Dear Editor,

Please allow me to correct the error made by Isabel Ward in her recent letter to your newspaper where she states that it was the former Liberal Democrat MP Jeremy Browne “who first launched the campaign for a railway station in Wellington.”

This is a (possibly deliberate) mistake which Ms Ward and her fellow Liberal Democrat supporters make over and over again as they revise history to make themselves sound wonderful.

What Ms Ward and other Lib Dem contributors don’t tell your readers is that during the whole of his 10 years as our MP, Mr Browne raised the issue in Parliament of a railway station on exactly one occasion.

This, he did in 2014, a whole nine years after he was elected, and he did so only briefly, in passing, while talking about strategic transport plans for Taunton. (This can be verified in Hansard). Hardly “launching a campaign” was it?

In fact, Mr Browne could not have launched the campaign, because it was launched long before his briefest of brief mentions, five years earlier in 2009, by local Conservative Party member John Thorne, who went on to become a Wellington Town Councillor and who still serves us to this day.

A look back at the Wellington Weekly archives from those days reveals how the Lib Dems at the time belittled the idea of a new railway station as a “pie in the sky” project because they simply did not like the fact it was a Conservative initiative and not something they came up with.

I happen to know that Councillor Thorne has publicly challenged Gideon Amos, our current MP, to provide the town council with actual evidence of Mr Browne doing anything to support or promote the station campaign. Mr Amos has not been able to do so.

Readers should know that in 2009 Wellington Conservatives considered the campaign so important to the town that they did not want it to be purely party political and took it to the town council for taking forward by a cross-party working group. (As can be verified by the council’s minutes).

Their work was eventually taken up by the then-Conservative Taunton Deane Borough Council, from which emerged the Metro Group chaired by Conservative MP Rebecca Pow which took the plans through to the point where work was almost ready to start last year before Labour were elected and pulled its funding.

C. Penney,

Wellington

Dear Editor,

My friends and I would like to thank those responsible for the flowers display in the Park. They are truly splendid!

I was at the Park on Sunday for the music and just thought how lovely it looked and wanted to congratulate and thank the team responsible.

Not enough people get thanked for what they do.

Best wishes,

Anne S

Dear Editor,

Following months of planning, discussions with the authorities and finalising the wonderful line up, the public arrived and at 11.30am the doors were opened for Welliestock 2025.

Met by the "nuttiest sounds around" of Wellington Silver Band, Welliestock audience found their way to their pitch and settled in for a day of fresh, exciting and euphoric live music.

Next up, as the surprise weather forecast held off the rain, was Slowburne from Court Fields School. These young ladies hit the stage and delivered a set that could easily have been performed by musicians 10 years older. The reaction from the rapidly growing audience gave the band the confidence to truly shine and showcase their talents.

Now it was time for the sound of Wellington's Red Light/Green Light. This multi-talented ensemble gave us a set of original music that took us through a number of genres finishing with a song that could have easily come from the classic Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd.

The audience were then treated to the first of our acoustic acts Cam Chilcott. Cam walked onto the stage determined for us to have a positive experience with a few darkening clouds slowly gathering. whipping the crowd up with classic including Sweet Caroline, Cam instantly felt the support and love of Wellington. Following his set, his grandmother was heard saying that next year he should play for longer.

The audience was steadily increasing and were now to be treated to Reload. A band from Richard Huish College, these three boys brought an instrumental set of original music that could easily have graced a Joe Satriani or Steve Vai stage!

Changeover time saw Fiorenza Newland take to the stage and instantly captivated the audience with. the beautiful tone of her voice. Somg after song came and the audience felt spellbound during this set. A simply stunning voice that surely gained a new audience of fans.

Autumn Red, with their country rock vibes soon appeared onto the set and showed us clearly why they are the number 1 Country/Rock band in the South West. Stunning lead vocals, precise harmonies and a well rehearsed and tight band behind them, the band again introduced Welliestock to their sounds and songs. Featuring some mouthwatering guitar work, Autumn Red soon had the audince in their hands and could see more and more people getting into their music.

China Bears arrived on stage at 3pm and, in the middle of their British Tour brought us a set that has seen them gain such great appreciation for their beautiful songwriting and playing. Surly one of the finest indie bands in the country, this group of musicians really showed the audience the quality that was evident throughout each band.

The audiene was now warming up, growing in numbers and about to be hit by a five guitar strength band from Bucklers's Mead Academy in Yeovil (along with their head of music and Welliestock organiser Huw Weston on keys for one song). These youngsters brought three classic tunes full of swirling vocals and all the guitar leads and harmonies possible. Finishing with a full sounding Hotel California, these youngsters were clearly enjoying themselves and soaking up the atmosphere of this festival.

By now the atmosphere around Welliestock was building with the bar and food stalls all busy and friends catching up with each other after, possibly seven years since the last Welliestock.

Helter Skelter then burst onto the stage giving us a 40 minute set of well known songs, blistereing guitar solos and songs that everyone knew the words to. The boys really had the audience moving and again showed why they were invited to perform having travelled down from Wales.

Welliestock then welcomed the funky soul sound of the ‘groovalicious’ The Clean Up. Bringing in the original funk for the days these guys truly started the evening time celebration people of Wellington associate with Welliestock. Honest lyrics, a rhythm section so locked in that it felt like one player and a front line delivering beautifully soaring melodies and stunning sax solos and riffs.

Adding a chilled vibe was Jon West with his acoustic guitar, stunning vocals and as impressive white shoes.

It was 6.30pm and the mighty Irie Fire brought their reggae, roots influenced music to the festival. Vocals, expert musicianship laid on a foundation of gorgeous drum and bass grooves had the place swaying, moving and certainly in the mindset of knowing we were experiencing one of the freshest and exciting festival line ups happening this summer in the South West.

The genre and vibe completely changed when three piece band Last One Home, led by Wellington educated Tom and the boys. They brought their well produced and rehearsed rock show to Welliestock and immediately launched into a set showcasing their varied songwriting skills and sounds.

It was now time for the penultimate band, Revolution Roots. This eight piece band were huge favourites of the organisers and many people had traveled far to enjoy this huge sound.

Then it was time for the headliners, FILTA. Welliestock favourites and Wellington based. FILTA delighted with the mix of original dance tracks and classic dance anthems. FILTA were joined briefly by drummer Charlie's younger brother recreating a memory several years before when the two boys, much younger then, joined FILTA for a track. The set seemed to go too quickly and before we knew it we had enjoyed Life's a Game and were dancing to the final euphoric dance influenced sounds of Sublime before we heard the words, "Welliestock, good night, God bless, we are FILTA" and with that it was all over.

People had sat on their friends shoulders, danced and sung with strangers and were now leaving Welliestock, heading up The Rec to their homes.

So many tired yet very happy faces all heard saying what a great day it had been and how wonderful it was to have Welliestock back in our town and our lives.

By Monday night the site was back to normal, completely clear of any memories of Welliestock and as we all sat in our homes Sunday we all knew that this weekend an old special friend had returned to our lives.

Bring on Welliestock 2026.

Huw Weston

(More photographs from Wellistock on page 5)