Good morning, Mendips! Today we look up at the red lights on Pen Hill and ask what's really behind them, plus 37 free gigs land in Wells this weekend for the Jazz and Blues Festival, a campervan fire shuts the A361 near West Pennard, and a Queen Street building could become flats.
📅 Featured Event — the Wells Jazz and Blues Festival opens, 37 free gigs, no ticket needed
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style — A361 shut by campervan fire · Wells café and flats plan · Street schoolboy signs for Exeter City · Wells Esso's midnight bid
🔤 Uxbridge English Dictionary — today's entry
The Lights on Pen Hill — what's really behind that red glow
📆 What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
Featured Event
Wells Gets the Blues (and That's Good News!)
Fancy a weekend of live music without a ticket fee in sight? The Wells Jazz and Blues Festival returns from 25–27 September 2026, bringing 37 free gigs across three days to the heart of the city.
The White Hart, The Swan Hotel, Blossom's Café at Wells and The Rose and Crown will host a line-up of 35 groups. Look out for Tom Toomey, The Portway Blues Band and The Jury, alongside festival newcomers The Fabulous Red Diesel, Dedication Organ Quartet and Second Hand Sounds.
Behind the music are local residents Niamh McGrogan, Pete Thompson and Jenny Jeffreys, with a refreshingly simple ambition: making live performances accessible to everyone. As Niamh puts it, "we believe live music shouldn't always be behind a paywall."
Niamh’s band - Vintage Twist
There are no tickets to buy, and all funding goes directly into this non-profit community festival. Whether you're a committed jazz fan or simply fancy discovering something new, take a look at the full festival programme and plan your musical wander around Wells.
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🚧 Campervan Fire Shuts A361 Near West Pennard
A campervan was destroyed by fire near West Pennard yesterday afternoon, with emergency services extinguishing the blaze shortly after 12:23pm. No injuries were reported, but the fire damaged nearby hedgerows and the road surface. The A361 remains closed in both directions between Pilton Hill and Glastonbury while repairs are carried out, and police are advising motorists to find alternative routes.
⚽ Street Schoolboy Signs for Exeter City's U13s
Maverick Murphy, a Year 8 pupil at Millfield Prep in Street, has signed with Exeter City's U13 academy after an eight-week trial. He'll train three times a week and play matches on Sundays alongside his studies. Millfield's head of football, Rhys Mansell, praised him as having "outstanding qualities, both as a player and as a young person."
⛽ Wells Esso Seeks Permission to Stay Open Until Midnight
Motor Fuel Group has submitted plans for the Wells Esso on Bath Road to open from 6am to midnight daily, extending its current 10pm closing time. The extended hours would cover fuel sales only, with no servicing or deliveries after dark. The company argues the change would help emergency vehicles, shift workers and late-night travellers, and says noise concerns would be managed through staff presence and CCTV.
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
P
Politician
Famous Italian painting of a parrot.
Potpourri
The aroma of dried Teletubby.
Precursor
Someone who swears before the bad thing has happened.
Propagate
Replacement for the old wooden one.
Psychedelia
Mental cook.
The Lights on Pen Hill
Anyone crossing the southern Mendips after dark knows the sight. Above Wells, a column of red lights climbs into the night sky: six pairs stacked one above another, and two more at the very top. Lose your way in the lanes and you only have to look up. On a clear night the lights can be seen across most of the Somerset Levels and even from South Wales.
This is the Mendip mast on Pen Hill. At 293 metres it is the tallest structure in the South West. Built in 1967, it almost ended up elsewhere. The BBC's first choice was near East Harptree, until Bristol Corporation objected in 1964 that a mast there would affect Lulsgate airport. Pen Hill, found in 1965, was second best.
BBC2 began broadcasting from the mast on 1 December 1969, and BBC1 and HTV West followed in May 1970. For the first time the West Country had television of its own, instead of sharing a transmitter with South Wales. Even so, many Cardiff homes pointed their aerials at Mendip, preferring Channel 4 to S4C.
For decades the mast stood taller still. A cylinder of analogue aerials on top took it to 305 metres, putting those aerials nearly 600 metres above sea level, among the highest in the UK. They came down with the switch to digital in 2010.
Now its future is in question. The government is consulting on whether to end aerial TV in 2034 or 2044. A National Preparedness Commission report says Mendip should stay on air until at least 2044, because masts keep broadcasting when broadband and mobile networks fail. In 2021 a fire destroyed Mendip's identical twin at Bilsdale in North Yorkshire, and 600,000 homes lost their signal.
