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Mendiplodocus Daily — Issue #53 — Wednesday 26 August 2026
Issue #53 | Wednesday 26 August 2026
Good morning, Mendips! The Bank Holiday weekend rolls into view with Truckfest thundering into Shepton Mallet, a ska legend and a candlelit Meat Loaf tribute both landing on Friday, and free circus skills up for grabs in Collett Park on Sunday. Plus solar panels planned for the Bishop's Palace, a big new play area for Glastonbury, and everything else you need for the week ahead.
📅 Featured Event — Truckfest revs into Shepton Mallet
🔤 Uxbridge English Dictionary — today's entry
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style — Palace solar panels · £200k play area · free circus comes to town
Dem bones, dem bones. - have stories to tell
📆 What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
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Truckfest South West
The Bath & West Showground throws open its gates this Saturday and Sunday for Truckfest South West 2026, the region's biggest celebration of all things trucking and one of the headline draws of the August Bank Holiday weekend. Expect rows of gleaming American rigs, customised trucks and vintage classics lined up for the crowds, plus car-crushing action from the mighty Swamp Thing monster truck and jaw-dropping tricks from Broke FMX, the UK's top-ranked freestyle motocross team.
There's plenty to keep the whole family entertained beyond the trucks themselves. BBC Gladiators stars Bionic (Matty Campbell) and Sabre (Sheli McCoy) will be meeting fans across the weekend, family-friendly wrestling bouts run throughout both days, and younger visitors can hop aboard a real monster truck for a ride (bookings on the day). Saturday night brings a Rag'n'Bone Man tribute set from Scott Jones followed by a late-night disco from Groove Mix Discos.
Gates open at 9am both days (9.30am for those buying on the gate), running to 5.30pm Saturday and 4pm Sunday. Advance day tickets are £20 for adults and £11 for children, rising on the day, with under-5s and parking both free. Advance tickets go off sale on Friday afternoon, so it's worth booking ahead.
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style
🔆 Wells Bishop's Palace Weighs Rooftop Solar Panels
Two applications have been lodged with Somerset Council for solar photovoltaic panels on the inner, west-facing roof slope of the Jocelin Range at Wells' historic Bishop's Palace. The panels would sit out of sight from the Palace's public-facing elevations, though both planning permission and listed building consent are needed before work can start. No decision has yet been made on either application.
🌳 Glastonbury Plans £200,000 Abbey Park Play Area
Glastonbury Town Council has launched a tender for a new, fully inclusive play area at Abbey Park, with up to £200,000 up for grabs and an opening targeted for April 2027. Designers are being asked to draw on Glastonbury's own mythology and landscape — think dragons, castles and stone circles — while building in sensory play and access for children with autism, ADHD and physical disabilities. Residents get a big say too: a public consultation this September will count for 30% of the final design score.
🤹 Free Circus Day Rolls Into Collett Park
Wannabe jugglers, tightrope walkers and hula-hoopers can try their hand at circus skills when Circus in the Park returns to Shepton Mallet's Collett Park this Sunday. Wookey Hole Circus performers will run hands-on workshops in low wire, hula hoops, fun wheels and juggling from 1.30pm to 4pm, finishing with a show from the professionals themselves. It's free, family-friendly, and one more free afternoon out before the summer holidays wind down.
🎷 Ska Legends The Toasters Bring The Party To Frome
US ska pioneers The Toasters roll into Cheese & Grain's Tree House stage in Frome this Friday, bringing four decades of horn-driven, two-tone-inspired energy to the Mendips' liveliest small venue. The band has been touring almost non-stop since the 1980s and remains one of the genre's most influential acts on either side of the Atlantic. Doors are at 7pm — expect a packed dancefloor.
The Toasters
🕯️ Meat Loaf Tribute Lights Up Wells Cathedral
Wells Cathedral turns candlelit concert venue again this Friday for Kinda Dusty Presents: Meat Loaf by Candlelight, the latest in a run of tribute shows that has already brought Westlife and Queen to the nave by flickering light. Expect the big theatrical hits reimagined in one of the country's most atmospheric settings. Doors are at 7.30pm, running through to 10.30pm.
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
O
Onomatopoeia
Taken short when entering the house.
Open
Wow! A writing apparatus!
Operated
A classical music loving soft toy.
Orange
The distance an exclamation travels.
Orphanage
Anywhere between about 3 and 18, usually.
Oscar
Australlian motor vehicle.
Ostracised
To be innoculated against Ostriches.
Before Cheddar Man: The Mendip Bones You've Never Heard Of
Cheddar Man gets all the limelight — the 10,000-year-old lad with dark skin and blue eyes, dug from Gough's Cave in 1903 and now a poster boy for British prehistory. But here's a "did you know" to drop at the pub: he was never alone. The Mendips are riddled with older, weirder, and altogether more puzzling human remains, and most of them barely get a mention.
Take Aveline's Hole at Burrington Combe, rediscovered in 1797 by two men digging out a rabbit. It turned out to be the oldest scientifically dated cemetery in Britain — around 10,400 years old, roughly four centuries older than Cheddar Man. At least 21 individuals were laid to rest there, adorned with red ochre, perforated animal teeth, and, rather charmingly, seven bits of fossil ammonite. Somebody, ten millennia ago, thought a spiral stone was worth burying with the dead.
Aveline’s Hole - Burrington Coombe
Then there's Picken's Hole on Crook Peak, near Axebridge, named after Mr M.J. Picken, who in 1961 noticed teeth in the spoil that badgers were flinging out of their sett. Two of those teeth may be around 34,000 years old — the oldest human remains found on Mendip, and a full 24,000 years before Cheddar Man drew breath (Wikipedia
Wookey Hole has its own star turn: the so-called Witch of Wookey, dug up by Herbert Balch in 1912 alongside a dagger, a polished alabaster ball and some goat bones. For decades she scared schoolchildren from a display case in Wells.
