Issue #16 | Thursday 9 July 2026

Good morning, Mendips! Somerton's fields fill with music this weekend as Somerstock returns for its ninth year — full line-up and details below. Elsewhere, Wells' long-running skatepark campaign finally has the funding it needs, and WOWFest keeps the county's finest young musicians busy across the Cathedral, Cedars Hall and St Cuthbert's.

📸 Somerstock 2026 - Today's featured event
📅 What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🛹 Wells Skatepark Fund Hits £325k After Council Pledge
🗑️ Glastonbury Fly-Tip Clean-Up Sparks MP's Waste Crime Call
🕯️ Queen By Candlelight Lights Up Wells Cathedral
🎪 The Godney Gathering Brings Big Names To The Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast

Somerton's recreation ground turns into a full festival site this Friday and Saturday as Somerstock returns for its ninth year, bringing two days of live music, camping and family entertainment to the heart of Somerset. Doors open Friday afternoon with camping available from 4pm, building up to two full days of bands across multiple stages.

What started as a small local fundraiser has grown into one of the county's best-loved independent festivals, with this year's line-up including Beatles Dub Club, Rusty Shackle, Pet Needs and Snappa among the headline acts. A dedicated Kids' Zone runs free activities throughout the weekend, making it a genuinely family-friendly alternative to the bigger festivals on the Mendips' doorstep.

It's a big weekend for live music across the hills — Priddy Folk Festival also runs Friday to Sunday, and WOWFest's flagship performances continue in Wells with Carmina Burana at the Cathedral on Saturday night. Tier 3 tickets are on sale now for Somerstock, with prices rising closer to the day.

→ Full line-up and tickets at somerstock.co.uk

→ Full listings and booking at Wells Film Centre

Not metaphorical juggling, but the real thing: 826 people all keeping at least three objects in the air at once. That’s 2,478 balls, clubs and assorted projectiles arcing over Somerset in 1984, turning Glastonbury into the temporary capital of controlled chaos.

It’s easy to imagine the scene. There are the serious performers in proper kit with polished clubs, and the wide‑eyed amateurs clutching borrowed balls and a mixture of dread and determination. Somewhere, an organiser is wondering why they ever thought this was a good idea, trying to get hundreds of people lined up, counted and ready to throw on cue.

Then comes the moment: three, two, one… and suddenly the air above Glastonbury is full of motion. For a few seconds, the town becomes a giant kinetic sculpture, with patterns of colour rising and falling in loose synchrony. Faces knot in concentration, tongues peek out, shoulders tighten, and then – as people realise they’re actually doing it – the tension breaks into grins and laughter.

If you know Glastonbury, the symbolism is hard to miss. The town still spends its days juggling – heritage, spirituality, agriculture and mass tourism all vying for space in the pattern. One moment it’s quiet lanes and grazing cattle; the next it’s camper vans, coach parties and festival traffic. Councillors juggle festival licensing with noise and congestion, farmers juggle road closures with getting milk to market, shopkeepers juggle between pilgrims, day‑trippers and locals who just need bread and batteries.

Even the town’s identity is a juggling act: sacred centre, party hub, rural community – all at once. That 1984 record is a neat metaphor for Glastonbury’s ongoing “many‑things‑in‑the‑air” existence. Back then, everyone could see the juggling. Now it happens in planning meetings, neighbourhood arguments and quiet compromises.

So next time you’re in Glastonbury and feel like the place is trying to be too many things at once, think of those 826 jugglers. They proved that, with concentration, courage and a sense of humour, this town can keep an astonishing number of things up in the air – and still have fun while it does.

Wells City Council has pledged a further £85,000 towards the town's long-campaigned-for skatepark, taking the total council contribution to £100,000 and pushing the overall fund past £325,000 of its £500,000 target. Planning permission has now been secured, with campaigners hopeful construction could begin within the next year.

Read full story → (Wells Nub News)

Sarah Dyke MP cited a £1,500 volunteer clean-up of fly-tipped waste at Glastonbury's Red Brick Building as she urged tougher action on illegal dumping in a Parliamentary debate on waste crime. Somerset recorded around 3,000 fly-tipping incidents last year, and Dyke says the cost of clearing them is increasingly falling on local volunteers rather than those responsible.

Read full story → (Glastonbury Nub News)

West End vocalists and a full band bring Queen's greatest hits to Wells Cathedral on Thursday 16 July, with the entire nave lit by candlelight for a magical evening setting. Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start, with the show forming part of a growing UK candlelit-concert series that's already sold out venues across the country.

Book tickets → (Concerts by Candlelight)

The Godney Gathering returns to the Somerset Levels on Friday and Saturday 17–18 July with one of its biggest line-ups yet, headlined by The Pigeon Detectives, Reverend and The Makers, The Wurzels, Land of the Giants and Revelation Roots. The small, community-run festival near Glastonbury has built a loyal following for its friendly, low-key atmosphere and countryside setting.

Read more and book → (The Godney Gathering)

🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of 9 July 2026

The heat builds through the week, with Thursday and Friday both pushing 30°C and Friday the hottest day at around 32°C — perfect festival weather for Somerstock and Priddy. It stays warm and mostly dry into the weekend before easing back to the low-to-mid twenties early next week, with rain not expected until around the 16th.

→ Full 7-day forecast on BBC Weather

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