A mother and daughter from Paulton unable to attend their usual craft fair have decided to set up a regular event of their own in the hope of bringing the community together whilst selling their chocolate treats.

Shaline Coles and Tracey Betts are organising a monthly Craft and Gift Fair in Midsomer Norton at the Somer Centre, with the first Fair launching this Saturday, from 9 am - 1 pm.

Lots of local crafters will be joining them, with 27 stalls booked already!

Whilst the December and January Fairs will fall on the second Saturday of the month, the event will generally fall on the first Saturday, and the pair are looking forward to fully establishing the event in the town as a permanent fixture (keep an eye on The Journal’s events pages for exact dates).

Each fair will have a chosen charity with a stall given to them free of charge – the November Fair will be selling poppies, with The Great Western Air Ambulance booked for December, where Father Christmas will also be making a guest appearance!

Shaline explains: “We thought after such a difficult time it would be lovely to have a place to go and meet other crafters and customers, to be able to get that face to face interaction again and help small businesses like my own to be seen. People can come and have a drink and browse our fantastic stalls and help grow awareness of all the amazingly talented people in this area.

“We always do what we can to support charities, so we thought it would be great to be able to use the Fair to help them raise much needed funds.”