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Good morning, Mendips! The Wells Festival of Literature opens on Friday and Cedars Hall is about to fill with authors, Wells Cathedral goes pop with Celine Dion and Coldplay by candlelight, and a pub called the Sheep & Penguin has made an awards final. Grab a cuppa and have a scroll.
📅 Featured Event — Celine Dion and Coldplay by Candlelight at Wells Cathedral
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style — Wells resilience plan · Sheep & Penguin awards final · Glastonbury house-hunters
🔤 Uxbridge English Dictionary — today's entry
📖 Nine Days of Wonder — the Wells Festival of Literature opens on Friday
🗓️ What's On This Week — Wednesday to Sunday across the Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
Featured Event: Celine Dion and Coldplay by Candlelight at Wells Cathedral
Two nights, two of the biggest pop catalogues going, and one rather lovely setting. On Friday 16 October January Butler, billed as the UK's leading Céline Dion tribute, brings her live band to the cathedral for 'My Heart Will Go On', 'Because You Loved Me' and 'All By Myself'. On Saturday 17 October a vocal cast and live band, billed as direct from the West End, take on Coldplay's biggest hits, including 'Viva La Vida', 'Hymn For The Weekend', 'Yellow' and 'The Scientist'. Both nights start at 7.30pm and wrap up around 9.30pm.
Candlelit pop in a medieval cathedral is a proper treat. You get the singalong without the sticky floor, and nobody will judge you for a tear during the big key change. The cathedral listing doesn't show ticket prices, so check the booking pages before you set your heart on a front row.
If you fancy making an occasion of it, Wells Art Contemporary is on in the cathedral until Saturday 7 November (Monday to Saturday 9am to 4.30pm, Sunday 11am to 3pm), so you can get your culture in daylight first and your Chris Martin moment after dark.
→ Full details: Celine Dion by Candlelight (Friday) · Coldplay by Candlelight (Saturday)
→ Book: Friday tickets · Saturday tickets
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🌊 Wells Adopts Community Plan for Floods, Power Cuts and Big Emergencies
Wells City Council has adopted a Community Resilience Plan, setting out how volunteers, community groups and the emergency services would pull together in a major emergency. It covers flooding, severe weather, power cuts, fires and water supply failures, with updates by website and social media, and printed notices or door-to-door checks if the internet goes down. Separately, Wells Rotary, backed by EVAG, is offering flood resilience kits to homes at risk.
🐑 Wells' Sheep & Penguin Reaches Regional Tourism Awards Final
The family-run pub on Tucker Street is a finalist for B&B and Guesthouse of the Year at the 2026 Bristol, Bath, Somerset and Gloucestershire Tourism Awards, recognising its guest rooms and mews houses rather than the pub itself. Rivals include Bossington Hall, The George Inn, The Litton and The Swan Inn. Winners are revealed at Batch Country House in Lympsham on Thursday 26 November, and there's no word yet on whether the sheep or the penguin will collect the trophy.
🏡 Glastonbury Property Demand Jumps as Festival Fever Builds
Buyer enquiries in the town were 23% higher in September than a year earlier, according to Rightmove, and homes are selling 40 days faster, while demand across Britain fell 5%. The average asking price is £316,659, about £48,000 below the national average. The figures predate the sale of Glastonbury Festival 2027 tickets, but local agent Oliver Jenkin of Cooper & Tanner says plenty of buyers first discover the town through the festival and come back wanting to stay.
🚜 Meet Bertie, the Restored Tractor Raising Funds for Tourettes Action
Tobias and Heather Wedgwood, who run the Father and Son Tractors channel, have given a 1970s Leyland 245 called Bertie a full makeover after finding him rusty, with dodgy steering and a damaged wiring harness. Fresh paint, new wiring, a serviced engine and new tyres (fitted free by Phillips Tyres of Shepton Mallet) later, Bertie now joins charity runs for Tourettes Action. Their beginner's guide, How to Restore a Vintage Tractor, costs £10.
Men, Say Goodbye to Eyebags, Dark Spots & Wrinkles
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Over 1,000,000 men have added Particle to their daily routine. Easy, effective, and worth the two minutes. Try it risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Don’t get caught out at Morrisons! Do you sometimes take advantage of Morrisons’ (Street) generosity for their free parking? Patricia wrote in to warn us she had become accustomed to stretching out her parking time after shopping to up to three hours - which is allowed at some stores. Then one day, recently, was shocked to find a £100 fine ticket on her window!
