But first, a letter from the B&R from a fervent Royalist, on the recent execution:
"Elizabeth is Knot amused
I am sending in this letter to the Brecon & Radnor Express to correct a false impression given in The Brecon & Radnor Express in the Thursday, October 1st edition.
Perhaps your reporter Nigel Evans was deliberately given misinformation by the ingrates and traitors who beheaded the effigy of King Richard Booth in Hay Butter Market just recently.
Far from being a 'relatively small but loyal band of royal supporters', those who turned out to express their love and their loyalty to King Richard far, far outnumbered the wreched malcontents who represented nobody but their traitorous selves.
The Sealed Knot had to be imported from elsewhere."
Well, Col. John Birch's Regiment is local to Herefordshire, which is why they were chosen to assist in the execution - and there may have been a lot of Royalists at the execution, but there was certainly a loud cheer when King Richard's head was cut off!
Marches TV now has film of the event, with interviews afterwards, at http://www.marchestv.co.uk/BlogsResults.aspx?ID=26
And now the Buttermarket will be used by the Commonwealth again, for a less bloody occasion.
Hay Corner will be the Commonwealth's equivalent of Speaker's Corner in London, where anyone can come to stand on a soapbox (kindly lent by Kilvert's) to rant about whatever they please. The first Hay Corner will take place on 1st November, between 12.30pm and 3pm, and is aimed at attracting local speakers. For the second session, on 22nd November, some big names are being invited (watch this space!).
The Commonwealth believes in Free Speech For All.
The Commonwealth has also been given official recognition, in the form of a government grant to hire the Buttermarket for this purpose.
Meanwhile, the First Minister of Hay will be writing an official letter to the man who may shortly become the First Minister of Wales when Rhodri Morgan retires. Carwyn Jones has recently made comments about the deplorable state of Bridgend town centre - and made the point that it does not have a bookshop! Our First Minister will point out to him that, here in Hay, we know how to keep a vibrant town centre filled with local businesses - and we're certainly not short of a few bookshops! Maybe Carwyn Jones should make a State visit, to see how it's done.
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8 comments:
Hmm. we watched the Marches TV report and several of us were also present at the execution. It would appear that, not counting the soldiers from the Sealed Knot, there were barely a handful of these so-called Commonwealth Johnnies. Listen too to the voices as the effigy's head comes off. That loud hum you hear is a long and loud boo from us, the people of Hay. As has been said before, and is repeated by Elizabeth in her letter to the B&R, the majority of the people of Hay are Royalists and are happy with their king. And who appointed this "First Minister of Hay"? We can't remember casting our vote for him. Does anyone else? Of course not. So fear not, dear Residents and People of Hay-on-Wye. Your town and your beloved kingdom are safe. Ignore these four or five dissidents who bear a grudge and are determined to turn Hay into some dreary Cromwellian hell-hole.
Long live the King!
Without wishing to be too obvious in the matter of political theory, it appears that the true "dissidents" are now those with a grudge against the emergence of the Commonwealth. Accordingly, the Commonwealth will be offering a Speakers' Corner, where current 'royalists' will be welcome to air what we believe to be irrational prejudices. The fact that we will be offering organized free speech is a practical break with the past. In all my years with the king I never once recall a will to provide subsidised free speech for citizens of Hay to operate outside the more formal constraints of traditional local government. In the claim that we have somehow disenfranchised the citizens of Hay, I can only say that once, over dinner in some God-forsaken town in the Midwest of America sometime around 1992, the king offered me the post of 'Secretary of State for Education' in his 'Cabinet'. I don't recall him doing this on the basis of a mandate from the people, but I do recall turning him down because the pay at the time didn't seem completely in line with the extra responsibility.
In the matter of practical and spiritual help, and in all my time close to the king of Hay, I remember very few of our present critics actually being in constant close support to the king, either socially or commercially. Again, not wishing to state the obvious, it's a little late to be nailing one's colours to a mast that is already split close to the deck. We think you should have been aware of the king's politics, aware of the needs of book towns, and aware of those outside agencies that would seek to damage Hay in the absence of a vibrant and forceful voice with the best interests of the town as a guiding principle.
If you share the belief that Hay must act to secure a prosperous and interesting future, then you share the vision of the Commonwealth. If you 'love' the king, and truly believe in everything he has said in the past, then you should be seeking to buttress his achievements for future use, and stop pretending that the old system could remain in perpetuity.
