Who are we?

We’re ordinary Shepton Mallet residents.
We’re not involved with national party politics.
We just get things done!

What do we do?

We listen to people in the town and work to support their projects to make Shepton Mallet a better place for residents, businesses and visitors alike.

Some of this is achieved directly by members of the Future Shepton group working with the community, some is achieved by elected Future Shepton councillors working on the Town Council and some by all working together

Who can be part of it?          

Anyone. Anyone can come to our group meetings, but if you want to come regularly then please become a member of Future Shepton. £1 gets you membership and adds you to the membership and mailing list.

We meet once a month on a weekday evening for a social at someone’s house to have a catch up and to talk about how different projects are progressing, how we could help each other and to introduce new members to the group. If you can’t make these socials then talk to us about other ways you can be part of the group and we can meet up in a way that suits you.

Some members of the monthly group give up more of their time to help coordinate and facilitate specific projects and work with the Future Shepton councillors to support the work they do on the Town Council. We welcome anyone who wants to help with this kind of work and push projects forward.

How we do it

With people like you! We are growing a group of diverse members from all walks of life who are able to connect with all sorts of other people and groups living and working in Shepton. Some of us were already involved with community schemes like Community Fridge, Shepton Skatepark, Dementia Action Alliance and the Snowdrop Festival, others work in health and social care, or run small businesses or simply love living in the town and want to help make it better for everyone.

As a group, we always want to find out what is going on and see how it can be promoted so more people can benefit or get involved. We are also always asking  people how they would like to see the town develop in the future, what new opportunities they would like to have and how we can help make them happen. We need lots of people with lots of different experience to help us do this. If you join the group then perhaps you could help make some of these connections, or gather information, discuss options for new projects, give a new perspective, or undertake work on specific projects to help positive change happen.

Ways of Working       

We like things to be clear and simple, so we don’t have an encyclopaedic manifesto or a bureaucratic constitution, but instead we have an honest set of ways of working that all our members agree to:        

Action – our purpose is to make decisions and take actions for the clear benefit of the town Transparency – our decisions will be made in an open and understandable manner
Representation – to engage, listen and act in the best interests of the community we serve Respect – we understand that everyone has an equal voice and needs to be listened to
Empowerment – to recognise and use the full range of talent available in Shepton Mallet
Independence – we will keep national politics out of our decision-making and operations

Got a question?         

Just ask us – you can reach us through our website, via e-mail or on social media, all the details you need are here. Thanks for your time – we hope to see you soon!