FROME gift shop owner, Sarah Lloyd Williams, found a way of making local people happy while her shop was closed during lockdown.
Mark Captain reports, “At first, Sarah relished the opportunity to spend every day with her dog, Chester, taking him with other dogs out for walks. However, by nature, she is a hands-on person and soon realised she needed to find something to fill her time other than dog walking and cleaning.
“She had found out that someone local to her had been having a hard time. “
Sarah said, “I knew this lady slightly and wondered if there was anything I could do to help. I didn’t feel that I knew her enough to contact her offering assistance, so instead I decided to leave a little gift on her doorstep.”
She called it a Happy Bag, containing a copy of The Happy Newspaper (a quarterly newspaper by Emily Coxhead containing nothing but good news), a chocolate bar, bath bomb and a little note.
The good deed went down so well that the recipient messaged Sarah to ask if she could buy a Happy Bag for her friend. “I didn’t want any money,” Sarah explained, “this was something small that I could do with items that I already sell in Figgins, so I delivered a Happy Bag to her friend and it went from there.”
Mark Captain continued, “She ended up delivering a number of bags in the local area and it led to doing a few other little things for people, such as picking up medicines, shopping and more dog walking.
“For Sarah, this became a lovely way to connect with people that she barely knew, or had never met before, and it made lockdown much easier to navigate: “Giving away some Happy Bags certainly made me feel much happier. It’s a tiny thing, but sometimes that’s all it takes to make someone’s day,” she says.
Figgins has now reopened, with Sarah taking steps to make sure her shop is safer with a screen, hand sanitising stations, floor stickers and limiting the number of people in the shop at any one time. She is also donating a Happy Bag every week to someone in the local community.”
Pictured: Sarah outside Figgins by Mark Captain.
![Town-wide programme brings month of social activities in May
A month-long programme of activities and events is set to take place across the town in May as part of an initiative encouraging residents to connect with themselves, each other and local places.
The scheme, Frome Connects, will run throughout the month and includes a mix of social activities, creative events and informal meet-ups in community spaces.
Highlights include the return of Dress Up Fridays, which began during lockdown and invites people to wear formal clothing or fancy dress and turn the town into their catwalk each Friday.
Set-piece moments include a Kate Bush-themed flashmob (Running Up That [Catherine] Hill) on 30th May, followed by a bell peal at St John’s Church where the bells will play Running Up That Hill.
There will also be a whole-town drone photo on Friday 30th May, with everyone encouraged to ‘look up’ at around 12.30pm.
Read more on our website, the link is in our bio.
Pictured: l-r Jenny Hartnoll and Ginny Adams](https://scontent-lhr6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/684201964_18069463433653265_2722712448142239347_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=109&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiRkVFRC5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=lpPD1lkIpzUQ7kNvwGc5hdb&_nc_oc=Adpzr2hnI58mBzDyMxcnkdK_pr7-84FAARfoTk3dgtKJKwIbvYouQytEkAdXpaUAvxU&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr6-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=QKz5uslOl1wFJGffej9rcQ&_nc_tpa=Q5bMBQEhS3JmIIRGVtdvc7NeDg-szHPgOZvSeqR7PYflJsqm1cp0XCNujCDPTyODWI0mmJV4mujraOr9&oh=00_Af2_0pgXuakjMTfphq9JSx7v6C2RU__qPFT1d7jQmFh5EA&oe=69F7C6AA "Town-wide programme brings month of social activities in May
A month-long programme of activities and events is set to take place across the town in May as part of an initiative encouraging residents to connect with themselves, each other and local places.
The scheme, Frome Connects, will run throughout the month and includes a mix of social activities, creative events and informal meet-ups in community spaces.
Highlights include the return of Dress Up Fridays, which began during lockdown and invites people to wear formal clothing or fancy dress and turn the town into their catwalk each Friday.
Set-piece moments include a Kate Bush-themed flashmob (Running Up That [Catherine] Hill) on 30th May, followed by a bell peal at St John’s Church where the bells will play Running Up That Hill.
There will also be a whole-town drone photo on Friday 30th May, with everyone encouraged to ‘look up’ at around 12.30pm.
Read more on our website, the link is in our bio.
Pictured: l-r Jenny Hartnoll and Ginny Adams")
