Floods

There's been a lot of water around the Wye Valley for the last week or so.
Down on the Gliss, the car park area flooded, with several cars still parked there.
Peterchurch was cut off, and Hereford had some of the worst flooding they've had for years - according to the Hereford Times, the river reached the highest point since the gauges were installed in 1970! De Koffie Pot was flooded, and that's really quite high above the normal level of the river. The old bridge in Hereford is choked up with debris.
Things are getting back to normal now, but it has started raining again....

Talking About Archaeology

I think it went very well!
The room at the Swan was full, and people asked interesting questions - so along the way we made tangents into subjects like why John Wayne developed cancer, pigs from Scotland being eaten at feasts at Stonehenge, and archaeology in Orkney, as well as the detection of art fakes and the age of the Turin Shroud - and how your teeth can show where you grew up.
Next month, the talk - on the last Monday of the month at 7pm - is on mitochondria.

Science Cafe

Tomorrow night at 7pm, the talk at the Science Café at the Swan will be How Do We Know How Old it is?. It's a talk about dating techniques in archaeology, and I've been dusting off my college notes, because I've volunteered to give the talk!
So, I'll be talking about Carbon 14, Thermoluminescence, Dendrochronology, and more!

Small Business Saturday - Old Electric Bookshop

A new bookshop has opened in Hay!
The Old Electric Shop started off in the actual old electric showroom at the end of Castle Street (now Days Household Goods), but they quickly outgrew that and moved into the old Teddy Bear and Jigsaw Puzzle shop on Broad Street, where they had more room for different units of interesting vintage goods, rugs, furniture, and tailor-made clothing - and a vegetarian café. They were also selling a small selection of new books, mostly on environmental themes.
The books have been expanding, so now the people who run the Old Electric Shop have taken the decision to rent another shop nearby - just above the Clock Tower - just for the books.
I went to the launch party last night, which was packed out despite the awful weather. Unlike most of the secondhand bookshops in town, who want to make maximum use of their shelf space to put as many books out as possible, the Old Electric books are mostly displayed face on, so the cover is visible, on shelves and tables. There are also potted plants, and the whole effect is light and pleasant to browse in. I saw some interesting books that I may go back for - and it's very rare that I buy new books!

HOWLS - fundraising and volunteers

The HOWLS meeting on Wednesday evening was to update people on what's happening at the moment - at a time when Powys County Council are considering their budget for next year, but are not releasing any details yet.
One thing's for sure - it isn't going to be good news for Libraries.
The PCC was going to cut £200,000 from the library budget last year, but agreed to defer the decision for a year, so that cut will probably be made in the coming year, with more on top of it.
The PCC has just published the results of a survey about libraries that it conducted in June (Hay is on pages 8 - 10), and this can be found at:
https://en.powys.gov.uk/article/7873/The-future-of-Powys-Libraries
HOWLS has to be ready for whatever decision the PCC takes.

A CIC (Community Interest Company, like the one that renovated the Cheesemarket) has been created, and the idea of this is to fund raise for the library. They are setting up social media now, including a video project called Public Libraries Transform Lives, in which people explain what libraries mean to them.
We shouldn't have to fund raise, as provision of libraries is a statutory requirement, but we will probably have no choice if we want to keep the service in the short term. The CIC is just getting up and running now, with £500 from HOWLS to start them off. The estimate is that Hay Library costs £20,000 a year to run, so that's what they are aiming for - but the PCC would only get that money if they continue to provide the professional staff and back up services that are needed.

In the meantime, there are volunteers who help out at the library. HOWLS is determined that the library should continue to be a professionally led service to the community, but volunteers are always helpful. At the moment there are seven regulars, including two who are still at school (which is encouraging for the next generation of readers and library users), and they try to make sure there is someone there for each session that the library is open. There's also Sian, who runs Storytime on Monday mornings, and Bernie who helps with IT advice. Jane the Librarian has also started Enchanted Hour, a storytime for adults, with coffee.
They'd like to have a few more volunteers, to fill in for times that the regulars can't get there, and to expand what they do - they'd like to offer a service to housebound people who can't get to the library, for instance. They'd also like to have a proper training package from Powys County Council, like the volunteers in Herefordshire, and clarity about DBS checks (Herefordshire has a simple disclosure agreement).

