Headline act confirms non-appearance as Park House Series announces major event changes

DANCE music duo Solardo will no longer perform at the Park House Series event at Withybush Showground, Haverfordwest, on Saturday, July 18, organisers have confirmed.

The Manchester-based act had been heavily promoted as the headline name for the event, with tickets sold under the Solardo billing across official event pages, ticketing platforms and promotional material.

Questions over the appearance emerged after The Pembrokeshire Herald contacted Solardo’s booking representative directly.

Jack Clark, of United Talent Agency, confirmed to The Herald: “Solardo are not performing at this show.”

Organisers have since confirmed the withdrawal and announced that all ticket holders will receive a full refund.

The event itself will still go ahead, with Beyond Chicago and Ruby Richards both remaining on the line-up.

Park House Series has also announced that 1,200 free general admission tickets and 100 VIP tickets priced at £10 will be released at 7:00pm.

In a statement issued to ticket holders, organiser Toby Ellis said: “Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, Solardo will no longer be performing at our event on Saturday 18 July.

“We are absolutely devastated by this news and understand how disappointing it will be for everyone who purchased a ticket. We explored every available option, but sadly it has not been possible for the performance to go ahead.

“As a result, everyone who purchased a ticket will receive a full refund. Refunds will be processed automatically, with further information sent directly to ticket holders.

“The event itself will still go ahead, and we are determined to make it an incredible night. Beyond Chicago and Ruby Richards will both be performing as planned.

“To thank everyone for their understanding and continued support, we will be releasing:

“1,200 free general admission tickets

“100 VIP tickets for just £10

“Tickets will be released tonight at 7pm.

“We sincerely hope you will join us for what promises to be a huge free party. Thank you for your understanding and for continuing to support the event.”

The confirmation follows several days of uncertainty over whether Solardo would still appear.

At the time The Herald contacted the act’s representative, the event continued to be promoted publicly under the Solardo name.

The Herald has also been told by a source connected to the event’s production that technical requirements had been changed several weeks earlier because Solardo’s rider was no longer required.

That claim has not yet been independently confirmed by the promoter.

The central unanswered question is when organisers first became aware that Solardo would not be performing.

The Herald has asked Park House Series to confirm the date on which it learned of the withdrawal, when Skiddle was informed and whether ticket holders were notified at the earliest opportunity.

The promoter has also been asked why the event remained advertised under Solardo’s name after the act was no longer expected to appear.

Organisers have said the circumstances were beyond their control and that they explored every available option before confirming the change.

The Herald has made clear that its interest is in ensuring ticket holders receive accurate information and that the questions are not intended as a personal attack on the promoter.

The newspaper has also offered to promote the revised event line-up free of charge.

Further details about the automatic refund process are expected to be sent directly to ticket holders.

The free and discounted replacement tickets are due to be released at 7:00pm.

WALES AIR AMBULANCE has received a massive donation of £1,600 from Tenby Golf Club after a competition to raise funds for the charity. Natwest staff also aim to raise £60,000 this Sunday after a sponsored hike up Mount Snowdon.

Wales Air Ambulance is a charity that was founded in 2001, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Since then, it has successfully undertaken over 57,000 missions, providing a life saving service for the people of Wales.

It provides helicopter emergency medical services service free of charge, serving those who are critically ill and injured. Its Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service allows medical specialists too provide life-saving care at the scene of a medical incident. These services include blood transfusions and even minor operations.

But this service still desperately needs donations to operate. Costing £13 million a year, Tenby Golf Club and Natwest both stepped up this week too contribute.

The Tenby Golf Club President’s Open Day took place on Tuesday (7th July) to raise funds through a raffle. Prizes consisted of ‘four ball vouchers to play at ‘12
outstanding courses’ across South Wales.’

This raised an amazing £1,600 for Welsh Air Ambulance. Tenby Golf Club has raised a combined £5,500 for the charity throughout its history.

Natwest also plans to raise £60,000 this Sunday. Its North and South West Wales staff plan to do a sponsored walk up Wales’ tallest mountain, Mount Snowdon. Other Natwest branches have previously undertaken simar hikes for charities, including a veteran care village in Salford, raising over £10,000.

Nadine Bartlett, a personal banker at Natwest’s Aberystwyth branch, said: ‘we are just doing all we can to make a lifesaving difference.’

These combined efforts could potentially raise over £60,000 for Welsh Air Ambulance. This contributes massively to fill the £13 million bloc needed to keep these life-saving helicopters in the air.

You can donate here to help the Natwest team reach their £60,000 goal.

Jamie Street takes Market ward with a 43-vote majority as Reform finishes fourth despite its major Senedd breakthrough two months earlier

THE WELSH CONSERVATIVES have won the Pembroke Dock Market by-election after Jamie Street secured a convincing victory in a crowded seven-candidate contest.

Mr Street received 143 votes, finishing 43 ahead of independent candidate Claire Francis-Boswell, who came second with 100.

Plaid Cymru’s Chloe Richards took third place with 79 votes, while Reform UK candidate Ryan Morgan finished fourth on 48.

Former county councillor and recent Senedd candidate Paul Dowson received just 11 votes. Welsh Liberal Democrat Lee Herring polled nine, while independent Hayley Wood received seven.

A total of 397 valid votes were cast, with one ballot paper rejected. Turnout was 28% from an electorate of 1,442.

Mr Street secured 36% of the valid vote, compared with 25.2% for Mrs Francis-Boswell, 19.9% for Ms Richards and 12.1% for Reform UK.

