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Mendiplodocus Daily — Issue #53 — Thursday 27 August 2026
Issue #53 | Thursday 27 August 2026
📅 Featured Event — Meat Loaf by Candlelight at Wells Cathedral
🔤 Uxbridge English Dictionary — today's entry
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style — Thunderstorm warning · Classic MGs on
Cathedral Green · Moat Boat Race · Glastonbury's Christmas tree · Medieval camp at the Palace
Mendip Film Land
📆 What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
Good morning, Mendips! Candlelight, classic cars and homemade rafts are all converging on the Mendips this bank holiday weekend — and there's a thunderstorm warning in force for this morning, so keep an eye on the sky. A magnificent line-up of vintage MGs is heading for Cathedral Green, Glastonbury's already sorted its Christmas tree, and there's a properly mixed bag in What's On to see you through to Monday.
Featured Event
Wells Cathedral turns candlelit concert venue on Friday 28 August, as Kinda Dusty Ltd's touring "…by Candlelight" series brings Meat Loaf by Candlelight to the city. Direct from London's West End, a live cast of West End singers — including stars of the West End production of Bat Out of Hell — take on the anthems of Meat Loaf, backed by a full live rock band, all performed among flickering candlelight beneath the cathedral's vaulted ceiling.
The "…by Candlelight" format has built a loyal following nationwide for good reason — it's a cut above your average tribute act. Rather than impersonating Meat Loaf, the singers stamp their own energy onto the songs; reviewers of the tour's other shows describe voices powerful enough to fill a room, with a second half that turns properly raucous as the audience gets up to sing along.
Expect the big hits: Bat Out of Hell, Anything For Love, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Dead Ringer for Love and more.
It's a great pick for anyone who grew up on Meat Loaf's records, or fancies a big, theatrical night out somewhere different from the usual gig venue. Doors open at 6.45pm ahead of a 7.30pm start, with a fully licensed bar on site and tickets running from £20 (screen-view) up to £45 (VIP), plus a £4.50 booking fee — access tickets with a complimentary carer ticket are also available.
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style
🚣 Rafts And Rescues Return For Wells Moat Boat Race
The Bishop's Palace Moat fills with homemade rafts, fancy dress and friendly rivalry on bank holiday Monday, as the annual Wells Moat Boat Race returns. Categories include the Rescue Race, Bishop's Cup, junior sprint and backwards races, plus non-race prizes for best raft design and fancy dress — team entries have now closed, but spectators are very welcome to cheer from the banks.
🏰 Medieval Camp Takes Over Bishop's Palace This Bank Holiday
Archers, swordsmen and a full living-history camp descend on the Bishop's Palace in Wells from Saturday to Monday, as History Alive brings its Bowlore medieval weekend to the Mendips. Included with normal admission, it's a hands-on chance for children and adults alike to see medieval combat, crafts and camp life up close over the bank holiday.
⛈️ Met Office Yellow Warning For Thunderstorms This Morning
The Met Office has issued a yellow thunderstorm warning for Somerset, in force from 6am to 10am this morning (Thursday 27 August), with a risk of sudden flooding, lightning strikes, hail and strong winds. BBC Weather's Wells BA5 forecast backs it up, with thundery showers pencilled in for today and further unsettled spells through the bank holiday weekend — so keep brollies and wellies handy if you're heading to Truckfest or the Moat Boat Race.
🚗 30 Classic MG Sports Cars To Park Up On Cathedral Green
More than 30 pre-1956 MG sports cars — including eight of the classic MG TC model — will roll into Wells on Monday 7 September as part of their owners' annual Autumn Tour. The cars, some with 2,000-mile continental trips behind them, will be parked on Cathedral Green in front of Wells Cathedral before the convoy heads on to Cheddar and beyond.