Also, they would like people to join the library! It's free! It can be life-changing! There are no downsides to this at all!
There are 875 library members in Hay at the moment, out of a total of 1,985 scattered around the surrounding villages. I think I'm right in saying that the children who go to Hay and Clyro Schools have all got library cards, and visit the library regularly from school.

Stone Heads at the Castle

Peter Dorling, archaeologist at Hay Castle, has made a chance find that is quite exciting. When he picked up a stone he thought looked interesting, he found a face carved on the underside! Though the carving is worn, they think it is a carving of a Norman knight, and may come from one of the earliest phases of the Castle. It may have formed part of a window arch in the original castle building.

Meanwhile, up on the tower overlooking the market square, about 4 or 5 metres from the ground, there is another stone head. The tower was rebuilt in the 16th century, so the head dates from that time, and may be a portrait of James Boyle, the Lord of the Manor of Hay in the 1580s. Alternatively, it may be an earlier Celtic head used as decoration, as was the fashion at the time.

Rhosgoch Tractor Run

This year's Tractor Run will be on Sunday 27th October. Cost is £10 for tractors and £5 for cars, and the John Haydn Memorial Trophy will be presented to the best turned out tractor. They are serving breakfast from 8.45am, at Rhosgoch, because the Wales match will be on TV. The tractors start out at 10.30am, and should be coming through Hay.

Family Language Day

This sounds like a lot of fun!
There will be a Family Language Day at the Globe on Saturday 26th October, from 10am to 4pm.
It's described as a chance to learn different languages through fun and interactive activities like making food, crafts, and dance.
Languages represented include Welsh, Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese and Sign Language, and the activities include making tortillas (that'll be Spanish, then), Japanese calligraphy, songs in sign language (I used to be able to do the chorus to Swing Low, Sweet Chariot in sign language - I wonder if I can remember it?), and making a piñata or a dragon!
I'd like to learn more Welsh - and come away with my own dragon!

Death of Town Clerk

I was sorry to see, on Facebook, that Nigel Lewis, who had been Town Clerk for Hay Council for many years (and later their Financial Officer), has died. His funeral will be held on Friday 25th October, with a service at Hereford Crematorium at 10.30am and a Memorial service at St Michael's Church, Clyro at noon.

Artists Against Food Poverty

Brecon Food Bank, based at St John's Centre, is filling a very real need locally. They are part of the Trussell Trust charity, which runs foodbanks across the UK, and give out three days' worth of emergency supplies at a time to people who are in crisis.
Last year they fed nearly 400 adults and more than 150 children. They handled more than 6 metric tonnes of food, hygiene products and pet food.
Everything they give out is donated. They have collection points in shops, banks and cafes, and other donations come from churches and individuals. However they also need money for running costs, and they run other projects to help their clients.
So on Saturday 26th October they are holding a fund raising Art Auction at The Neuadd, Christ College, Brecon. Viewing is from 5.45pm, with the auction starting at 7pm. Admission is £5, including a drink, refreshments, and entry into the raffle. There will also be live music by Mike Chappell during the viewing period. They are selling tickets on the door and at Brecon Food Festival.
The works in the auction are by local artists, and include an original painting by Meg Stevens (who painted gorgeous wildflowers and local landscapes), others by Pip Woolf and a numbered print by Sir Kyffin Williams. Ardent Gallery and Sable and Hogg gallery in Brecon have also donated works.
They also have a website at www.brecon.foodbank.org.uk where there is a catalogue of the works in the auction, and it's even possible to place a bid online.

HOWLing Again

The Library isn't out of danger yet. The County Council will need to make more cuts next year, and they have already deferred threatened cuts to the library service across the county once.
So there will be a HOWLS meeting at the Library at 7pm on Wednesday 23rd October. There will be updates on how the Library is working at the moment, and news about the new CIC (Community Interest Company) which has been set up to support the library if and when it's needed. So the meeting will also be discussing whether HOWLS should make a financial contribution to the CIC to start it off as a fundraising body.

Bowling Club Table Top Sale

Hay Bowling Club are having a Table Top Sale on Saturday 19th October, from 10am.
I always like going to table top sales - you never know what you'll find, and there are refreshments on offer, too.

