Karl Showler

 I heard, a few days ago, that Karl Showler has died.

For many years, he lived on Newport Street, and he was a local beekeeper.  He was also one of the most niche booksellers in Hay, selling books about bees.  I once went to a talk he did for the Breconshire Wildlife Trust, where he described wandering round the hillsides with a long pole, in an attempt to track the flight paths of bees (I think the pole had some sort of bee attracting stuff on it).  His honey was delicious.

He was also a local historian - I often saw him on the bus to Brecon on his way to the library to look something up.  He was one of the people who did work for the book Nobody Had Heard of Hay, which was produced for the Millennium.

He was Mayor of Hay for a while.

He also played Santa at Christmas Fairs (he had the beard for it!)

He was a notable local Quaker.

After his wife Betty died, and his eyesight got worse, he moved to Brecon, to some sort of sheltered accommodation. [edited to add: he then moved to a home in Abergavenny, which is where he died].

The funeral will take place on Tuesday 19th July at 12.15, followed by a wake at the Black Lion from 2pm.