SOMETIMES you lose track of your bin collections - once I asked a friend, 'when’s rubbish day?' - writes Bridgwater Town Council Leader Cllr Brian Smedley.

He replied: “Brian, every day is rubbish day in Bridgwater….”

Funny, I thought, good joke, but it’s just not true, is it.

Bridgwater’s a fascinating place with a great and radical history which secretly Bridgwater people are proud of.

There’s always been a bit of ‘keep your head down’ about Bridgwater, and history explains that.

In 1381, the peasants of Kent and Essex rose up against the Baron-heavy Feudal system, but so did Bridgwater.

The peasants here marched to Ilchester - then the county town - and freed people from the county jail - but as they had no Revoltingpeasants.com in them days, news travelled slow.

So, when they heard (two weeks later) that the peasants revolt in London had been put down, they quickly nipped off home and pretended they hadn’t rebelled at all.

And they weren’t so lucky in 1685 when townsfolk joined the Duke of Monmouth at the battle of Sedgemoor, and lost; many being executed on the Cornhill or sent as slaves to the West Indies.

But, that’s why after 100 years of again keeping their heads down, Bridgwater people put their signatures to the country's very first anti-slave trade petition in 1785.  

Bridgwater was usually on the right side of history - I say usually because, maybe the mass burning of Thomas Paine’s ‘Rights of Man’ and maybe the reputation as the ‘Brexit capital of Somerset’ weren’t the high spots - but perhaps these things look better in the cold light of day.

What always impresses me is the story that when Joe Strummer, legendary punk legend of legendary punk status, visited Bridgwater carnival, saw the first two floats playing Clash songs and declared ‘this is a Clash town!’.

As a result, when armchair misery mongers decried Bridgwater in the pages of ‘The Knowhere Guide’ it was Strummer who jumped to our defence.

No way is Bridgwater rubbish - it’s radical, has a history to prove it - and it’s... let’s say ‘different’, and long may it stay that way.