Dial-a-Ride on the Move

Dial-a-Ride is moving to a new office on 18th October. They'll be at 14 Castle Street, opposite the Blue Boar, in the back office, from Monday 21st October. The telephone number will stay the same.
If a journey has been pre-booked for that date, it will still be running.

New Lining for the Pool

Good news for Hay Swimming Pool! They've very nearly got all of the £15,000 (plus VAT) that they need, and the swimming pool is being re-lined now. They hope to be fully operational again in November.
They want to continue fund raising so that they can continue to maintain the pool and the building.

Tree Preservation

I've just heard that four of the five trees on the Old Library site now have Tree Preservation orders on them. Three are birch trees, two at the end of the site by the parking area for the solicitors and one on the grassy area near Brook Street Pottery. The other is the big cedar tree between the bench and the old Poetry Bookshop. It is hoped that this will preserve the green area for the public.

Stars in their Eyes

There were three really interesting things that I could have gone to see last night - the Walking Festival talks at the Swan, a folk singer at the Globe, and a talk about medieval astronomy at Cusop Church.
I chose the medieval astronomy, because I went to the talk that the speaker, Martin Griffiths, did last year, and thought it was absolutely fascinating.
This time the church wasn't quite so full, but the weather had been pretty awful, which may have dissuaded people from going out.
The talk centred around the state of knowledge in the medieval period in Europe, where a lot of the knowledge of the Classical World had been lost - or rather, it had moved East, to the Islamic world, Vedic India and China, where they encouraged the love of knowledge for its own sake. In the Medieval Christian West, theology was the Queen of Sciences and anything else wasn't seen as important.
The situation was complicated, though, because on the one hand the Church was limiting knowledge to what was acceptable, and what fitted with the Bible (even if it was contradicted by actual experience), and on the other hand the Church had saved knowledge from the Classical world such as Plato and Aristotle (who was a "rubbish scientist", but whose works were copied for 1500 years).
Astronomy was important to the Church because of the difficulties of calculating the correct date for Easter every year, so that was studied - with the proviso that the Earth was, naturally, in the centre, with the planets, Moon and sun going round it.
Astrology was also important, and to cast an individual's horoscope you need to know the positions of the planets. Astrology also had a correspondence between an astrological sign and each part of the body. Chest problems which we would now call lung cancer were common in the smoky atmospheres of medieval housing, with all those open fires, and the chest was ruled by Cancer the Crab - which is where the name for the disease came from.
Another difficulty for medieval scholars was trying to do maths with Roman numerals. At this point Martin Griffiths looked around the church to find some numbers to point at with his laser pointer - Arabic numerals, except they're not really Arabic either. They originally came from Vedic India. When they had numerals which were easy to use, and one of the Popes had re-invented the abacus, they were able to do all sorts of maths problems which had been incredibly difficult before.
And then an Arab invented algebra, which made even more complex maths possible.
At around the same time, someone went down to Cordova in Islamic Spain and translated 87 books into Latin - which caused a great expansion in universities across Europe, as scholars came to grips with this flood of new knowledge. At the time, one of the biggest libraries in Europe, near Rouen, had a grand total of 39 books. Cordova had a library of half a million books.
Later in the talk, Martin Griffiths said something quite staggering while talking about Leonardo da Vinci - when Leonardo was born, it is estimated that there were only 7,500 books in the whole of Europe. During his lifetime, the printing press was invented (or rather, pinched from the Chinese, along with paper which made printing much cheaper) and when Leonardo died there were 30 million books in Europe. The Church wasn't going to be able to keep control of that outpouring of knowledge.
Back to cosmology, and Dante's Divine Comedy, which has 9 circles of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. This was based on the Aristotelian system, and is also where the phrase "on cloud nine" comes from - the highest circle of Heaven!
So it was a fascinating evening, with a lot of questions at the end. Even better, I won a prize in the raffle (some Roses chocolates) and got a lift home!

Auction for Extinction Rebellion

The Drawing Room art gallery in Hay (beside the old HSBC bank) organised an auction of original artwork by Stephanie Lamb yesterday in aid of the people from Hay who have gone down to London to join in the Extinction Rebellion protests (I only saw the post on Facebook this morning). The money is to help to pay any fines and travel expenses they have if they are arrested.

