No abracadabra moment for wizard trying to win election

Wizard Peter Wood-Frearson has failed to cast a spell on the electorate in a district council election.

The Glastonbury-based tree surgeon and horticulturalist raised eyebrows when he contested the town’s St Edmunds ward seat for the Conservative Party.

Before the election Mr Wood-Frearson said he had studied a wide range of spiritual philosophies, and run Druidic groves and Pagan groups.

He was unable to displace sitting Liberal Democrat councillor and former Mayor Nick Cottle though, who retook the Mendip District Council seat with 363 votes following last Thursday’s poll.

Mr Wood-Frearson won 225 votes; Independent Louise Adele Somerville-Williams won 152 votes and Labour candidate Kenneth John Hurrell polled 94 votes

Mr Wood-Frearson, had said that if elected he hoped to be a bridge between the more conservative section of the town and its alternative side.

The town has long been a magnet for people of a spiritual nature and though the occasional outbreak of wacky behaviour is far from rare in Glastonbury, electing a wizard was a step too far.