Good morning, Mendips! Wednesday brings Beckett to Street, a national trophy to Wells Market and a plan to make a golf course do something useful with the rain. There's half-term fun at Wells Cathedral, a magic show at The Mill and a very full diary in Frome. Fair warning: a shower is possible first thing.
Featured Event
Waiting For Godot opens tonight in the Studio at Strode Theatre in Street, and it's very much a home-grown production, directed by Adam Lanfranchi and produced by Lucy Burton. Samuel Beckett's classic follows two wandering tramps who wait by a tree for a man called Godot, who might just improve their lives. He doesn't turn up. Two travellers do, and the play swings between comedy and tragedy. Anyone who has ever waited in for a delivery slot of "between 8am and 6pm" will feel right at home.
It runs nightly at 7:30pm until Saturday 31 October. Tickets are £16 to £17.50, and the proceeds raise money for the theatre and give local people a chance to take part. Box office: 01458 442846 (Mon, Wed and Fri, 10am to 1pm).
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Shepton: half-term flu catch-up clinics for children.
Children from Reception to Year 11 who missed vaccination at school can attend without an appointment for the nasal spray: Shepton Mallet Community Hospital, Thursday 29 October, 9.30am–1pm. An injectable vaccine must be arranged separately on 0300 323 0032. Shepton details.
🌧️ Could Wells Golf Club Help Keep Homes Dry?
A plan to hold rainwater on part of Wells Golf Club could protect homes around Tor Street and Tor Hill Lane, where properties have flooded in heavy rain. Councillors were due to consider a £20,000 bid to the Somerset Rivers Authority for surveys and designs. Nothing is approved yet, and the club would pay for any changes to the course afterwards.
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
Dervish – Rather like Diesel, to the older readers.
E-mail – Yorkshire for "the postman's arrived".
Testosterone – A Wells MP made a pancake by herself.
Contributed by Roy Bamford
Dollop - A surgical procedure on a child's toy.
Diagnostic - A Welsh man who doesn't have religion.
Table - A Yorkshire man who can.
Send me your definitions. I’ll publish the best.
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Worth Planning For
Wells’ Got Talent?
Got a party piece you've been keeping quiet about? Now's your moment. Wells Rotary is looking for local talent to perform at a charity Variety Night at Wookey Hole Theatre on Saturday 15 May 2027. They want singers, dancers, musicians, comedians, magicians, poets, actors and anyone whose gift is hard to put a name to.
Whether you're a seasoned pro or a first-timer who has always dreamed of the spotlight, no act is too big, too small or too unusual. It’s not a “talent show,” so no one will be “judged”. Except by the audience, of course, - but that’s showbiz!
It's quite a stage, too: the 400-seat theatre inside Wookey Hole's old paper mill is home to the Wookey Hole Circus, where acrobats, illusionists and comics regularly dazzle audiences. Applications are open now, so polish that routine, dust off the ukulele and contact Wells Rotary through their Facebook page before the bill fills up.
Rob Heron & Conrad Bird at Caryford Hall, Sunday 1 November
Looking for a Sunday afternoon with a toe-tapping soundtrack? Caryford Hall on Maggs Lane in Ansford, Castle Cary, hosts Rob Heron and Conrad Bird for an afternoon billed as country, gypsy-swing, R&B, rockabilly and folk. Conrad is a rambling rover from North Yorkshire who spent over a decade fronting festival act Holy Moly & The Crackers, and he's now going solo with a new EP of poetic folk songs.
It runs from 4pm to 6pm. Tickets are £12 in advance or £15 on the door.
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Halloween in Mendip
Ghosts of the Shoemakers Museum?
Street's newest museum is all about sensible shoes. Its home, though, may be less sensible.
"Super-duper haunted"
The Shoemakers Museum opened in September 2025 at the Grange, an old manor house beside Clarks Village. Its manager, Sam Cullen, told the BBC that the site is "super-duper haunted".
Her evidence comes from Tales of the Polden Hills, a 1922 collection of local ghost stories by Frances Harriott Wood. In it, one of two brothers living in the house sees a white dog lying in the kitchen. Moments later the other brother rushes in with the same story, except that his dog got up and walked out through a door that was locked. Within three weeks their father died in his study.
Wood's tale of what was then called Street House also features tunnels supposedly running to Glastonbury Abbey. Every self-respecting Somerset manor has those.
A very Somerset sort of dog
The white dog is a familiar figure. The Somerset folklorist Ruth Tongue recorded huge white hounds with red ears near Priddy. Pass one on the same side of the road and you were done for. Kingsley Palmer noted a white dog that heralded death for the family at another Grange, in Buckland St Mary.
They descend from the Cŵn Annwn, the white, red-eared hounds of the Welsh Otherworld. So the Street dog has a respectable pedigree, even if it's suspiciously well trained in the conventions of the genre.
The smell of disinfectant
Sam Cullen has her own story. Working in the old barn, she noticed a sudden smell of hospital disinfectant, and was later told the building had been a quarantine hospital during the Spanish flu.
The records are awkward. The Victoria County History says a sick bay opened at the Grange around 1940, for armaments workers from Weymouth and for evacuees, until 1946. It says Street sent infectious cases to St Saviour's Isolation Hospital in Glastonbury until 1932. So there was a hospital, but possibly a war later than claimed.