🎄 Glastonbury Secures One Of The Last 30ft Christmas Trees
Glastonbury Town Council has snapped up one of the last locally available 30ft Christmas trees for this year, after staff visited a supplier in person to choose it. It'll take pride of place in the Market Square when the lights go on during the Frost Fayre on Saturday 28 November — though the council warns trees of this size, which take around 25 years to grow, are becoming harder to source each year.
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
P
Panophobia
Fear of kitchen utensiles.
Paperback
What a masseuse earns.
Papist
Dad's drunk.
Paramedics
Two doctors.
Paranoid
Unidentified parachutist.
Partridge
Just a bit of a ridge.
Peccadillo
A rare South American mammal, a cross between a peccary and an armadillo.
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Lights, Camera, Mendip: When Hollywood Comes Home
You've probably walked past the fountain in Wells Market Place a hundred times without picturing Simon Pegg vaulting over it in a stab vest. But that fountain — and half the shops around it — has an alter ego. To roughly a billion people worldwide, this is "Sandford," the fictional village of Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz. And Sandford is only the start.
One square mile, five film worlds
Within a fifteen-minute walk of Market Place, a film crew can shoot Tudor palace, medieval courtyard, small-town England, fantasy underworld and post-apocalyptic wilderness. Wells Cathedral's scissor arches have doubled as Whitehall Palace for Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, as Queen Ravenna's ice palace for Charlize Theron in The Huntsman: Winter's War, and — coming to cinemas this year — as the throne room of Eternia in Masters of the Universe, alongside Idris Elba. Wolf Hall, Poldark and 3 Body Problem have all filmed here too.
Next door, the Bishop's Palace Undercroft hosted Ravenna's "mirror on the wall" chess scene. Two miles up the road, Wookey Hole was the planet Voga for Tom Baker's Doctor Who back in 1974, and last summer became the resistance's underground hideout in Masters of the Universe. At Cheddar, Danny Boyle closed the gorge for five days in July 2024 to build a fake rockfall for the finale of 28 Years Later, which he called "extraordinary".
The Sandford tour
Hot Fuzz is still the local favourite. The Crown is the pub where Angel arrests a plastered Danny Butterman — a 15th-century coaching inn from whose window Quaker William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, once preached. City News is the "only one schoolchild at a time" newsagent, and St Cuthbert's stands in for "St Vincent's." Edgar Wright, who once worked at the old Somerfield, sneaked himself in as a shelf-stacker. To keep Sandford village-sized, the cathedral was digitally erased from every skyline shot.
Curious footnotes
One of Britain's earliest location shoots happened at Cheddar Gorge in 1916, when actress Daisy Burrell had to fire a revolver from horseback. The pony bolted; filming was abandoned (Wikipedia).
Tolkien is widely thought to have drawn on Cheddar's caves for the Glittering Caves behind Helm's Deep (Gloucestershire Live).
Film crews spent more than £6 million in Somerset last year (Somerset Council).
Not bad for England's smallest city.
All week (Thu 27 – Mon 31 Aug)
Mythical Creatures Trail — Wells Cathedral. Family trail through the cathedral, included with admission, runs daily to 1 September. More info
Summer Fun on the Farm — Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury. Drop-in summer activities and animal visits, through 4 September. More info
School Summer Holidays at The Bishop's Palace — Wells. Trails and activities for the family, through 2 September. More info
Thursday, 27 August
Josh Atkinson Trio & the Shailangs — Strode Theatre Studio, Street. Soul, funk and blues launch night, with support from The Shailangs. More info
Abbey & Town Building Stone Walk — Glastonbury Abbey. Guided walk exploring the building stone of the abbey and town. More info
Family Activity: Craft a Viking Helmet — Glastonbury Abbey. Drop-in craft session for children. More info
Badger Walks at Glastonbury Abbey — 7pm-9pm, Abbey House, Glastonbury Abbey. Final evening badger walk of the summer season. More info
Walk & Wine Thursday — 6pm, meet near Penniless Porch, Wells Market Place. Weekly circular walk for women, finishing at Fosso Lounge. Free. More info
Stories, Myths & Magic! — 11am, Yeast Scrapstore, Glastonbury. Final week of storytelling and craft sessions for children, run with Rainbow Roots CIC. £10 per child.