The mast's oldest neighbour has seen far bigger changes. Just to its west lies the Pen Hill long barrow, a Neolithic burial mound 43 metres long, raised some 5,000 years ago by farmers who chose this hilltop for their dead. One of the mast's concrete anchors now sits where the barrow's southern ditch used to be.
What would those farmers make of the steel giant beside them? They might understand it. They, too, built on the highest ground they could find, to leave a mark seen for miles around.
The barrow survived the tanks that churned across Pen Hill in the Second World War. It may well outlast the television age too.
Rest of the week (24–27 September)
Thursday, 24 September
Wells Jazz and Blues Festival — opens today, 2pm-10pm, venues across Wells. See Featured Event above.
Walk & Wine Thursday — 6pm-7pm, Wells Market Place (meet near Penniless Porch). Free weekly circular walk for women. More info
Open Mic Night — 6:30pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. More info
True Foxes – Live At The Tree House — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. More info
Art Bank Introducing: The Blue School Rock & Pop Showcase — The Art Bank, 13 High Street, Shepton Mallet. More info
Lilith: The Other Side of the Story — Strode Theatre, Street. More info
Spa Weekend — Strode Theatre, Street. More info
Little Seedlings Parent & Toddler Group — 10am-11:30am, forest school site, Shepton Mallet. £8 per session. More info
Friday, 25 September
Wells Jazz and Blues Festival — day two, 2pm-10pm, venues across Wells. More info
The Amazons — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. More info
Mobius Loop | Candlelit Concert — evening, St Benedict's Church, Glastonbury. Folk laments and peace anthems by candlelight. More info
Music Bingo — 8:30pm, Bluebird Cafe & Bar, Wedmore. Free entry. More info
Tony — Strode Theatre, Street. More info
Bitter Christmas — Strode Theatre, Street. Runs to 30 September. More info
Saturday, 26 September
Wells Jazz and Blues Festival — final day, 2pm-10pm, venues across Wells. More info
Wells Cathedral Cider & Cheese Festival — noon-9pm, Wells Cathedral. Free entry; the best of West Country cider and cheese beneath the nave, with live music and kids' entertainment. More info
Through The Ages at Glastonbury Abbey — 10am-5pm (also Sunday), Main Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey. More info
This Ain't Texas — Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet. Country and western festival with tribute acts, BBQ and axe throwing. More info
Step by Step Performances — midday, Shoemakers Museum, Street. More info
Magnum — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. More info
Street Repair Cafe — 10am-12pm, Quaker Meeting House, Street. Free — bring broken items for volunteer repairers to try to fix. More info
Sam Evans — 8:30pm, Bluebird Cafe & Bar, Wedmore. Blues, soul, jazz and funk. More info
Bingo Night — Wells Scout Hut, Kennion Road. More info
Late Fame — Strode Theatre, Street. More info
Sunday, 27 September
Through The Ages at Glastonbury Abbey — day two, 10am-5pm, Main Abbey — see Saturday above.
Shepton Mallet Sunday Market — 10am-3pm, Market Place, Shepton Mallet. More info
Mark Pembrey Jazz Trio — 2:30pm-4:30pm, Bluebird Cafe & Bar, Wedmore. More info
New Amen Corner — Bringing Back the 60s, Soul and Motown — Strode Theatre, Street. More info
🗓️ Coming Up
Wells Food Festival — Wells city centre. Sunday 11 October, 10:30am-4:30pm.
Somerset Guy Fawkes Carnival Circuit — Wells, Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet. Dates confirmed for November.
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
Pressure [12A]
Practical Magic 2 [12A]
Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom [U]
🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of 24 September
It's a settled, mild week for the Mendips. Thursday stays cloudy and dry at 21°C, then skies clear into the weekend: Friday is the warmest day, sunny with a high of 22°C, before a cooler, sunny Saturday at 18°C and a sunny Sunday at 20°C. Winds stay light throughout and no rain is expected — good news for both the Jazz and Blues Festival and Saturday's Cider & Cheese Festival.
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Paul Branston, Editor
Hi, I'm Paul Branston and I publish the Mendiplodocus every morning, Monday to Friday. Each issue goes out to a growing base of thousands of local residents who want to keep up to date with events and local news. If you have events or news to share or you have a local business to promote, please get in touch.
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