THE owners of a Bridgwater gallery are celebrating 20 years of putting customers in the picture, whether it is

The Armoury Gallery, in St Mary Street, is celebrating two decades of helping customers with their picture framing needs.

The gallery works by the motto ‘You name it, we frame it’ and has seen a myriad items come through the door with one thing in common – they need to be framed.

Ann Caddick, who owns the gallery with her business partner Mike Milton, said the range of items which have been framed has grown in recent years.

“Although picture frames are our mainstay, we are framing more and more memorabilia items in recent years,” she said.

“We have framed rugby shirts, antique fishing reels, and an arrow from the film The Scorpion King, a poppy from the Tower of London war memorial, signed photos, all sorts.”

She said animals were among items brought in by customers.

“Possibly the oddest item we have framed is a scorpion,” Ann explained.

“A customer had been working out in the Middle East and while he was out there he took off his boot one day, only for a scorpion to fall out of it.

“Having been told this was lucky by locals, he had it mounted on a wooden block and it was poorly stuck into a Perspex frame.

“When he was back in Bridgwater we managed to remove the Perspex and set the scorpion into a frame.”

Ann said she would like to thank all the loyal customers the gallery has had over the years and looks forward to meeting all the new customers in the future.

She said: “I don’t really think there is any big secret to running a small business, we just try to satisfy our customers and help them to choose the right frames.”

The gallery has been open for 35 years overall, but was taken over by Ann and Michael in 1995.

As well as offering the bespoke framing service, The Armoury Gallery also stocks a wide range of locally handmade cards and a special range of memory frames, which are the perfect gift for any occasion whether it is a wedding, anniversary, newborn or even the arrival of a new puppy.

People can drop in for help and advice, or call the gallery on 01278 429768.