Friday, 28 August
The Toasters – Live at the Tree House — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Legendary ska outfit play the Tree House stage. More info
Meat Loaf by Candlelight — Wells Cathedral. West End tribute night — see Featured Event above.
Bishop's Palace Summer Late Openings — 6pm-8pm, Wells. Final late opening of the summer — bring a picnic for the gardens. Adult £8.75. More info
Mini Beast Hunts — 2pm-4pm, Glastonbury Abbey. Final drop-in family bug hunt of the run. More info
Beats 'n' Bites — 5.30pm-10pm, The Island, outside the Town Hall, Midsomer Norton. Live music and community feasting — bring your own takeaway. Free entry.
Saturday, 29 August
Truckfest South West 2026 — Royal Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet. Two-day festival of American rigs, customised trucks and monster truck action begins today; family wrestling, a truck pull challenge and a Rag'n'Bone Man tribute band and late-night disco tonight. Adult £20 advance / £25 on the day. More info
History Alive: Bowlore Medieval — Bishop's Palace, Wells. Medieval living history weekend begins — see Hot News above.
Glastonbury Last Saturday Market — Market Place, Glastonbury. Monthly artisan market — local food, crafts and producers. Free entry.
Late Summer Mini Wellness Retreat — 10am-1pm, Abbey House, Glastonbury Abbey. Slow down and recharge as summer ends. More info
Sunday, 30 August
Truckfest South West 2026 — final day, Royal Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet. Monster trucks, Broke FMX freestyle motocross and a meet-and-greet with BBC Gladiators star Sabre (Sheli McCoy). More info
History Alive: Bowlore Medieval — continues, Bishop's Palace, Wells.
RITS Day 2026 — 12:00 until late, Tor Leisure, Glastonbury BA6 9EF. "Riders in the Sky" annual motorcycle ride out and family fun day, held in memory of Lee Baker and raising funds for the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance — last year's ride out drew over 400 bikes. Sign-in for the ride out closes 10am, £10 per bike; the family fun day is free entry (donations welcome) with stalls, food and drink, kids' entertainment and rides, a raffle, an auction and live music from local bands including SnR, Van Grahams, Dogz Royale, Kings of Indie and 3SEVEN6. More info
Vicky Jackson: Pink — 5.30pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Tribute to the pop icon. More info
Summer Sundays at Wells & Mendip Museum — 10am-4pm, 8 Cathedral Green, Wells. Final Sunday opening of the school holidays. Adult £6, family £12. More info
Open Afternoons at St Hugh's Church — 2pm-5pm, Charterhouse on Mendip. Free, with refreshments and toilets available.
Monday, 31 August (Bank Holiday)
Wells Moat Boat Race — Bishop's Palace Moat, Wells. See Hot News above.
History Alive: Bowlore Medieval — final day, Bishop's Palace, Wells.
🗓️ Coming Up
Starsailor — Cheese & Grain, Frome. Thursday 3 September.
ACEarts Open Day: Step Inside, Get Creative — ACEarts, Somerton. Saturday 5 September.
Night at the Abbey 2026 — Glastonbury Abbey. Saturday 12 September, headlined by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
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🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of Thursday 27 August 2026
A properly mixed bank holiday weekend ahead, with a yellow thunderstorm warning in force from 6am to 10am this morning: expect thundery showers today (high 22°C), continuing into Friday, Saturday and Sunday (highs 20-21°C) before easing to lighter rain on bank holiday Monday (19°C). Pack a coat as well as sun cream if you're heading to Truckfest or the Moat Boat Race — the forecast is genuinely changeable across the whole run.
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.
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