Shepton Mallet's Victorian Event

As the excitement began to brew yesterday afternoon on the Market Place in Shepton Mallet, local residents started to arrive in suitable Victorian attire in order to celebrate in style the premier showing of Turn Back Time; the High Street on BBC1.

Will the chimney sweep looked as if he'd already done a hard days work...
And I was suitably dressed in my work wear ready for a busy evening in my shop.

I had a rather nice surprise before the event kicked-off. My hubby arrived in full Victorian dress, which he had secretly hired for the day, so that he could give me a hand behind the counter! Doesn't he look dapper?! ;-)

With a helping hand in my shop, I was able to nip around the corner to Town Street and to congratulate Mandy and Zoe on the opening of their fabulous retro boutique WooHoo!

Photo courtesy of No.21.

They were both very excited, as they had just been filmed for BBC Points West, our local news programme. The interior of the shop is fabulous, very Biba-esque in style and full of wearable vintage garments and accessories. Its wonderful news to have another new shop open on the high street.

As the time ticked on, the crowds arrived for the well planned Victorian Event.

Officially opened at 3pm by the Town Crier, of course.

Then the fun could begin...

I had some very elegant customers visit my shop - More photos can be seen on Belinda's blog here.

It was wonderful that so many made such an effort to turn back time.

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Later in the evening, the stunningly beautiful Carole came to see me. Carole is a dealer in antique costume and she very kindly brought me an authentic Victorian skirt to try on...

Luckily I could just fasten it around my waist(!) and so I spent the rest of the evening in this fabulous silk and lace skirt, with train.

Thank you to Isabelle and Alan for taking this photo, which I may use in a collage I have planned to display in my shop, to celebrate the making of the BBC series.

Photo also courtesy of Isabelle and Alan - thank you!

Later in the evening I had a visit from BBC's Somerset Radio, Pete Simpson. We started chatting and he asked how I'd feel about a short interview for the local radio. I jokingly replied that as long as it didn't go out live, that would be fine...'Er, no, it would be live', I was told. Those who know me well, know that I am a bit of a shrinking violet, so I'm still at a loss as to why I said 'yes'! I was told it would be just yes and no answers (which it wasn't!), and so at around 5.10pm my little interview went out on the radio waves. If you'd like to hear my rather nervous piece, you can find the interview here - its a three hour long show, but you can move the slider to 1:08:45 to hear my section.

The Victorian Event carried on well into the evening, and was also covered live by the local news Points West on BBC1. The story is available for around the next 6 hours here, then it becomes archived, so I will try and trace it again later. Move the slider to 9.18 for the start of the report.

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A superb time was had by all. For me it confirmed my belief that the high street can be the hub of a community. When there is something going on in the town, people do come together. With more shops opening up in the town, they will have something to come in for...Lets hope Shepton Mallet can regenerate. It has had this wonderful opportunity, lets hope that those who can make a difference, will do what needs to be done.

Niki x