To be fair to Morrisons, they do have warning signs that free parking is limited and only for their shoppers. Still, a little Google search reveals that many people have been caught by surprise. Each store has its own time limits and conditions, and they could change - so it’s always worth a check.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch - or unlimited free parking.
https://www.morrisons.com/help/shopping-in-store/car-parking
Paul
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
Candid -
The mind's instinctive unconscious energies.......now available in a handy-sized tin!
Justice -
merely some frozen water
Intestate -
munched on a sandwich during an exam
Flatulent -
The set of rooms for living in that are part of a larger building that you let a friend use whilst you were away
Brandish -
Something you should try to have every morning in order to 'keep you regular'
Melancholy -
a tiny sculpture of a sheepdog carved out of a large, sweet flavoured breakfast fruit.
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Nine Days of Wonder
This Friday, Wells opens a book with more than pages inside it. For nine days, Cedars Hall becomes a doorway into other lives, worlds and startling ideas as the Wells Festival of Literature welcomes novelists, journalists, historians, scientists, cooks and wonder-seekers.
Patrick Gale begins the journey with Love Lane, before former HARDtalk presenter Stephen Sackur turns to the urgent business of truth. In Hard Truth, Sackur revisits investigations from the Pentagon Papers to reporters confronting corruption, asking what fearless journalism must become when lies travel at algorithmic speed.
Saturday offers a different kind of time travel. Louisa Young, niece of Elizabeth Jane Howard, takes up the Cazalet Chronicles in The Golden Hours. Familiar faces enter the swinging sixties as the old England beneath their feet begins to shift—a family story opening onto a country learning to live with change.
On Sunday, art critic Martin Gayford invites us into Tracey Emin’s studio. My Heart is This explores why painting matters to Emin, and how cancer altered her life and creative process. Later, Rory Cormac uncovers Britain’s Cold War forgery factory in Fakers: an unsettling realm of counterfeit documents, phantom organisations and official deception, reconstructed from thousands of declassified files.
The week keeps widening the lens. Former diplomat Arthur Snell looks at climate change as an environmental emergency and a force reshaping food, migration, conflict and global power—while still arguing that another future is possible. Florence Hazrat proves that even a comma can contain multitudes, tracing punctuation from ancient writing to the emoji age.
There is lightness as well as weight: free poetry readings and prize-giving, a literary quiz, wartime daring, travel, houses, wine and cookery. On the final Saturday, double MasterChef champion Ping Coombes puts rice at the heart of the table, drawing on Malaysian heritage and family cooking.
Then Dame Maggie Aderin looks upwards. Starchild tells how a childhood love of The Clangers survived prejudice and carried her towards a career in space science, including work on the James Webb telescope. It is a fitting finale: curiosity becoming possibility, and wonder becoming a life.
Nicholas Crane and Lady Hale are sold out, although return tickets may appear on the door. Refreshments are available at Cedars Hall, with Hidden Pizza visiting at selected times. Explore the full programme and book at wellsfestivalofliterature.org.uk; online booking closes at 4pm on both Fridays, after which remaining tickets are available in person at Cedars Hall.
