h.art week

 It's time for h.art week, beginning on Saturday 5th September, and as usual there are several exhibitions and open studios locally.

Hawthorn Gallery on Castle Street is showing landscapes by Barry Martin-Andrews, alongside their usual selection of pottery, glass, jewellery and woodturning.

John Clare has his paintings in the room at the back of Tinto House.

Menna Angharad and Jeremy Stiff have their studio up in the hills beyond Tregoyd.  He makes wood and steel sculptures and she paints in oils.  Some of Jeremy Stiff's work can be seen in the garden of Hay Cinema Bookshop, and for a while hcb also had some of Menna Angharad's paintings on display inside the shop.  There was a big picture of golden eggs hanging in the Travel department that I liked very much, so I was quite disappointed when the exhibition came down.

Up in Michaelchurch Escley there Crispin Thornton Jones has his studio.  He paints detailed landscapes, which are well worth a close look.

And Dore Abbey is hosting thirteen local artists, with ceramics, felting, glass works, painting, printmaking, textiles, willow work and woodcraft. 

Meal with an Author at North Books

 North Books are having a special event on Thursday3rd September at 6pm - an entire three course Italian meal, with a glass of Etna wine, to celebrate the book The Fire in the Mountain.  It's a book about wine growing in Sicily, by local author Helena Attlee, who lives in Presteigne.

It's essential to book, because the tickets are £50 each, and space is limited. 

Community Campus

 There was a presentation in the back room of the Swan today of the plans for the Community Campus.  This is the sports centre/community space/offices for local bodies like Dial-a-Ride/youth club which has been proposed by HADSCAL for the site next to the doctors' surgery on Forest Road.  They also want a cafe and a hall that would seat 150 people, with a stage.

I was reminded that it was happening by seeing a post on Facebook from Gareth Ratcliffe, who went to the VIP presentation last night.  Today was for any member of the community to come and make their views known, and it looked as if a good number of people had come through.  They had various places around the room where people could write their ideas or what they thought about the project, and there were plenty of answers on display.

The next stage for the organisers is to get planning permission from the National Parks - they've been thinking carefully about green roofs, and solar panels over the parking places, and keeping the light pollution as low as possible because of the National Parks Dark Skies area.  Only after that can they start applying for funding to build.

It's been designed in modules, so it can be built in several stages as the funding becomes available.  One aspect of the plan that I really liked was the idea of a swimming pool that is part covered and part open air (and I don't even swim!).  

Part of the plan is for 10 business units, and the rent from those would be used to fund the campus, as well as rent from the offices inside the main buildings.  The design also includes allotment plots, some of which are already there at the edge of the playing fields. 

A lot of hard work has been done to get the plans to this stage, and I hope that they succeed in getting the campus built. 

Wildfire near Builth Wells

 We saw a fire engine from the Hay fire station heading off with sirens blaring yesterday lunch time.  It seems they were answering a call out to a wildfire near Builth Wells.  Five fire engines were on the scene, from all over the area.

There have been more wildfires this year than I ever remember in Wales before.

Which is worrying.

(Yes, climate change is real, and the fossil fuel companies should be shut down before they make the situation any worse.) 

Schumann Concert

 Before I start, I'd like to say that the cake making ladies are awesome!  I had a delicious blackberry sponge cake before the concert started.

I went into this knowing nothing about Clara and Robert Schumann, and it was such a sad story, beautifully illustrated with piano pieces played by Rosemary Firmin.  At one point, she also played the part of Maria, Clara and Robert's oldest daughter, playing for her father.  

When Clara's father finally allowed them to marry (they had to bring a law suit to force him!) they had eight children together and seemed to be very happy.  He was composing and running a music magazine, and she was a concert pianist who also composed.

Then he became ill, and ended up in an insane asylum, and Clara was left to provide for all the children and pay his medical bills.  Sadly, he never recovered, and died, and Clara spent the rest of her life touring, becoming the foremost concert pianist of her age.

The performance was made up of letters and diary entries, as well as linking passages explaining what was happening in their lives, and it was brilliantly well done.

I'm sorry to say that I no longer have the flyer for the performance, so I can't remember the names of the performers, but they were really very good. 

Secret Wine Bar and Japanese Lunch

 

This is the view from the garden of Belmont House, which was open for the Secret Wine Bar and Japanese food.  I had a glass of pink fizz called Running at Rabbits from the Black Mountain Winery, which was very nice, and for lunch I had the marinaded vegetables and pork meat balls, which were delicious.

No Bus, No Picnic

 

Here's the big screen set up for the cycle race at the bottom of the car park.

I hadn't seen any information about the buses, so I assumed that they would be running, though with diversions because the Brecon Road is closed for the cycle race.

However, when we checked the bus tracker map, we could see that the bus crossed the river at Glasbury, and just kept going without coming into Hay at all.

It wasn't that important for me - it would have been nice to go to the picnic and meet the Hereford Pagans, but it wasn't essential - but the lady I was waiting with needed to catch a train, and has lost the money for the ticket.

So instead I intend to visit the Secret Wine Bar and go to the Clara Schumann concert at 3.30pm.