Considering Richard Booth's Legacy

There was a meeting yesterday evening at Booth's Bookshop, in the café, of people who were interested in ways to continue Richard Booth's legacy to Hay in various ways. Olly Cooke, the Crown Prince, and Aubrey Fry, Admiral of the Hay Navy, were there, as well as Goffee, Amy from the Kingdom Project, Anne Brichto, and a variety of others. Elizabeth Haycox chaired the meeting and represented the Castle Trust.
Elizabeth started by saying that Hope and the Booth family were keen to be involved in anything that was decided for the future. She also said that the first exhibition that will be put on when the Castle re-opens will be about Richard - they're hoping it will be in the summer of 2020. As custodians of a castle with a thousand years of history, they will be doing a lot to present that history to the public, starting with Matilda de Breos - but Richard was an important part of the modern history of the castle.
The Castle Trust also has all the official seals and so on to continue Richard's practice of selling noble titles, which will raise money for the Castle. Someone asked if the holders of Hay titles could be contacted to invite them to the opening of the Castle, or other Hay events, but I don't know if this will be possible.
As Olly was there, there was talk of a coronation. The original crown is owned by the Castle Trust now (and presently in the window of Booth's bookshop as part of the display to honour Richard), but a new wonky crown could be made, and April 1st would be a good time to crown the new king.
The suggestion was that April 1st would be a National Day for the Kingdom of Hay - a Bank Holiday.
"But we haven't got any banks now!"
"A Non-Bank Holiday, then!"
Goffee said that, when he organised circus conventions, they always happened around the beginning of April, and he was in touch with the present organisers, who might be interested in coming to Hay again.
Another suggestion was to get in touch with Les Penning, who Richard made his Keeper of the King's Music, to get him to compose a piece, possibly a requiem.
Anne and Josh have been organising the Bookstagram meetings in Hay, and would be happy to do it again to coincide with the Independence celebrations.
Next April 1st is a Wednesday, but it was agreed that it was important that the celebrations be on the actual day, not just the nearest weekend.

Amy from the Kingdom Project had been working with Richard closely before he died on future projects to carry on his story. She suggested that it might be possible to hold Court at the Castle, as Richard used to do, maybe once a year, with re-enactors in the grounds. The grounds have been used for re-enactments, and Shakespeare performances, in the past. People who bought titles could go through a ceremony of climbing the steps to the Castle gates where they would be presented with their title, possibly from a little Medieval tent.
And, since Hay does have a form of its own currency now in the form of Hay Vouchers, it might be worth approaching the ladies at Londis to suggest that the name be changed to the Hay Crown, possibly with pictures of Richard and Olly on the vouchers. In the early days of the Kingdom, Richard issued his own currency, the Bootho.

Richard's passing has been noted nationally, with obituaries in national newspapers (the Guardian one is good) and also on Radio 4 on Thought for the Day and Last Word.

Richard always said he wanted to be buried under a pyramid of books. Obviously the headstone is a matter for the family, but building a pyramid of books would be a great kids' activity. "Encyclopaedias are a good base!"

Another thing Richard was always interested in was providing local jobs. Anne pointed out that only one bookshop in Hay was run by people who were under the age of 40, and suggested that it would be a good idea to give training and support to young people who wanted to start up as booksellers, as bookshop apprenticeships. One of the big difficulties for booksellers starting up, for instance, is finding the time to go out and buy books when they also have to keep the shop open and can't afford to pay staff, so that's one area where support could be given. She said that John Bird, of the Big Issue, has indicated his interest. It might be possible to use some of the outbuildings of the Castle when it re-opens as the venue for this, or part of Addyman's Annexe, and it would help to keep the High Street alive, which was another of Richard's passions.

Aubrey Fry has set up a Facebook page to share stories about Richard (though I haven't been able to find it yet), and he said there would probably be enough material there for a book. Ann suggested a leaflet like the ones Richard used to put out - "100 Interesting Facts about King Richard".
The Kingdom Project also includes a Museum of Memories, and the Castle is also doing a project about local history and stories, so all that could come together.
Also Richard's autobiography My Kingdom of Books is out of print, but is due to be reprinted soon - is there a possibility of updating it? Elizabeth said she has a large number of remainders if anyone wanted them!
Anne also has a collection of Hay memorabilia.

There was a bit of reminiscing then about Goffee's floating bicycle, on which he once pedalled down the Wye from Hay to Hereford. The swans didn't like it much, but wouldn't get out of the way, so at one point he was herding a flock of about 20 swans in front of him - "and when I hit the rapids...."

Finally Goffee revealed his plans for a grand Hay-on-Fire style extravaganza to mark Richard's passing, to be held on 31st October. This has gone through some revisions since I posted about it the other day, principally because he has talked to Hope, and she said "Please don't burn Richard!" (even in a nice way!). So now the bonfires will be created around three wicker figures representing Bureaucracy, Greed and Control - which I think Richard would thoroughly have approved of (who can forget the statue he had made for the Castle grounds, of the man from the Welsh Development Agency shooting himself in the foot?).
There will be an effigy of Richard in the procession instead, with a flashing crown!
There will be no firework display at Baskerville Hall this year, as the organisers have retired from running it, so there's a gap in the calendar for something like this. Goffee said it would be the last one he would organise, as he doesn't actually live in Hay any more.

So the main points that were agreed were:

1. Celebrations on April 1st (possibly with coronation)
2. Bookseller apprentice scheme
3. Stories of Richard
4. Firework extravaganza on October 31st.