At the protest in the spring, Justin Lewis Preece was arrested. He sings in English and Welsh and plays guitar at the Globe open mics, and also sometimes comes to the Baskerville acoustic sessions. He was fined £355 and lost four days work, as he had to travel down to London to appear in court twice. At the present protest, he is there again, as a legal observer.
I haven't heard of any arrests among the seventeen people from Hay who have gone down to London this time, but Sean O'Donoghue has set up a Just Giving page just in case. They're trying to raise £1,000.

An Autumn Cabbage Leaf

The Cabbage Leaf is the name of a free magazine which is distributed locally by Botany and Other Stories. It's a slang term in France for a low quality newspaper, but also has the advantage of being green - and the message of the magazine is that we are all part of Nature.

In this issue, they have been working with the children of Clyro School, who have provided pictures and two stories from eleven year olds about plastic pollution in the seas.
A group of children from Clyro School also visited the National Botanical Garden of Wales. They interviewed Amy, who works there, went to look in the pond for tadpoles and pond snails, and spent the afternoon in the butterfly house. There are lots of pictures of butterflies.

There's also an article about Maria Sibylla Merian, an artist and scientist who lived from 1647 to 1713, a botanical illustration by Françoise Verger, a book review by Elspeth-miri Llewelyn Funnell, aged eleven, and an article about the Mexican Cempoalxochitl flower by Karen Francis Torres, who is from Mexico.

There's also news of a new session at Hay Library called The Enchanted Hour, in which "writers and performers will read aloud to transport the Library visitors to another world". This happens on the second Friday of each month at 3.30pm, starting on 11th October.
The Library also has Storytime for babies and toddlers every Monday from 11am to 11.30am.

Town Council News

The councillors are changing round again. This time it's goodbye to Councillor Hugh Sawyer, who is moving on to a new business venture, and hello to Councillor Isobelle Keith, who works at PCI Pharma Services and has lived in Hay for two and a half years - her husband Tom grew up in the area.
Isobelle has hit the ground running as a member of the Town Council, as she is now the Co-ordinator for the Green Transport Action Plan. She has already set up a lift/car share group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/238557719890177/
The Green Transport Action Plan is part of the Low Carbon Hay Steering Group, which was set up by the Town Council after they declared a climate change emergency. There are eight different topic areas, all with the aim to reduce the area's carbon footprint by 2030. They include: reducing business energy use, reducing domestic energy use, planting trees, working with Hay School and local secondary schools, transport, and supporting Plastic-Free Hay.
The Town Council is also supporting the Sustrans idea of a Hay to Brecon Cycle Path, more or less along the route of the old railway. This isn't possible along the whole route, as there are parts of the old railway line that have been built on, or are privately owned, but they hope to be able to re-route around those areas. Again, there is a Facebook page - www.facebook.com/pg/brecontohaycyclepath
Also on a green and sustainable theme, the Town Council mentions Hayfield Garden, the community garden on the other side of Hay Bridge, on Racquety Farm. They are keen to welcome new members to the group, which grows organic fruit and vegetables which are shared among the members, with the surplus being sold. They meet on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings, but people may be there on other days as well.
And finally, the newsletter that went out with WyeLocal has a thank you from the Town Council to Harold Coombes, who has been looking after the garden around the Council Chambers for the past 20 years and has now finally decided to retire!

Declaration of Rebellion

Around 50 people met at the Clock tower on Saturday morning to march, behind George the Town Cryer, to the middle of town, where George used the outdoor seating area for Shepherds café as a stage to address the crowd. He was reading Extinction Rebellion's Declaration of Rebellion at 11am, at the same time as speakers all over the country. At the beginning of the speech, he made clear that he had been commanded to make the Declaration by the Mayor.
The girl who organised the Hay School Strike march also made a speech, and then George returned to say a few words of his own, about how he often felt guilt about what his actions were doing to the planet, but that feeling of guilt could be turned into a positive force for change, and that what he saw when he looked at the crowd was hope.
Then another little girl made a speech, and lastly Paul from the local Extinction Rebellion group reminded everyone that a big action is starting on Monday morning in London.
I saw some friends among the crowd, and we retired to Shepherds for coffee (and delicious apple cake) and conversation.

