40th Anniversary Celebration Screening of 1986 Wem Domesday Festival filming and photos
Saturday June 27th, 2026 - 6:30pmDuration: 5 hrs 30 minutes
Join us for a special nostalgic evening celebrating 40 years since Wem’s spectacular nine-day 1986 Domesday Festival! The event will feature highlights of both rare BBC footage and from ‘9 Playlets for 900 Years’ of Wem history, performed on the High Street during the 1986 Domesday Festival and other festival moments filmed by Ben Hewson.
Approximate timings after 6:30pm welcome drink and nibbles:
- 7:00pm: unveiling of Peter Chiarletti’s 1977 ‘Wem Down the Centuries’ giant painting, gifted as a permanent installation by Wem Fire Station. (Drinks and nibbles continue)
- 7:30pm – 10:00pm: ‘The Chiarletti painting on the big screen’, Domesday Festival filming, photos and mementos, break for raffle, and exciting announcement about March 2027’s 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of Wem!
- 10:00pm – Midnight: stick around and reminisce, 70s & 80s music, bar open.
Book tickets here (or at Wem Town Hall Reception desk):
Wem Town Hall charity may donate up to half of any proceeds to local registered charities for: Wem-related arts, drama, or history projects, or to 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of Wem commemorative projects in 2027. Parts of the evening may be filmed / photographed; media may be invited.
Peter Chiarletti’s eight-foot 1977 painting, ‘Wem Down The Centuries’ – generously donated by Wem Fire Station, will be unveiled in the Town Hall’s Foyer Gallery!
Further info and tickets:
Come and see – or come and remember – how a thousand-and-one Wemians celebrated 900 years of history over nine days in 1986 – with nine street playlets, rhyme, music, feasting, market stalls, dancing and more! ‘Older Wemians’: how many familiar faces and voices will you recognise in the crowds and point out to the youngsters?!
In 1986, England commemorated the 900th anniversary of the 1086 Domesday Book. When the BBC’s ‘Raider of The Lost Archives’ Michael Wood came to Wem that year, he brought TV cameras and descendants of the families of both the Norman first Baron of Wem William Pantulf – and of the ancient Arden family line who were believed to have owned part of Wem from before 1066. As they unveiled a Wem Town Hall plaque, Dr George Arden said to Pierre de Panthou:
‘Glad to have met you again after 900 years!’
For a short moment through millions of TV screens, England glanced at Wem’s celebrations, as the town went ‘full medieval’! Historian Michael Wood was so moved by the town’s community spirit, that he told the nation in 1986:
‘Wem is small town England personified.’
The BBC have given permission for BBC footage to be shown that was donated to then-Domesday Festival Chairman/then-Mayor Pauline Dee, showing: interviews with Wemians at the Medieval street market and the Domesday Plaque unveiling – all while The Wem Jubilee Band got everyone in the mood for a huge two-day street party!
Here’s a preview of the BBC footage!
We are similarly grateful to Wemian Ben Hewson. Highlights of Ben’s footage of both Wem Domesday Festival’s ox-roast and ‘9 Playlets for 900 Years’ will also be shown. Thespians from Wem Tennis Club, Youth Club and Adams School to the WI, Fire Station and others, put on these four-or-five-minute playlets along Wem High Street:
- 1086 – The Domesday Book and Wem
- 1082 – William Pantulf’s Trial by Ordeal at The King’s Court, Rouen
- 1400s – The Wars of The Roses & The St Peter’s School Minstrels
- 1643 – ‘The Women of Wem and a Few Musketeers’
- 1650 – The Founding of Adams School
- 1677 – The Great Fire of Wem
- Wycherley, Wesley, Hazlitt & Coleridge – and Wem
- The Extension of The Voting Franchise
- 1897 – Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee
Afterwards, with the bar open until midnight, there will be time for people to share reminiscences. Before we end the night playing 70s-and-80s music while chatting, milling around and maybe a bit of dancing, we might very briefly discuss any interest in Wem historical arts and drama – and plans to commemorate next year’s Great Fire of Wem 350th anniversary.
The evening will be hosted by Julian Dee as a follow-up to last year’s ‘400 Wemians – 40 Years Ago!’ sellout event.