Wednesday 14 October
Ted Waters Singing Workshop (Songs of Land and Resilience) — 10.30am to 11.30am, Chew Stoke Village Hall. Learn heart-soothing songs and harmonies by ear with the folk singer-songwriter and organic farmer. No experience or music reading needed. Free, booking required. Booking
Symphony Orchestra Concert – Legends and Love Songs — Cedars Hall. The Wells Cathedral School Symphony Orchestra is also listed for today, though the venue hasn't published a time yet. The confirmed performance is Thursday at 7pm (see Thursday below). Free, booking required. More info
Fun Dance Class — 5.30pm to 6.30pm, Chewton Mendip Village Hall. Weekly mixed-style class led by Helena Eden, with high and low impact options. £10 drop-in, or £42.50 for five. More info
Talk & Tasting with Tom Calver (Westcombe Dairy) — 7.30pm to 9pm, Caryford Hall, Ansford (Castle Cary). The cheesemaker talks traditional clothbound Cheddar, ricotta, charcuterie and a cheese robot called Tina the Turner, with a tasting. £8 in advance, £10 on the door. Booking
Everybody Digs Bill Evans — 7.45pm, Strode Theatre. Grant Gee's 2026 film (15) with Anders Danielsen Lie as the jazz pianist, set in New York in June 1961. Studio screen. £5 to £8.80. Booking
Thursday 15 October
Symphony Orchestra Concert – Legends and Love Songs — 7pm, Cedars Hall. A folk- and story-inspired programme including Whitacre's Five Hebrew Love Songs and Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite. Free, booking required. Booking
Walk & Wine Thursday — 6pm, Wells Market Place (meet near Penniless Porch). Weekly circular walk for women, finishing at Fosso Lounge for a drink if you fancy one. No need to know anyone beforehand. Free. More info
More Than Widows Weeds — 7.30pm (doors 7pm), The Salvation Army, Shepton Mallet. Fashion curator Jennifer Parker on the history of mourning fashion in Britain. Members £2, non-members £4 (cash preferred). More info
Storm Brewing + Lords of Form — 8pm, The King Arthur, Glastonbury. Live bands. More info
The Immortal Hour – Assembly Rooms Fundraiser — Assembly Rooms, Glastonbury. A listening night of Rutland Boughton's opera, raising money for a new Assembly Rooms stage. By donation; start time not listed. More info
Wells Business Women IN Meet Up — Fosso Lounge. Relaxed networking for women in business, hosted by Victoria Marshall. Time and price not stated. More info
Friday 16 October
Celine Dion by Candlelight — 7.30pm to 9.30pm, Wells Cathedral. January Butler and her live band perform the hits. Written up in full in the Featured Event above. More info
Freebird: A Tribute to Eva Cassidy — 7.30pm, Strode Theatre. Zoe Lindsay and a live band perform Eva Cassidy songs with storytelling, endorsed by Dan Cassidy. £23 to £25. Booking
Power Station (followed by Q&A) — doors 7.30pm, film 8pm, Draycott Memorial Hall, Draycott. Draycott Community Cinema screens the documentary about a street's attempt to turn itself into a solar-powered powerhouse, followed by a talk from the Cheddar Hydro Project. £5. Booking
Little Seedlings Parent & Toddler Group — 10am to 11.30am, forest school site, Shepton Mallet. Outdoor play, nature art and craft, pond dipping and a mud kitchen; grandparents welcome. £8 per session (plus £3 per extra toddler), every Friday morning in term time to 23 October. More info
Wells Festival of Literature: Patrick Gale – Love Lane — 6pm, Cedars Hall. In conversation with George Miller. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature: Stephen Sackur – Hard Truth — 7.45pm, Cedars Hall. Ten investigations that shook the world and why they matter now, in conversation with George Miller. Booking
The Good Afternoon Choir – Autumn Concert — 7pm to 9pm, Wells (venue on the listing). A charity concert from The Good Afternoon Choir. More info
Comedy Night — 8.30pm, Bluebird Cafe & Bar, Wedmore. Two comedians for an evening of laughs. Free entry; reserving a table is recommended. More info
Steve Linforth Live — 9pm, Kings Head, Wells. Live music. More info
Sense and Sensibility (film) — Strode Theatre, screenings from today to Thursday 22 October. Times on the venue site. More info
Saturday 17 October
October Glastonbury Faerie Ball + Weekend Fayre — Saturday and Sunday, Glastonbury Town Hall. A free daytime fayre, plus the ticketed Green Women's Faerie Ball (18+; Green Men welcome) from Karen Kay's Faery Events. More info
The Big Southwest Wedding Fair — Saturday and Sunday, Showering Pavilion, Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet. More than 80 wedding professionals from across the South West, with catwalk displays and live entertainment. More info
Coldplay by Candlelight — 7.30pm to 9.30pm, Wells Cathedral. A vocal cast and live band play the hits. Written up in full in the Featured Event above. More info
