Sunday 19 February 2012

Plan B Social Evening

The people who have joined the various committees of Plan B for Hay gathered at the Globe last night for a social evening - just a quiet drink and get together to chat instead of being focussed on the purposes of the group.
It was a fascinating evening.
I talked to John Stark, who organises the classical music concerts at Booths Books - both the latest two concerts have sold out. The next one coming up features Catherine Hughes, from the Bridge B&B, who has a golden voice, and she will also be organising three concerts over the summer. John also told me about a concert they're planning in September which will be held in Dorstone, at a house with a seven acre garden and a grand piano! That one is going to be a classical quintet.
One of the performers who will be playing piano later in the year is also an actor, who appeared in a short film which finished with him playing a piece on the piano. He wants to run the film, and as the music in the film ends and the screen fades to black, he wants to continue playing the same music live on stage.
One lady runs a B&B near St Mary's Church, where she enjoys meeting the walkers doing the Offa's Dyke Path - there's always such a variety of people passing through. She told me that the well in the garden right next to the churchyard (which was once part of the church) has dried up, which is rather sad. I suspect it was the reason the church was built in that position originally - a lot of old Welsh churches have sacred wells.
Another young lady used to live in the largest log cabin in the country, at a therapeutic community in Scotland.
I got chatting to another lady about musicians I'd seen at the Globe, and mentioned a wonderful show dedicated to Nick Drake - and she said that she had once lived at a flat that Nick Drake used to visit to see one of her friends, though she was never there when he came round. Another flat she shared was visited by John Martin, another musician, and she never got to meet him either!
A Dutch chap who lives in Hardwicke said that the best thing about joining the campaign (having seen the impact of supermarkets in North Holland), was that he'd met a lot of new people locally.
I also got the latest gossip about the Wheatsheaf - which has apparently been bought by an English (or Welsh) lady who has lived in Spain for many years. She wants to run it as a B&B with a tapas bar! Which could be interesting, if true.

There was a mood of cautious optimism in the room, as we had just heard that the County Council have decided to postpone any decision about the school until after the May 3rd elections. There was a meeting with members of Plan B recently where they put forward alternative proposals, including alternative methods of funding a new school building, and this seemed to be listened to positively.
"It is essential that full consideration is given to the new proposals and it is impossible to conclude that work before the council elections," said Council leader Michael Jones.

1 comment:

P.H. said...

"There was a mood of cautious optimism in the room, as we had just heard that the County Council have decided to postpone any decision about the school until after the May 3rd elections."

I can't see why the room was optimistic. If I was a councillor, I'd be praying that I didn't have to make any kind of commitment until I was returned for another stint at the tiller.

As in

"...it is impossible to conclude that work before the council elections," said Council leader Michael Jones."

Yes - I'll bet it is!

P.H.