Events this Month

On the same evening that I was listening to ghost stories at Booth Books, with Phil Rickman and Barbara Erskine, Hay Castle was hosting Malloween, a Hallowe'en party which was intended as a fundraiser for the next Mally Fest in the summer. The organisers are hoping that they raised around £2,000, according to the story in the B&R.

Sadly, over the weekend at the Castle, the Hay Together office was broken into and a laptop was stolen. Hay Together have said that no personal details of volunteers have been taken, though.

Tim the Gardener is gradually emptying the barn where he lives, and bringing the contents down to Tinto House to sell. These are books that belonged to Rob Soldat, and he thinks there may be a few antiques lurking in the corners, too. Rob Soldat did a bit of book dealing when he wasn't storytelling. Tim will be at Tinto House, doing the garden, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, with the books in a shed there. At the moment he's got some horror, SF, history and children's books.

This Sunday is the Remembrance service at the Cenotaph.

The concert at Booth Books on 12th November will be of Hungarian music, by Dragonfly.

And the booklet for Hay Winter Festival is now out! This year the weekend is that of 28th to 30th November, which is also the weekend that the Christmas lights are being turned on at the Buttermarket (with the Community Choir, stalls and Santa's letter box). The celebrity guest to turn on the lights this year is one of the ladies who runs a local charity, the North Weir Trust, which gives educational grants. Also on that weekend is the Hay Food Festival and Hay Does Vintage in the square, Cheese Market and Buttermarket. They're even having a pub crawl, five historic pubs with time for a half in each as the history is related - easier to do now than when Hay had 41 pubs!
The Smith-Soldat lecture this year is on Waterloo, as it will be the 200th anniversary of the battle next year.

So there's quite a bit to look forward to!

Things will be quiet on the blog for the next few days, as the Young Man is coming to visit.