The by-election followed the death of veteran councillor Brian Hall, who had represented the ward since winning a by-election in 1996.

His successor will now take on the considerable task of following a councillor who spent almost three decades representing Pembroke Dock and became one of the longest-serving members of Pembrokeshire County Council.

Strong local campaigns dominate the contest

The result suggests that voters treated the election primarily as a contest over local representation rather than a referendum on national politics.

Mr Street grew up in the ward and presented himself throughout the campaign as a candidate with direct personal ties to Pembroke Dock.

Mrs Francis-Boswell, who was born and raised in the town and already has a visible role in the local community, also performed strongly. Her 100 votes demonstrated the continuing appeal of independent candidates in Pembrokeshire politics.

Plaid Cymru’s Chloe Richards, an intensive care nurse and clinical educator who lives in the ward, secured almost one vote in five and finished only 21 votes behind Mrs Francis-Boswell.

Between them, the three leading candidates collected more than four-fifths of all valid votes.

That left little room for Reform, despite the party’s dramatic rise across Wales.

Why did Reform receive a hammering?

The result is a bruising setback for Reform UK.

Ryan Morgan finished 95 votes behind the Conservative winner and received only one vote for every three secured by Mr Street.

The contrast with May’s Senedd election is striking.

Across the much larger Ceredigion Penfro constituency, Reform received 23,003 votes, representing 25.8% of the vote, and won two of the six available seats.

The Welsh Conservatives received 14,789 votes, or 16.6%, and took one seat.

In Pembroke Dock Market, those positions were decisively reversed. The Conservatives took 36% while Reform secured just 12.1%.

The two elections are not directly comparable. The Senedd contest covered a vast geographical area, used a proportional voting system and was dominated by national issues. The Market ward by-election involved fewer than 400 valid votes and was fought street by street.

Nevertheless, the result shows that Reform’s national success cannot automatically be converted into council seats.

Mr Morgan runs a care business in Pembroke Dock and campaigned on social care, neglected buildings and support for families with additional learning needs. However, he lives in neighbouring Pembroke rather than in the ward itself.

Against candidates who could point to long-standing personal and community connections within Market ward, that distinction may have mattered.

Low-turnout council elections also reward organisation, personal contact and the ability to identify supporters and ensure they vote. With fewer than 400 votes cast, established local networks can outweigh national polling, online support and the prominence of a party’s leader.

The absence of a Labour candidate may also have fragmented the vote among Plaid Cymru and the independents rather than producing a straightforward contest between Reform and the Conservatives.

There is no way of knowing from the result alone whether tactical voting took place. However, the numbers suggest that voters looking for a centre-right candidate consolidated heavily behind Mr Street rather than Reform.

Reform’s defeat cannot be blamed on Paul Dowson splitting its potential vote. Even if all 11 of Mr Dowson’s supporters had voted for Mr Morgan, Reform would still have finished fourth, behind Plaid Cymru.

The result does not prove that Reform’s wider support in Pembrokeshire has disappeared. It does, however, expose the difference between attracting a protest vote in a national election and building the local organisation required to win a tightly fought council seat.

Former Senedd candidate receives just 11 votes

One of the most striking results of the night was the performance of Paul Dowson.

The former Pembrokeshire county councillor received only 11 votes, representing 2.8% of the valid ballots cast.

Mr Dowson served on Pembrokeshire County Council from 2017 until 2022 and was initially elected as an independent before later joining UKIP.

He returned to electoral politics in May as an independent candidate in the Ceredigion Penfro Senedd election but received only 88 votes from more than 89,000 valid ballots.

His candidacy attracted particular attention because he had previously been disqualified from serving as a councillor for three years.

In 2022, the Adjudication Panel for Wales found that Mr Dowson had committed a series of serious breaches of the councillors’ Code of Conduct.

The tribunal found that he had made false allegations of criminal behaviour against a fellow councillor and members of the public, engaged in bullying and harassment, spread misinformation and attempted to mislead an Ombudsman investigation by providing fabricated evidence.

It concluded that his conduct called into question his fitness for public office and disqualified him for three years from becoming a member of Pembrokeshire County Council or another relevant authority.

That disqualification expired in 2025, leaving him legally entitled to stand in both the Senedd election and Thursday’s council by-election.

Mr Dowson has previously rejected the findings against him and argued that he was targeted because of his political views.

However, his result in Market ward was emphatic. Despite his previous council service, a high public profile and a Senedd campaign only two months earlier, he attracted fewer than a dozen votes.

A warning for Reform and a boost for the Conservatives

The victory gives the Welsh Conservatives an important local boost at a time when the party is under intense pressure from Reform across Wales.

The result suggests there remains a route to Conservative success where the party selects a locally recognised candidate and keeps the campaign focused on council services and community representation.

For Reform, 48 votes demonstrate that the party has an identifiable base in Pembroke Dock. However, it was nowhere near enough to challenge for the seat.

The party now faces the challenge of converting its national profile into credible local campaigns, recognised candidates and dependable voter networks.

For Plaid Cymru, Chloe Richards’ third-place finish was respectable and provides a foundation on which the party may seek to build.

Mrs Francis-Boswell’s strong second place also underlines the continuing strength of independent politics in Pembrokeshire, particularly where candidates have visible records of community involvement.

The immediate winner, however, is Jamie Street.

He enters County Hall with a clear mandate from those who voted, but also with the knowledge that more than seven in ten eligible electors did not take part.

His first challenge will be to establish himself as the representative of the entire ward while following a predecessor who served Pembroke Dock for almost 30 years.