Page 41 - Market Times June 2021
P. 41

FEATURE • BRANDON 41
   Julie Jervis has been selling wool and haberdashery on the market for nearly two years
 Lekky Perry is doing well with her hot Thai food business she has brought onto the market
 Jo Stewart used to shop on the market and now sells green household products and refills there
The Rev Dennis Coburn has been a regular on the market throughout the pandemic where he and a band of church helpers run a hot drinks café from his caravan after the regular coffee morning in the church hall was not allowed because of COVID-19
 the plunge with a market stall selling wool and some haberdashery two years ago.
“My dream is to have my own shop but this is a really good start without the same risk and overheads as a shop,” Julie said.
Lekky knows all the ropes about market trading and has found her delicious Thai dishes are going down well in her local town.
“I miss my parents in Thailand, but I like being on this market because I can’t see my parents but there are a lot of older people coming to the market and that is the next best thing,” she said.
People of all ages, but particularly older people, have frequented one particular market unit.
Sharon succeeded in persuading the local church to move its regular coffee morning onto the market when it could no longer be safely held in the church hall due to COVID-19 rules.
By good luck, the Rev Dennis Coburn,
the Vicar of St Peter’s round the corner, and his wife owned a caravan which was perfect for brewing up on market day. An awning and tables and chairs completed the picture.
Dennis said: “It was Sharon’s idea at the start of the pandemic and I have been really surprised at how many older people have stopped for a hot drink and a chat, even in the cold and rain.”
It has been so well received the church plans to continue running the café once the pandemic is over to support the market and because locals seem to like it.
Sharon said keeping the market flourish- ing was now her big concern. “We don’t want to lose what has been achieved here so I am doing everything I can to keep things going,” said Sharon, who would be happy to recruit more traders to complement the current offer.
Free rent remains a good incentive, she says.
 FACTS & FIGURES
l Market Day: Thursday
l Market Rent: Free
l Brandon’s claim to fame: Located in Suffolk at the edge of the Fens and near the border with Norfolk, Brandon is a small rural town which is most famous for the flint which has been mined here since prehistoric times. The town was once a centre for the production of gun flints.
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