The real haunting
Ghosts aside, the Grange has a remarkable history. Its site was a Glastonbury Abbey grange by 1238, and parts of the house date from the 16th century. After the Clarks bought it in 1890, it became:
a domestic science college
a home for Belgian refugees in the First World War
a refuge for Basque children fleeing the Spanish Civil War
a hostel for factory girls
a training centre until the 1990s
That's a lot of lives passing through one house. Perhaps that's haunting enough - and the museum is worth a visit for its own fascinating history.
Over to you. Did you train or lodge at the Grange, or have you felt something odd there? Hit reply and tell us
Today — Wednesday 28 October
Wells Art Contemporary — until 7 November, Wells Cathedral. 20 installations around the Cathedral and 100 artworks in the Cloisters, on the theme "For what is time?" More info
Hellblock: Halloween at Shepton Mallet Prison — starts tonight and runs to 1 November, Shepton Mallet Prison. A 75-minute live-action horror experience in the former prison. It includes darkness, loud noises, strobe lighting, smoke and jump scares, so check the age and accessibility details before booking. More info
Waiting For Godot — 7:30pm (to Saturday), Strode Theatre, Street. Beckett's classic, produced in-house. £16 to £17.50. Booking
Punk Rock Factory — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Live music, £29.50. Booking
Bad Apples — 7:45pm, Strode Theatre. Final screening of this film (rated 15). £5 to £8.80. Booking
Magique: Magic and Illusions Show — 6:30pm, The Mill, High Street, Wells. More info
The Enchanted Wardrobe — 10am to 3:30pm, Wells & Mendip Museum. Step inside a wardrobe for a free five-minute audio journey through Mendip's history, then share your hopes for the Mendip Hills in 2036. More info
Half-Term Holiday Activities: Taking Time — 10:30am to 3:30pm, Wells Cathedral. Today, children learn about the astronomical clock and make a moving paper version. Included with Cathedral admission, no booking, children with an adult. More info
Half Term Family Activities — until 1 November, The Bishop's Palace. Garden trails, a children's multimedia tour, crafts and the Dragon's Lair play area, all included with admission. More info
Wild Wednesday! School Holiday Club — 10am to 3pm (£27.50) or 10am to 12:30pm (£16), Somerset Earth Science Centre, Stoke St Michael. Den building, natural crafts and campfire cooking. More info
Needle Felting — Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury. Time and price not listed. More info
Spooktacular Halloween at Shoemakers — 10am to 4pm, Shoemakers Museum, Street. Today's activity is Puppet Making, "Create a Spooky Friend" (10:30am to 12:30pm, booking required, £3.50 to £4.50 per child), plus the drop-in Museum of Lost Shoes Gallery Trail. More info
Halloween at Wookey Hole — daily until 1 November, Wookey Hole. Witch projections in the caves, a pumpkin trail, witch appearances and the Monster's Ball Circus show, all in the standard ticket. More info
Tomorrow — Thursday 29 October
Republica: 30 Years of Ready To Go — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. £30. Booking
Waiting For Godot — 7:30pm, Strode Theatre, Street. Night two of Beckett's classic. £16 to £17.50. Booking
The Nut Farmer of Glastonbury — 7pm, Strode Theatre. A 20-minute documentary by Elsa Kent about her father Andrew Kent, a farmer of forty years who is planting thousands of hazelnut and walnut trees on the edge of Glastonbury. Elsa introduces the film. £5 to £8.80, and £2 off if you also book Derek vs Derek. Booking
The Mists of Samhain: A Halloween Story — doors 7pm, show 7:30pm, The Assembly Rooms, Glastonbury. A one-man Halloween show from award-winning storyteller Jason Buck, about old gods and spirits walking the earth. Ages 12 and over. Booking
Family Activity: Winter Lanterns — 11am to 1pm, Glastonbury Abbey museum. Drop-in lantern crafting. More info
Half-Term Holiday Activities: Taking Time — 10:30am to 3:30pm, Wells Cathedral. Final session: children make a four-seasons wheel or a day-and-night agamograph. Included with admission, no booking. More info
Walk & Wine Thursday — 6pm, Wells Market Place (meet near Penniless Porch). Free weekly circular walk for women, finishing at Fosso Lounge for anyone who fancies a drink. More info
🎬 Wells Film Centre — Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 October
Wildwood [12A] — 4:30pm, 7:00pm
Forgotten Island [PG] — 2:00pm, 4:30pm
Klara And The Sun [12A] — 7:30pm
Street Fighter [12A] — 4:30pm, 7:30pm
Tad And The Magic Lamp [U] — 2:00pm
Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom [U] — 1:30pm
Same times both days. The listing we read (on Saturday 24 October) runs to Thursday 29 October.
🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of Wednesday 28 October
Mild, with sunny intervals every day. Today has a chance of an early shower, and Friday has a little rain risk, but nothing dramatic. Halloween weekend days are marked BETA by the Met Office, which means they are less certain. Forecast read on Saturday 24 October from the Met Office page for Wells.
Wed 28 Oct: sunny intervals, 15°C / 8°C, 40% chance of rain (early)
Thu 29 Oct: sunny intervals, 14°C / 11°C, 10% chance of rain
Fri 30 Oct: sunny intervals, 15°C / 9°C, 30% chance of rain
Sat 31 Oct (BETA): sunny intervals, 14°C / 7°C, 20% chance of rain
Sun 1 Nov (BETA): sunny intervals, 12°C / 6°C, 10% chance of rain
Mon 2 Nov (BETA): sunny intervals, 12°C / 5°C, 10% chance of rain
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Paul Branston, Editor
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