Cakes and Ale

I moved on from the Dial-a-Ride party to the Parish Hall, and saw several familiar faces who had done likewise.
This event was A Haydloniant Cakes and Ale Concert - and there were cakes and ale on sale at the back (at least, the drinks were on sale while the cakes were free). Apparently, 'adloniant' is Welsh for 'entertainment', so when you put it together with Hay, you get Haydloniant!
The Parish Hall was set out with tables, with candles burning, and so many people turned up that they had to bring more chairs out. Which was very gratifying for the lady introducing the evening, who had been out earlier in the Market Square shouting "Free Madrigals" to drum up custom!
The group was formed from a variety of local choirs, including the Black Lion Singers and the Wern Fach Singers. There were also guest artistes Donald Ellman, who played the harpsichord, and Steve Jones who played violin. Lucy Green also played the harpsichord for some solo songs.
The music was sublime, a mixture of English and Italian madrigals - and the lady introducing the pieces was hilarious! "In the last pieces," she said (as an example of her patter), "there was a lot about dying, but they were really talking about sex - and if I'd told you that before we sang them, you wouldn't have listened to a word, would you?"
There was a retiring collection, rather than an entrance fee, and the money raised goes towards the musicians, and to help up-and-coming young musicians.
At the end of the concert, a member of the audience stood up to thank the performers (I think he was also involved with a music group locally) and he said how fortunate we are in Hay to have so many wonderful musicians living locally.

Haydloniant will be having another Cakes and Ale concert on 13th December, and they also had flyers for a charity concert at St Mary's Church on Saturday 23rd November, at 7.30pm. Tickets for this concert are £7.50, with proceeds going to Ovarian Cancer Research and St. Mary's Music Fund, in memory of a lady called Elaine.
The music will be a mix of Mozart, Menelssohn, madrigals, folk, traditional, musicals, and Flanders and Swann! And will be performed by the Wern Fach Singers, Hay Madrigals, Lucy Green, Janice Day, Catherine Hughes (who was also one of the madrigal singers), Kate Hardy, Pierre Moulinier, Ian Charlesworth (local vicar), Paul Sweeting, Terry and Christina Watson (also singing madrigals for Cakes and Ale), Gay Funnell, Darren Elliot and Chrissy Maddy.

Also at St Mary's Church, on Saturday 7th December, will be Enrico Tomasso and Martin Litton. Enrico is an award winning trumpet player, including five times winner of the British Jazz Awards in the trumpet category, and he will be paying tribute to his influences, including Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Harry James, Bunny Berigan, Chet Baker, and Miles Davis.