Biker Down Motorcycle Safety Workshop — 9.30am to 1.30pm, Wells Fire Station, Burcott Road. A free crash-response and first-aid workshop for motorcyclists from the Devon & Somerset Fire and Rescue Service Fire Bike Team. Book via Eventbrite. Booking
Autumn Skincare – Perfumes, Soaps and Balms Workshop — 10am to 5pm, Abbey House. All-day workshop with Sarah Ward: make a signature perfume oil, cold-process soap, body butter and a skin repair salve. £135. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature: Katja Hoyer – Weimar — 10.30am, Cedars Hall. Life on the edge of catastrophe. Booking
Brian Froud's Green Women Talk and Meditation — 12 noon, Glastonbury Town Hall (upstairs). Book launch talk and meditation with Brian Froud, Wendy Froud and Terri Windling, with a signing at 2.30pm. Ticketed, maximum two tickets per booking. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature: Adrian Wooldridge – Centrists of the World Unite — 12.15pm, Cedars Hall. The lost genius of liberalism, in conversation with William Waldegrave. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature: Louisa Young – The Golden Hours — 2pm, Cedars Hall. In conversation with Sarah LeFanu. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature: Jess Venner – The Lost Voices of Pompeii — 3.45pm, Cedars Hall. The final day in seven lives. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature: Martin Sixsmith – Despots — 7.15pm, Cedars Hall. How Trump is turning America into Putin's Russia, in conversation with Daniel Sixsmith. Booking
Introduction to Embroidery – Flowercup — Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios, Sadler Street, Wells. Beginner-friendly day of hand embroidery with Royal School of Needlework-trained Helen Richman; you finish a flowercup piece to take home. £65 including all materials. Booking
Stand Up to Cancer Music Quiz — 7pm, Tramways, West Street, Wells. Charity music quiz hosted by Clive Hennessy, with a bar and raffle. £5 per person, teams of up to six; booking essential (Sally Morgan on 0797 552 9950). More info
Fly Yeti Fly — 8.30pm, Bluebird Cafe & Bar, Wedmore. A Wiltshire duo mixing vocal harmonies with guitar, mandolin and harmonica, inspired by life on their canal boat. Free entry; reserving a table is recommended. More info
Sunday 18 October
October Glastonbury Faerie Ball + Weekend Fayre (day two) — Glastonbury Town Hall. The free daytime fayre continues. More info
The Big Southwest Wedding Fair (day two) — Showering Pavilion, Bath & West Showground. More info
Not Now Bernard — 2.30pm, St Andrew's Church Hall, Chew Magna. Roustabout Theatre's physical-theatre version of David McKee's picture book, with live music from instruments and household objects, an enormous purple monster and integrated Makaton. Ages 3+, 60 minutes. A free workshop for children and their grown-ups runs at 1pm; reserve when you book. Ticketed. Booking
Wells City Band at Croscombe Village Hall — 2.30pm to 5pm, Croscombe Village Hall. Afternoon brass band concert. More info
Wells Festival of Literature: Rachel Seiffert – Once the Deed is Done — 2.30pm, Cedars Hall. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature: Richard Elwes – Huge Numbers — 4.15pm, Cedars Hall. A story of counting ambitiously. Booking
Half a Shanty (with The Piccolo Box pizza) — 4pm to 6pm, Caryford Hall, Ansford. Lively singalong of sea-faring songs from the local shanty group, with fresh stone-baked pizza from The Piccolo Box. £5. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature: Rory Cormac – Fakers — 6pm, Cedars Hall. A top-secret tale of phantoms and forgeries on the disinformation front line, in conversation with Tim Willasey-Wilsey. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature: Wells Literary Quiz – Brainstorming bookworms — 7.45pm to 9.45pm, Cedars Hall foyer. £8 per person; book a table of four or six, or come alone. Booking
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
Street Fighter [12A] — Fri to Sun, 4.30pm and 7.30pm
Forgotten Island [PG] — Fri 4.30pm; Sat and Sun 2pm and 4.30pm
The Social Reckoning [15] — Wed and Thu 3pm and 7pm; Fri and Sun 7pm
Heart of the Beast [12A] — Wed 7.30pm; Thu 3pm; Fri 7.30pm; Sat 4.30pm; Sun 7.30pm
Digger [15] — Wed 3pm
Verity [15] — Wed 7.30pm; Thu 7.30pm; Sat 7.30pm
Sense And Sensibility [U] — Wed 3pm; Thu 7.30pm; Fri 4.30pm; Sat 7pm; Sun 4.30pm
Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom [U] — Sat and Sun 2pm
Tad And The Magic Lamp [U] — Sat and Sun 2pm
🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of 14 October
A mixed, mild start with some cloud and a bit of sun today (around 17°C), and a breezy Thursday morning. Then the chill arrives: Friday to Sunday looks dry, sunny and clear, with highs of 13 to 14°C and nights dipping to around 3 to 5°C, so wrap up for the candlelit concerts and the Saturday night gigs. Rain and drizzle are due back on Monday afternoon.
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