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Mendiplodocus Daily — Issue #41 — Monday 10 August 2026
Issue #41 | Monday 10 August 2026
Good morning, Mendips! Wookey Hole's cheddar just turned 20 (and picked up a trophy), Shepton's Skate Jam is rolling back for September, and there's a proper night out ahead with King Arthur, a secret supper club and the best partial eclipse Britain's seen since 1999. Here's your Monday.
📅 Featured Event — Illyria's Pinocchio closes Glastonbury Abbey's open-air theatre season
🔤 Uxbridge English Dictionary — today's entry
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style — Cheddar's 20th birthday · ASB patrol funding cut · Skate Jam returns · King Arthur at the Palace
The Sea Dragons of STREET.
🗓️ What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
Featured Event
Illyria's open-air production of Pinocchio brings the summer's outdoor theatre season at Glastonbury Abbey to a close on Thursday 13 August. Based on Carlo Collodi's 1883 classic, this musical retelling follows Geppetto's wooden puppet as he blunders his way toward becoming a real boy, with original songs and puppetry woven through a lively 95-minute show (plus a 20-minute interval).
Performances run from 6.30pm to 9.30pm in the Main Abbey grounds — as with all Abbey outdoor theatre, bring your own chair or blanket and dress for the weather. Child tickets are £10, with adult tickets at £18 (£16 for Abbey PLUS members).
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style
🧀 Wookey Hole's cave-aged cheddar toasts 20 years with a Champion Cheddar title
Wookey Hole's cave-aged cheddar is celebrating 20 years maturing deep underground in the Mendips, after being named Champion Cheddar at this year's awards. The cheese is cloth-wrapped and matured for months in the caves' naturally cool, humid conditions — a process locals credit for its distinctive earthy edge. It's the latest accolade for a Somerset show cave that's built a genuine reputation as a food producer.
Somerset MP Sarah Dyke has criticised the Government after Hotspot Patrol funding for tackling anti-social behaviour in Glastonbury town centre was withdrawn, saying the patrols had made "a real difference locally." She's written to the Home Office asking for the funding to be reinstated, pushed the Police and Crime Commissioner for more visible patrols, and raised the issue in Parliament. A further multi-agency meeting is planned for September.
🛹 Shepton Mallet's Skate Jam gears up for a September return
Shepton Mallet Town Council has confirmed its popular Skate Jam will return to West Shepton Playing Fields on Saturday 5 September, with professional coaches on hand for skaters, scooter riders and BMXers of all abilities. The free family day includes demonstrations and competitions with prizes, and the council is now on the hunt for local food and drink vendors to cater for the crowds. It's one of several headline dates in Shepton's newly unveiled 2026 summer events line-up, alongside the Mid Somerset Show and Circus in the Park.
⚔️ Three Inch Fools bring King Arthur comedy to the Bishop's Palace
Fast-paced theatre troupe Three Inch Fools pitch up at The Bishop's Palace and Gardens on Thursday 13 August with King Arthur and the Holy Fail, a comic romp through Camelot, quests and a table of "undisclosed shape." Gates open at 5.45pm for the 6.30pm start, with the outdoor show running around 100 minutes plus an interval — bring a blanket or chair, and a picnic if you fancy one. Standard tickets are £20, with reductions for under-18s and families.
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
T
Telephony
A fake television.
Template
Overdue substitute worker.
Textile
A place to clamber over a fence in a certain southern American state.
Thinking
A slim monarch.
Tirade
Puncture repair kit.
Tombola
A fine hat belonging to Thomas.
Street's Secret: How a Somerset Village Became a Prehistoric Superstar
Mendy was very excited when I said we were going to feature STREET today.
Back when Street was less "home of Clarks shoes" and more "prime beachfront real estate," it sat under a warm, shallow Jurassic sea patrolled by ichthyosaurs: dolphin-shaped reptiles with a taste for fish and belemnites, and the decency to give birth at sea rather than laying eggs on some inconvenient beach.
The ichthyosaurs- Wells & Mendip Museum
When they died, they sank into the mud, which eventually became Blue Lias limestone — the same stone locals later quarried to build their houses. Nothing quite says "welcome home" like discovering your garden wall used to be somebody's ribcage.
Enter Thomas Hawkins, a Glastonbury farmer's son with a flair for the dramatic and, it turns out, a flair for the plaster trowel. Hawkins bribed Street's quarrymen to keep an eye out for fossils, coined the delightfully overwrought term "sea dragon," and sold two magnificent collections to what's now the Natural History Museum.
There was just one small problem: when curators unwrapped his prize 25-foot ichthyosaur, they discovered a suspicious amount of it was plaster of Paris rather than actual dinosaur — sorry, reptile. A full-blown scandal ensued, reaching Parliament itself, and Hawkins spent years furiously lobbying to get the "these bits are fake" signs removed from his own donations. The man once broke into the museum via a ladder to make his point.
Thankfully, Street also produced Alfred Gillett, a retired ironmonger with the patience of a saint, who spent an entire year carefully piecing together shattered slabs of rock into a nearly complete ichthyosaur skeleton — no plaster required. His honest, painstaking collecting eventually made Street's ichthyosaur so beloved that the village put one on its official council emblem in 1894, a title it still proudly wears today.