It's very difficult sometimes to understand (like L.P. Hartley), that history is a different country, and that people do things differently there, but we do now have to address the future. I promise you that the Commonwealth is not going to go away purely to mollify sentiment - however well-founded that sentiment appears to gentler souls among us. The Commonwealth is developing and increasing its political and social agenda as time goes on. Among its most important first actions was to declare itself on Anthony Gormley's Fourth Plinth at Trafalgar Square, in a diplomatic speech read out to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We will make no apology for representing Hay abroad as an independent nation state. I wonder which of our critics might have thought to underline so vocally, and so publically, such an important ideal?
At one time, we also believed that the kingdom and the town, to outsiders at least, represented physical manifestations of the same ideal. Once again, I can only repeat that the future cannot be like the past, and that the town is the most important thing, now. As to 'Cromwellian' hell-holes, I rather suspect our greatest critics have somehow mixed up our Republicanism with somebody else's Puritanism. Perhaps their own, who knows?
And should you think we "bear a grudge", please understand that the members of the Council of State (and there are far more than four or five of us, with widening and deepening support both in and outside Hay) worked or dealt closely with the king for an aggregate of around 250 years, and our affection for most of his achievements in the past will not be dimmed by unfounded accusations of grudges. (Should you have exact knowledge of a grudge, please make it known. We'd be pleased to hear what it is.)
In reality, it's precisely because we've long shared and understood the importance of what's been achieved in Hay that we've acted now. The Commonwealth is here to stay.
One wonders whether Richard has accepted his untimely demise? Will we now have a King and a Commonwealth? Will Richard be one of the first to take his opportunity at the Commonwealth's new Speaker's Corner?
Former Clifford Primary Head, Martyn Jenkins, read out a Commonwealth proclamation (prepared by Boz) on Trafalgar Square's 4th Plinth. Video report at Marches.TV
Thank you to Marches TV for covering the momentous occasion, with thanks also to Matt and Jo for stills and some footage. Martyn should also be congratulated for artistically bringing Talgarth, Bronllys, Brecon and the Commonwealth of Hay to international attention, once more.
It must now pass without question that all citizens of Hay have a right to put their opinions about Hay, and about Hay and its place in the wider world, in public, or indeed anything that is proper in a public domain. As a citizen, Richard Booth will not be an exception to the principle. Our determination in the matter of citizens' rights is unshakeable. I should add that subjects of other lands are indeed welcome to avail themselves of the Commwealth's and its sponsors largesse, but that if time is constrained by as yet unknown factors, citizens of Hay must take precedence.
However, citizens should be ever mindful that the Commonwealth hasn't secured outside sponsorship so that the facility can be misused in terms of public indecency, defamatory statements or other likely behaviour that might be interpreted as being against the prevailing laws and customs of adjoining jurisdictions. That sort of thing has traditionally been carried on in local taverns, and they will probably remain the best available medium for it.
Thank you in anticipation, and be ready for any announcements.
If we are to have a Jeremy Clarkson-free zone in Hay can we have an Anthony Gormley-free zone too?
Interesting to note that the footage of Martyn Jenkins was filmed by (Hay-on-) Skye Arts. Are they in on the act too?
Are we having a Jeremy Clarkson-free zone?
If he wanted to come and rant about cars, I'm sure he'd be just as welcome as any other speaker on the Soapbox.
Bystander:
Thank you for your concern. Sky's coverage looked like us to be a good opportunity: if they are happy to leave our declaration in the public domain, then that's the only answer I can give to your question. Ultimately, they are unlikely to cleave to independent minds, and I doubt they'd come within a come within a hair's breadth of an arrangement with the Commonwealth if they thought it wasn't in their interest. It did seem to us only proper that if they promote themselves through the name of Hay, without the connivance of the town of Hay, that we should return the tactical compliment.
As to your primary question, if you're exercised by the idea of turning installation artists (if that was installation art, I don't know) back at the borders, please come and speak at Hay Corner, Hay Butter Market, November 1st. You'd be welcome, even if you're not a citizen of Hay.
Personally, I'd rather see Gormley build a second Man of the North outside my front door, than have to listen to Jeremy Clarkson for more than twenty seconds, but if Eigon's happy about it, perhaps we could temporarily ease restrictions on highly-paid hot air. If Clarkson could make a convincing case that he has something substantial to offer the people of Hay, we might even give him a job with the Council. However, I would regard it as a duty of the Commonwealth to warn Shepherd's Ice Cream that this lout of a critic is on his way, and might be starting-in once more on the locals with what he's pleased to imagine is 'food-writing'.
FYI - I've posted a video of the event on youtube and tripfilms under the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQZGXKL4YAU
www.tripfilms.com/Travel_Video-v71301-Hay_on_Wye-The_King_of_Hay-Video.html
"The King of Hay's Beheading Day"
All the best, Maria
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