That evening, The Old Electric Shop was opened up for a social evening for the local Extinction Rebellion group. It was an opportunity to get to know each other over a glass of wine (or beer) and nibbles. I had a fascinating conversation about Ursula le Guin's Earthsea books, continued from that morning, when the parcel delivery man had seen me by the Clocktower and delivered my parcel containing the complete stories of Earthsea illustrated by Charles Vess.
The gathering also had the purpose of getting the people who were going to London to take part in the protests sorted out with the messaging system they were using - and there was a video call from John Paul, who has been walking to London. He was camped somewhere near Windsor when he called - the phone and speaker were held up high so everyone could see and hear him. However, he said that his feet had given up, so arrangements were going to be made to pick him up in the electric bus that is travelling down to London, so that he can make it to the opening ceremony.

Hay2Timbuktu News

There's a good piece in this month's WyeLocal about the work that Hay2Timbuktu is doing.
The toilet project is going well - new toilets have been installed in the local high schools and water supplies are now being provided for hand washing facilities as well. The toilets are important because girls were missing school, and now they can continue their education without interruptions. As one of the teachers says on the Hay2Timbuktu website, the boys can always manage, but for the girls it's more difficult, and one of the headmasters says that his school is 114 years old, and the toilets have never been modernised.
The girls who are in the bursary project have also been doing well, and are all moving on to the next grade. This is to provide extra support in the form of school materials which parents would usually have to buy, and to give extra training in areas like sexual health.
There's also a solar lamp project, where students can take lamps home so they have light to do their homework.

Some time this month there will be a dinner to raise money for Hay2Timbuktu at Booths Bookshop, including a talk by Lucy Duran on Music in Mali, Creativity and Crisis. I haven't been able to find the date of that yet. A new Hay/Timbuktu recipe book is also planned.

Members of Hay Town Council have also been invited to go to Timbuktu to see the contributions that Hay2Timbuktu have made.

Rabbits in the Castle

Well, not exactly! Andrew Williams of Eighteen Rabbit, the Fairtrade shop on Lion Street, has taken on a new job. He's now the office manager of Hay Castle, involved in the day-to-day running of the Castle.
And the end of the renovations is in sight! The Trust hopes that the Castle will be open to the public next summer, so they'll be recruiting staff and volunteers for their new café, shop and gallery next spring.

Indestructible Pumpkins!

There was a craft fair in the Buttermarket on Saturday. There were the regular stalls - the Japanese lady artist, embroidery, woollen goods, wooden goods and so on - and something unusual caught my eye.
Indestructible pumpkins - made out of old horseshoes! Just in time for Hallowe'en.
They also had some of those fairy doors which have become popular, with a horseshoe as the frame for the door - though I'm not sure how keen traditional fairies would be about passing through an arch of Cold Iron at their front door!

Stars in their Eyes - Astronomy Talk

While walkers are headed out to the hills over the weekend beginning on 10th October, I'll be hiking up the hill to Cusop Church on Friday 11th for a talk about medieval astronomy.
Martin Griffiths has been to the church before - then he was speaking about astronomy with reference to the Welsh myths, and he was absolutely fascinating. This time he'll be talking about art and objects from the medieval period that illustrate what they knew of the night sky.
He was a senior lecturer in astronomy at the University of South Wales, and has also worked for NASA. He's also involved in the Dark Sky Wales project.
Tickets are £6 (£4 for students), and the talk starts at 7.30pm.

Walking Festival

It's not long now until the Hay Walking Festival (I hope they have better weather than this week!).
It starts on Thursday 10th October with three walks - Moors, Waterfalls and Witches; Merbach Hill and Arthur's Stone, and Kilvert Country. All the walks cost £8 to join.
On the Friday, the walks include Craswall Priory, the Cat's Back and the Golden Valley.
In the evening, there's a talk at the Swan, with speakers talking about walking in the Brecon Beacons, Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk, and The Shropshire Six - six hills on a 40 mile route which is traditionally completed in one day!
On Saturday the walks include Cusop Hill and the Darrens, Lord Hereford's Knob, another walk along the Cat's Back, and the Timbuktu Trail around Hay - that one only costs £5.
On Sunday, there are walks up Hay Common, Hay to Peterchurch with the Hay Ho bus, Llanthony, and the Begwns.
So there's quite a variety in terms of length of walks and terrain - all in beautiful countryside, of course.
They have a website at www.haywalkingfestival.com