And here's the real kicker: in 2012, scientists revealed that Street's plesiosaurs are the oldest ever found — practically the plesiosaur equivalent of a founding member. Even in 2016 and 2017, researchers were still finding brand-new species hiding in old museum drawers, nearly two centuries after they were dug up. Turns out Street wasn't just a one-hit wonder; it's been quietly rewriting prehistoric history for generations.
All week (10–14 August)
School Summer Holidays at The Bishop's Palace — Bishop's Palace, Wells. Family trails and activities included with admission, running throughout the school holidays. Bishop's Palace
Summer Fun on the Farm — Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury. Daily drop-in activities, visiting animals and craft, Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm. Somerset Rural Life Museum
Mythical Creatures Trail — Wells Cathedral. Family trail through the cathedral, included with standard admission, daily 9am–4.30pm. Wells Cathedral
The Unfurling — Glastonbury Galleries, 10a High Street. Leanne Ta'iki Anawa's exhibition exploring myth, nature and transformation, free entry, daily 11am–5pm, through 18 August. Glastonbury Galleries
Monday, 10 August
Summer Stay and Make — 11am–1pm, Yeast Scrapstore, Glastonbury. Drop-in craft session using recycled materials for ages 3–12, donations from £5 per family. Yeast Scrapstore
Tuesday, 11 August
Create a Paper Bag Journal — 11am–1pm, Abbey Museum, Glastonbury Abbey. Family activity making a journal from recycled paper bags, included with admission. Glastonbury Abbey
Quiz Night at the Waldegrave Arms — 7pm, Waldegrave Arms, East Harptree. Regular monthly quiz, £1 entry, max 6 per team. The Waldegrave Arms
Wednesday, 12 August
Partial Solar Eclipse Viewing Party — from 3pm, Wells Cathedral Green. Free event with Wells and Mendip Astronomers bringing filtered telescopes and eclipse glasses — the best partial eclipse visible from the UK since 1999. First contact around 6.16pm, maximum coverage (about 93%) around 7.15pm, ending around 8.07pm; weather permitting. Wells Nub News
Mini Beast Hunts — 2–4pm, Main Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey. Drop-in bug hunting for families. Glastonbury Abbey
Wild Wednesdays — 10am–3pm, Somerset Earth Science Centre, Stoke St Michael. Forest-school summer club for ages 5–10, den building and campfire cooking, £25 full day / £16 short session. Somerset Earth Science Centre
Thursday, 13 August
Mini Beast Hunts — 2–4pm, Main Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey. Drop-in bug hunting for families.
Stories, Myths & Magic! — 11am, Yeast Scrapstore, Glastonbury. Weekly storytelling and craft session for children, £10 per child. Yeast Scrapstore
Walk & Wine Thursday — 6–7pm, Wells Market Place (near Penniless Porch). Weekly circular walk for women, finishing at Fosso Lounge for those who fancy a drink after. Free, no need to know anyone beforehand. Facebook event
Badger Walks — 7–9pm, Abbey House, Glastonbury Abbey. Late-summer evening badger walk. Glastonbury Abbey
Secret Supper Club — 7.30–9pm, The Bishop's Table, Bishop's Palace. Ticketed dining evening with a password-entry gimmick over the drawbridge, £45pp (3 courses) plus £10 deposit. Book online
Also today: King Arthur and the Holy Fail at the Bishop's Palace, and Illyria's Pinocchio at Glastonbury Abbey — full details in Hot News and Featured Event above.
Friday, 14 August
Mini Beast Hunts — 2–4pm, Main Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey. Drop-in bug hunting for families.
Bishop's Palace Summer Late Openings — 6–8pm (last entry 7.30pm), Bishop's Palace, Wells. Bring a picnic and enjoy the gardens after hours, adult £8.75/child £4.40. Bishop's Palace
Beats 'n' Bites — 5.30–10pm, The Island, outside the Town Hall, Midsomer Norton. Live music and community feasting — bring your own takeaway food and drink, trestle tables and benches supplied. Free entry.
🗓️ Coming Up
Shepton Mallet Skate Jam — West Shepton Playing Fields. Saturday 5 September.
Mid Somerset Show — Shepton Mallet. Sunday 16 August.
Circus in the Park — Collett Park, Shepton Mallet. Sunday 30 August.
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
New releases and family favourites are showing all week at Wells' independent three-screen cinema — check this week's full programme before you book, as listings update every Friday.
Let us promote your event - FREE
Click Here for details
🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of 10 August
Warm and largely dry conditions continue across the Mendips this week, with highs in the low-to-mid twenties and overnight lows around 12–15°C, staying muggy at times. Wednesday's partial eclipse viewing on Cathedral Green will depend on the cloud — light or passing cloud shouldn't spoil it, but heavy cloud or rain could. Somerset remains officially in drought, so expect the dry spell to continue outside of any showers.
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Contact Mendy the Mendiplodocus
Paul Branston, Editor
Hi, I'm Paul Branston and I publish the Mendiplodocus every morning, Monday to Saturday. 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.
07912 499433