South Wales seems to be quite a long way from us in Hay - but the South Wales Plan for health care included this area. Some people are very concerned that A&E services will be cut - and since we're in a rural area, on the border with Herefordshire, which also has plans to cut services, that could be a problem. Ambulance services are at full stretch now.
So there are going to be some public meetings and drop-in sessions locally for people to find out more. They are at:
03-Jun 6-8pm Public meeting Three Cocks Gwernyfed School
06-Jun 1-4pm Drop in session Brecon Bishop Bevan Hall
06-Jun 6-8pm Public meeting Brecon Bishop Bevan Hall
07-Jun 1-5pm Drop in session Hay on Wye Parish Hall
10-Jun 10.30am-1.30pm Drop in session Bronllys Basil Webb Hall
It's easy to get distracted while the Festival is on, but serious things are still happening in the area.
Friday, 24 May 2013
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Royal Visit
Prince Charles and Camilla are inside the shop - honest!
We had been waiting for Prince Charles to appear all morning. There was a rumour that he hadn't been able to use his helicopter, so he would be two hours late. He was supposed to be popping into Golesworthys, and Booth Books, and the Castle, and meeting schoolchildren down at the Festival site. And having lunch at some point.
While I was shelving books (wondering whether he'd have time to pop into the shop on his way down to the Festival site) I met a friend browsing.
"Avoiding Prince Charles?" I asked.
"I'm supposed to be meeting him!" he answered. He's one of the Cheesemarket Renovation committee, and Prince Charles had asked to meet them to find out about the Cheesemarket and how the project is going. With the delay, though, they had time to kill before they had to be back for the meeting.
When I came back to work from my lunch, and turned the corner to go up the hill, there was a crowd round the doorway to Golesworthys - so I did see the Prince, just about, and a silver bobbed haircut that must have been Camilla. Rob Golesworthy was inside the shop, looking very smart in his suit and mayoral chain - he's very tall, so I could see him quite easily from the back of the crowd.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
More Beer at Kilverts
They're re-arranging the bar area at Kilverts at the moment - moving the coffee machine to make room for five more hand pumps.
So then they had the idea to celebrate the installation of the new pumps by getting beer in from every brewery in Wales. And then they decided that wasn't ambitious enough, and decided to serve every beer made in Wales!
So it's going to be a sort of rolling beer festival, and as part of the effort, Eddie will be going off to several breweries to help to brew some of the beers!
So then they had the idea to celebrate the installation of the new pumps by getting beer in from every brewery in Wales. And then they decided that wasn't ambitious enough, and decided to serve every beer made in Wales!
So it's going to be a sort of rolling beer festival, and as part of the effort, Eddie will be going off to several breweries to help to brew some of the beers!
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Ready for the Festival
Hay Festival starts on Thursday.
The bunting is strung across the streets, the tents are up on the Festival field and the Castle grounds and around the Globe, and pop-up shops and exhibitions are appearing all around town.
In what used to be the bookshop on the Pavement, one of the new units has been taken by a clothes shop, while the shop opposite Booths (soon to be Bartrum's stationers) has bales of hay and picnic hampers in the window - I think it's something to do with a celebration of Welsh food.
Fabazaar have stencilled the words "The Old Electric Shop" on the windows of the shop at the end of Castle Street, which was once the SWALEC showroom and more recently the 321 Bookshop. They're selling Fairtrade goods.
And everywhere people are putting a last minute lick of paint on their shop fronts.
The bunting is strung across the streets, the tents are up on the Festival field and the Castle grounds and around the Globe, and pop-up shops and exhibitions are appearing all around town.
In what used to be the bookshop on the Pavement, one of the new units has been taken by a clothes shop, while the shop opposite Booths (soon to be Bartrum's stationers) has bales of hay and picnic hampers in the window - I think it's something to do with a celebration of Welsh food.
Fabazaar have stencilled the words "The Old Electric Shop" on the windows of the shop at the end of Castle Street, which was once the SWALEC showroom and more recently the 321 Bookshop. They're selling Fairtrade goods.
