A popular Shropshire arts festival featuring a range of free events and entertainments is about to get underway.

The festival, funded by Wellington Town Council and supported by the Love Wellington initiative, runs from October 19- 26 and includes attractions for a wide range of people, using venues throughout the town.
“This year’s programme is wider than ever and we are very much looking forward to welcoming people here to enjoy the diverse range of events offer, all of which are all free and non-ticketed,” said Anthony Lowe, Mayor of Wellington.
One of the highlights of the festival is an evening of ‘silly songs and manic monologues’ from Three Men in a Bow Tie at the Charlton School on October 19th.
“They are Shropshire’s renowned comedy act and we are pleased to be hosting them in Wellington this year – it will be a great night,” Anthony said.
There is a return of the festival’s popular ‘acoustic pub crawl’ on October 20th when talented local musicians will play at pubs throughout the town and people are encouraged to join in by singing or playing an instrument.
A new film called ‘Bear Witness, Cinderloo 1821’ will be showed at a visual art and song writing workshop on October 20 from 1.30pm. The film tells the tale of two Dawley miners who were shot dead by Shropshire Yeomanry as they marched with 3,000 men, women and children to protest proposed pay cuts that threatened starvation.
A talk on the importance of code breaking in World War Two at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint on October 24 will include a demonstration of one of the few surviving Enigma machines and on the following evening researcher Amanda Griffiths will present an evening about Jack the Ripper at the Telford Whitehouse Hotel.
One of the final events will be a ‘meet the author’ morning held on October 26 in Wellington Library and the festival will conclude that evening at All Saints Church when Wellington Brass Band will perform together with the Shawbury Military Wives Choir.