every part of society. I had a lot of support from friends and neighbours in the early days.

In fact I had so much help that I was able to host children from Chernobyl for a few years as well as raising my own. This was a great start in understanding the good things about Shepton Mallet.

I get involved in the local community by trying to channel my own business success into other people's businesses. I voluntarily promote a number of music businesses to ensure they get the greatest exposure possible and now this is more critical than ever.

I set up Shepton Mallet Business as a free place to advertise and I vetted it very carefully in the early days to ensure it really was only businesses based in Shepton Mallet. I still fend off intruders daily.

I helped to found Radio Shepton and had a great time interviewing as many famous people as possible. It has taken me to many back stage after parties and interviews and I look forward to reporting again as and when the festivals are allowed to begin.

My favourite interview was with Jack Bessant from Reef who I nearly mistook for a Jehovah Witness when he arrived on my doorstep with a book under his arm. I'd forgotten he was coming and I'd got a band recording a song for Extinction Rebellion in the studio so Jack and I took up office in my kitchen and mainly talked about kids, farms and Cheddar skate parks over a cuppa. Not very rock and roll but I just loved it.

I helped to set up Sustainable Shepton Mallet which was a project highlighting several ecologically-friendly activities which were eventually superseded by other charities and entities. But it still exists as a Facebook forum for anything local and eco-friendly: events, volunteer opportunities and advice. I sometimes use the group to promote the bee-keeping course ran by the SBKA.

My mum bought me a beehive as a gift one year. I haven't made a great bee-keeper and I'm now allergic to bee stings. I did the SBKA course at Whitstone School and I can't recommend it highly enough. I'm currently making a free space for bee-keepers at Five Trees so don't let lack of garden space put you off doing it for yourself.

The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on many businesses and organisations - what are your plans?

My business employs 14 staff in the UK and has partners in India, Germany and other parts of the world. Many overseas colleagues are far worse off than us with our Indian partner having only hours in which to close his research clinic down. Its been tough to watch.

My staff were packed off to work from home at the very beginning of the pandemic, leaving only two staff in our offices at Cranmore. My family and I panicked and I sandwiched my day job with early morning and late evening shifts trying to win new business on Linked In. We're still doing it today.

All of our directors literally still work around the clock to make the business as robust as possible and keep our staff in work. We handle cosmetics from all parts of the world including China and we lead the way in developing quarantine procedures and safe working practices for handling cosmetics.

We've grown 23 per cent since the pandemic began and we want to plough the additional profits into the Five Trees National Cosmetics Gardens project. The gardens will give local people something to do and lift their spirits.

There will eventually be volunteer opportunities as well as employment and we will be providing healthy food and healthy lifestyles for people to enjoy that will help us to survive Covid both mentally and physically. I can't think of a better way to use some of our profits.

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

I am loving Karen's online eco friendly shop, My Coffee Stop, right now. Its bang on the nail for what we need today. Karen mixes environmentally friendly stock with Covid-safe shopping.

I love the Shrubbery too. It has one of the nicest terraces on which to enjoy a tipple in the sunshine and you can also have a bite to eat.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the music scene at the Horseshoe is going to look like as its under new ownership. Its definitely a venue to watch.

I love the luxury and feel of Pillars and, of course, I love what Dimi and James are doing in the Art Bank. It has rejuvenated and lit up the town centre. I've covered a few events at the Art Bank for Radio Shepton and there's always something exquisite going on.

And I love Right Price DIY too. I don't think I've ever left there without getting the very widget I was after. Suzie and Mark have been extremely helpful and loyal over many years struggling with various projects.

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

Shepton has been well educated by our councillors and our ambulance crew who have regularly provided detailed highly local updates on social media. This has been so helpful, not just for business but for personal decisions too.

Having an outdoor market has been a major asset during the pandemic but shop owners have also been quick to respond by changing their models to keep us safe. And Hazel Hurst of Albion Woods Show Tents at Cannards has even set up a business making transparent screens for hospitals and businesses.

I feel we must now all support our shop owners by only shopping locally as and when we can, especially with the announcement of the new national lockdown. I think Shepton has coped well and will continue to do so.

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

The one way! The one way is dreadful for trade. Of course we don't want to mix traffic with pedestrians but we do want people to know what's under the bonnet when they drive through town.

If cars drove down the High Street rather than up, they would see the town centre unfold in front of them. This wasn't actually my idea and I'm not sure I can reveal whose idea it was but I'm in full support.

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

Without a shadow of doubt, the Shepton Mallet Chamber of Commerce Food Crawl has been my favourite event. It showed what's possible when businesses unite in their marketing activities.

Wandering from one eating place to another, sampling the best that chefs could offer, passing friends in the streets at night and comparing menus while getting to know some restaurants that I had previously missed.

I absolutely loved it and hope that more restaurants will join the chamber this year and we can plan another one when the government allows. Membership is free until December 31 and you can find out more at their website.

You not only run businesses in town, but also a not-for-profit enterprise as well. Can you tell us about that?

Sure. My not-for-profit enterprise is Pocket Money Studio.

In 2015 I had a car crash and craniotomy and I lost my driving licence. So I couldn't go anywhere. We didn't have a recording studio in Shepton Mallet so I decided to make one at home.

I called it Pocket Money Studio to encourage people to come and record here for little to no money. Doug Siddons and Sofie Hunter from Maltings Audio, our local PA hire and sound engineers, helped me to make it happen and we have recorded about 15 EPs since Michael Eavis opened it in 2017.

Recording engineers now include Will Angeloro, Steve of Fractal Soup, Brian Stewart and Al Cosnett. They may make a small charge but I don't charge for studio hire.

I use the studio to promote a few bands and I'm very proud to say that one of them, No Thursday War, made it to the finals of Metal 2 The Masses. This has been one of my favourite times ever. Fun, exciting and so many laughs.

We've had a few famous people visit the studio and this enabled me to put a great team of judges together for The Snowdrop Songwriting Competition including Chris Difford, Rachel Mason, Sally Howell and Michael Eavis. And you know Shepton is very big on snowdrops!

And it also lead naturally into helping to launch Radio Shepton. Its still going today in a podcast format and perfect for highlighting more than 100 Shepton-based community groups.