And everywhere people are putting a last minute lick of paint on their shop fronts.
Monday, 20 May 2013
Travellers Club
It's a pity we couldn't go round the gardens when we went out on the Travellers Club coach trip last Tuesday - it poured down all day. However, the interiors of the places we visited more than made up for it.
In the morning, we went to Llancaiach Fawr Manor, a fortified manor house that was set out as it had been in 1645, with costumed guides who spoke seventeenth century English. I was most impressed with the quality of their costumes - and their knowledge. The man acting as the agent and surveyor of Colonel Pritchard's estates asked us where we came from, and when someone said Hay-on-Wye, he said that it was a good thing we were away from home at present, as he had heard the Scottish Covenanters were marching on Hereford (which they were!). He gave the impression of being a Royalist supporter - but one who was exasperated with the King! Another guide, the chief groom, declared himself to be a Republican, and said that if Colonel Pritchard told him to fight for the King, he would leave the Colonel's service. (Shortly after Charles I visited the manor, the Colonel declared for Parliament).
In the kitchens we were entertained by the under dairy maid, and we started and finished with the music master of the house, who demonstrated a bowed psaltery for us in the children's bedroom - and later, in the master's bedroom, became highly embarrassed when one of the coach party asked him where the Colonel and his wife got together to have babies since they had separate bedrooms!
When I got home, I did a bit of research about bowed psalteries - it's a triangular instrument with strings of varying lengths, played with a bow similar to a violin, though the bow only touches one string at a time. It seemed like an ideal instrument to take along on medieval re-enactments, and various websites said that it was very easy to play - so it's a pity that it was actually invented by a German school teacher in 1890!
The armoury, and Colonel's study, at Llancaiach Fawr, from their website www.llancaiachfawr.co.uk
We had lunch there in the modern cafe, and then went on to Castell Coch, near Cardiff.
I've wanted to visit Castell Coch for a long while - the bus down to Cardiff used to pass it, up on the hillside surrounded by trees. The route has since changed. It looks like something straight out of a William Morris fantasy, and it was designed by William Burges for the Marquis of Bute - the same man who designed the wonderfully mad interiors of Cardiff Castle.
Adding an extra frisson to the visit was the fact that the previous Saturday's Doctor Who episode had featured the castle being attacked by Cybermen! They also used footage of the library at Cardiff Castle for the Tardis library a week or so before.
The interior of Castell Coch is wonderfully mad, too - and when we looked at the differences between the Marquis's bedroom (and single bed), and Lady Bute's bedroom (with it's carvings of nesting birds symbolising romantic love, and the enormous dome decorated with pictures of monkeys over the bed) it was obvious where that couple had gone to make babies!
Although the interior of the castle is a High Gothick fantasy, the exterior is actually built directly onto a genuine 13th century castle which guarded the valley, and was built by the Clare family, who were lords of Glamorgan at the time. (Earlier in the day, we had learned that Colonel Pritchard and his wife Mary owned two thirds of Glamorgan between them). It was all stairs - but some of the best bits, like Lady Bute's amazing bedroom and the exhibition of stained glass from the dismantled chapel, are at the top of the staircases.
There was a cafe here, too - a very tight squeeze! - but very nice cake.
Rooftop view of the castle.
It really was a great day out!
The next trip the Travellers Club are running is to Lacock and Lacock Abbey, in Wiltshire, on June 14th, used as a location for Harry Potter and Cranford, and home of the Fox Talbot photographic museum.
I'll be going with them on July 9th to Bath, and in August there's a day trip to Aberystwyth.
In the morning, we went to Llancaiach Fawr Manor, a fortified manor house that was set out as it had been in 1645, with costumed guides who spoke seventeenth century English. I was most impressed with the quality of their costumes - and their knowledge. The man acting as the agent and surveyor of Colonel Pritchard's estates asked us where we came from, and when someone said Hay-on-Wye, he said that it was a good thing we were away from home at present, as he had heard the Scottish Covenanters were marching on Hereford (which they were!). He gave the impression of being a Royalist supporter - but one who was exasperated with the King! Another guide, the chief groom, declared himself to be a Republican, and said that if Colonel Pritchard told him to fight for the King, he would leave the Colonel's service. (Shortly after Charles I visited the manor, the Colonel declared for Parliament).