Modern analysis revealed the "witch" was in fact a man aged 25 to 35, and radiocarbon dating showed his left femur was Iron Age while his humerus was Roman — meaning the "skeleton" is actually two people separated by 500 years, muddled together in a cave rift. Deeper in the same system, divers have since recovered eighteen skulls and a communal Romano-British burial ground in Chamber Four.
Gough’s Cave - Cheddar
And Gough's Cave itself, Cheddar Man's own address? Long before he arrived, an earlier group there were carefully cleaning human skulls, trimming them and shaping them into drinking cups around 15,000 years ago. Over 100 human bone fragments from the cave carry cut-marks, deliberate breakage and even human tooth marks — the oldest known ritual cannibalism in Europe, and now thought to be a funerary custom rather than desperation (Natural History Museum).
So next time someone mentions Cheddar Man, smile knowingly. The Mendips have been keeping ancestors for at least 34,000 years — and the hills are still whispering.
26–30 Aug
Wednesday, 26 August
Magique - Magic and Illusions Show — 6.30pm, Wookey Hole Theatre, Wells. Family "Fire and Water" magic and illusion show, bar open from 6pm. £10. More info
As You Like It — Valley Arts Centre, Chew Valley. Shakespeare comedy performance. More info
Wild Wednesdays — 10am–3pm (final session), Somerset Earth Science Centre, Stoke St Michael. Forest-school summer club: den building, crafts and campfire cooking. Full day £25, short session £16. More info
Mini Beast Hunts — 2–4pm, Main Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey. Drop-in family bug hunt. More info
Thursday, 27 August
Josh Atkinson Trio & the Shailangs — Strode Theatre Studio, Street. Launch night for the trio's soul, funk and blues sound, with support from The Shailangs. More info
Abbey & Town Building Stone Walk — 10.30am–12.30pm, Main Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey. Guided walk exploring Somerset's geology through the Abbey and town. Included with admission. More info
Family Activity: Craft a Viking Helmet — 11am–1pm, Abbey Museum, Glastonbury Abbey. Make your own Viking helmet from cardboard. Included with admission. More info
Badger Walks at Glastonbury Abbey — 7–9pm (final walk), Abbey House, Glastonbury Abbey. Late-summer evening badger walk. More info
Walk & Wine Thursday — 6–7pm, Wells Market Place (meet near Penniless Porch). Weekly women's circular walk, finishing at Fosso Lounge for those who fancy a drink after. More info
Stories, Myths & Magic! — 11am (final session), Yeast Scrapstore, Glastonbury. Storytelling and craft session for children, with Rainbow Roots CIC. £10 per child.
Mini Beast Hunts — 2–4pm, Main Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey. Drop-in family bug hunt. More info
Friday, 28 August
The Toasters - Live at the Tree House — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. US ska pioneers bring their horn-driven sound to Frome — see Hot News above. More info
Kinda Dusty Presents: Meat Loaf by Candlelight — 7.30pm–10.30pm, Wells Cathedral. Candlelit tribute concert — see Hot News above. More info
Bishop's Palace Summer Late Openings — 6–8pm (final evening of the season), Bishop's Palace, Wells. Bring a picnic and enjoy the gardens after hours. Adult £8.75, Child £4.40. More info
Beats 'n' Bites — 5.30–10pm, The Island, outside the Town Hall, Midsomer Norton. Live music and community feasting — bring your own food and drink from local traders. Free entry.
Mini Beast Hunts — 2–4pm (final session), Main Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey. Drop-in family bug hunt. More info
Saturday, 29 August
Truckfest South West 2026 — 9am–5.30pm (day one of two), Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet. This weekend's Featured Event — see above. More info
History Alive: Bowlore Medieval — Bishop's Palace, Wells (day one of three). Medieval living history with archery and combat re-enactment. More info
Glastonbury Last Saturday Market — Market Place, Glastonbury. Monthly artisan market with local food, crafts and producers. Free entry.
Late Summer Mini Wellness Retreat — 10am–1pm, Abbey House, Glastonbury Abbey. A slow-down, recharge session led by Thalia Brown as summer winds down. More info
Sunday, 30 August
Truckfest South West 2026 — 9am–4pm (final day), Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet. Last chance to catch this weekend's Featured Event — see above. More info
History Alive: Bowlore Medieval — Bishop's Palace, Wells (day two of three, continues into Bank Holiday Monday). More info
Vicky Jackson: Pink — 5.30pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Live music show at the Tree House stage. More info
Summer Sundays at Wells & Mendip Museum — 10am–4pm (final Sunday opening of the school holidays), Wells & Mendip Museum, 8 Cathedral Green, Wells. Adult £6, family ticket £12. More info
Open Afternoons at St Hugh's Church — 2–5pm, Charterhouse on Mendip. The little white church opens its doors to walkers, with refreshments and toilets available. Free. More info
🗓️ Coming Up
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
Wells Film Centre's website is showing stale, years-old cached listings again this issue (still displaying a 2015 programme) — we can't verify current screenings from the site today. Check the box office directly (Monday–Friday & Sunday 1pm–9pm, Saturday 11am–9pm) or call ahead for what's actually showing this week.
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🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of Wednesday 26 August
It's a bright, warm start to the week in Wells, with sunny intervals and highs of 25°C on Wednesday and 23°C on Thursday. Friday turns more unsettled with light rain showers moving in (highs around 21°C), and Saturday brings the risk of thundery showers for Truckfest-goers at the Showground — pack a brolly just in case. Sunday eases back to milder, showery conditions ahead of the Bank Holiday.
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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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