Wedmore Festival presents Wells Cathedral School Soloists Showcase

Thursday 10^th October in St Mary’s Church 7:30pm – £12 per person

Wells Cathedral School music department are presenting a showcase of talented young musicians. Wells is one of only four specialist music schools in England offering specialist education for gifted and talented young performers and is supported by the DfE Music & Dance Scheme.

All of the performers in this concert are in their upper sixth year and preparing for music conservatoire auditions so will be presenting their audition programme. Each year, many Wells young musicians gain major scholarships to continue their studies, so you can expect exceptional musicianship.

Wedmore Festival is pleased to be supporting this unique & fabulous evening of music, raising money both for Wells Cathedral School musicians travel bursary as well as the Festivals own Protégée Fund.

Tickets available on 14th September online, by telephone or from Wedmore Stores (in person cash only)

Or you can telephone our Ticketsource Box Office between Monday to Friday, 9.00AM to 7:00PM and Saturday, 9.00AM to 5.00PM (excluding bank holidays). It’s an 0333 666 3366 telephone number so it’s just a normal call charge.

This event is kindly sponsored by Woodbury Insurance Brokers – Cheddar, for all your insurance needs!

Wedmore Festival 2024 Reaches New Heights!

This year’s Wedmore Festival was everything we’d dreamed it would be and more. We changed the name (dropping ‘Arts’) to make it even more inclusive and eclectic and are here to listen to your ideas and suggestions for 2025, which we are already excitedly working on, promising to make this spectacular festival even bigger, better and bolder than ever before.

You probably already know what a wonderful village Wedmore is and what an incredible event the festival is, but we want the world to know! Please let us know if you can help. It seems we are all agreed that this was the most successful festival to date. Not only did it provide high quality entertainment, thought-provoking insights but it proudly and importantly supported young local talent.

New this year was a highly acclaimed display of paintings, sculptures and tapestries from local artists in the church. Well-known speakers and national icons, Kate Adie and Lynne Franks gave fascinating talks. The Nonsuch Dancers recreated Tudor pageantry; we saw a highly imaginative theatre production of the Hound of the Baskervilles and enjoyed lots of music – from pop and rock, cabaret and musical theatre to jazz and classical music of the highest quality.

The Wedmore Ensemble, four professional musicians who live in Wedmore closed the festival and Poppy McGhee, a young violinist who we are proud to support, gave a wonderful concert with the world-famous pianist Derek Paravicini and raised over £1000 for the Amber Trust, a charity givingmusical opportunities for blind, partially sighted children, and those with more complex needs.

We are delighted to have contributed safety posts to the seating in the village hall as part of the Wedmore Festival legacy. Instrumental in raising funds for the raked seating which facilitated much better viewing for audiences, the festival is pleased to have provided this important safety addition, making the seating much more accessible for the elderly, young families and those with additional needs.

We’ve certainly set a high bar, judging from the wonderful feedback and excellent ticket sales we’ve had this year. Next year we are looking forward to Wedmore Festival reaching even greater heights.

We are so grateful to everyone who came. Take a look at our event photos on our new facebook page, give it a ‘like’ and keep up-to-date with our exciting developmentshttps://www.facebook.com/WedmoreFestival, follow us on instagram.com/wedmorefestival.

As always, we are grateful to our sponsors, advertisers, Friends of the Festival, support staff and of course our audiences! We would also love to offer individuals, groups or businesses the opportunity to support next year’s festival and to contact boxoffice@wedmorefestival.co.uk.

In the meantime, why not join our mailing list and be kept up to date!

And an “Ode” to our 2024 Festival

A week of talent, stuffed galore
With music, laughter, food and drink
Who would ever stop and think
That such a village could employ
Entertainments of such utter joy.

In St Mary’s Church an art display
Local talent, an artistic array
From art groups, some old and some new
Exhibited tastefully between each pew.

A make up lesson to improve our looks
An author told us about her books
A PR guru gave inspiration
To women to empower the Nation.

A musicals night by talented, young
Canapés, dancing and songs were sung.
The Lark Ascending – a magical violin

With gifted pianist accompanying.
The jazz rocked the church and still we had more

An art historian, paintings to restore.
Hound of the Baskervilles bayed in the night
A scary tale made all take fright.
“Kate Bush” wafted in and gave it her best
While the other Kate told stories on request.

The Bluebird swayed to the Beatles songs
Enjoyed by a jolly dancing throng.
An afternoon tea, vintage style
Added Prosecco made the audience smile.

Comedy night went with a flow
Despite nervous folk in the front row!
Shakespearean dancing , what a treat
Village hall full of happy feet.

Beach Boyz brought summer to the hall
Which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
The finale came all too soon
Wedmore Ensemble – what a boon
To our village talent pot
So now it’s clear, we’ve got the lot !!

Our protegées

As a not for profit organisation Wedmore Arts Festival is committed to using the surplus we generate from our events to help support young local artists and performers, and to encourage a love of the arts. The Festival is dedicated especially to supporting young talent and to encouraging a love of the arts amongst the younger generation. Find out more….

Our Patrons