In the kitchens we were entertained by the under dairy maid, and we started and finished with the music master of the house, who demonstrated a bowed psaltery for us in the children's bedroom - and later, in the master's bedroom, became highly embarrassed when one of the coach party asked him where the Colonel and his wife got together to have babies since they had separate bedrooms!
When I got home, I did a bit of research about bowed psalteries - it's a triangular instrument with strings of varying lengths, played with a bow similar to a violin, though the bow only touches one string at a time. It seemed like an ideal instrument to take along on medieval re-enactments, and various websites said that it was very easy to play - so it's a pity that it was actually invented by a German school teacher in 1890!
The armoury, and Colonel's study, at Llancaiach Fawr, from their website www.llancaiachfawr.co.uk
We had lunch there in the modern cafe, and then went on to Castell Coch, near Cardiff.
I've wanted to visit Castell Coch for a long while - the bus down to Cardiff used to pass it, up on the hillside surrounded by trees. The route has since changed. It looks like something straight out of a William Morris fantasy, and it was designed by William Burges for the Marquis of Bute - the same man who designed the wonderfully mad interiors of Cardiff Castle.
Adding an extra frisson to the visit was the fact that the previous Saturday's Doctor Who episode had featured the castle being attacked by Cybermen! They also used footage of the library at Cardiff Castle for the Tardis library a week or so before.
The interior of Castell Coch is wonderfully mad, too - and when we looked at the differences between the Marquis's bedroom (and single bed), and Lady Bute's bedroom (with it's carvings of nesting birds symbolising romantic love, and the enormous dome decorated with pictures of monkeys over the bed) it was obvious where that couple had gone to make babies!
Although the interior of the castle is a High Gothick fantasy, the exterior is actually built directly onto a genuine 13th century castle which guarded the valley, and was built by the Clare family, who were lords of Glamorgan at the time. (Earlier in the day, we had learned that Colonel Pritchard and his wife Mary owned two thirds of Glamorgan between them). It was all stairs - but some of the best bits, like Lady Bute's amazing bedroom and the exhibition of stained glass from the dismantled chapel, are at the top of the staircases.
There was a cafe here, too - a very tight squeeze! - but very nice cake.
Rooftop view of the castle.
It really was a great day out!
The next trip the Travellers Club are running is to Lacock and Lacock Abbey, in Wiltshire, on June 14th, used as a location for Harry Potter and Cranford, and home of the Fox Talbot photographic museum.
I'll be going with them on July 9th to Bath, and in August there's a day trip to Aberystwyth.
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Exhibitions
It can be inconvenient to work Sundays sometimes - today I missed the private viewing of Paul Young's exhibition of contemporary English slipware at Brook Street Pottery. However, the work will be there until 3rd July, so I've got plenty of time to have a look. Also at Brook Street Pottery is an exhibition of stained glass art by Daniella Wilson-Dunne. Her wildlife panels look stunningly good, and it'll be interesting to get a closer look at them.
Meanwhile, Salem Chapel Gallery is being opened up for the first time since Geoff died - in fact, some of the pictures from the last exhibition held there are still there. The artists don't seem to have ever come back to pick them up.
For the Festival, Richard Greatrex is putting an exhibition on there, based on Owen Sheers' novel Resistance.
Meanwhile, Salem Chapel Gallery is being opened up for the first time since Geoff died - in fact, some of the pictures from the last exhibition held there are still there. The artists don't seem to have ever come back to pick them up.
For the Festival, Richard Greatrex is putting an exhibition on there, based on Owen Sheers' novel Resistance.
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Small Business Saturday
The Black Mountains Bindery, one of two book binders in Hay. This is also the place to buy your limited edition copy of The Green Book of Olwen Ellis. Anyone who's been to Open Mic Nights will know of this sprawling epic, as Chris often reads extracts of it out.
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