Dodgy Electoral Tactics?

 When I picked up my copy of the B&R from Spar this week, there was a wrap around advert for the Reform Party with it (the proper front page is inside).

"That's a bit cheeky, isn't it?" I said, and the lady behind the counter said they'd had lots of complaints, with a lot of people leaving the advert behind in the shop - she'd got a big bagful out the back for recycling.

Meanwhile, I have voted and there was a steady stream of people coming into the polling station, even that early in the morning. 

Local Elections

 Don't forget to vote tomorrow!

Here in Hay, most of the posters seem to be for Jane Dodds, the Liberal Democrat. 

Other candidates are available!

I think the results across the country are going to be quite interesting. 

P for Planting

 The next Cabinet of Curiosity event is on Saturday 9th May, and it comes in two parts.

The first is a walk from the Bean Box cafe under Hay Bridge to the Warren, starting at 2.30pm.  The walk will be led by Dr. Emily Warner, from the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery at the University of Oxford, and Jenny Dicker, farmer and specialist in land management.

The second is a film at the Globe about non-native and invasive plants, followed by a panel discussion.  That starts at 7pm.

The panel consists of: 

John Crellin, the County Recorder for Botany for Brecknockshire and author of the recently published Flora of Brecknockshire - he'll have a few copies available for sale.  This was the life's work of John's friend Mike Porter, who died shortly before the book was finished.

Imogen Cripps is head grower at a local walled garden, and she will come with some vegetables from the garden.

Layla Robinson is a dried flower artist who has created many beautiful arrangements for the Cabinet of Curiosities.  She also has a new book out called Everlasting Blooms. 

Beverley Lewis is the Biodiversity Liason Officer for Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.

Sophie Ferrier is the Director of Hay Regenerative Soils and an artist, and she will come with some of her creations and experiments. 

And the facilitator of the panel is Matthew Pryor, a journalist who trained at the Royal Horticultural Society.

The previous talks, walks and films put on by the Cabinet of Curiosities have all been fascinating.  

I don't know if I'll be able to get to the Globe, since I'm giving a talk myself on Saturday afternoon, and I might have run out of energy!

 

"Poor and Indignant Women"

 I was just putting my recycling outside the front door when two ladies waved to me from across the street.

They pointed up to the stone sign over the middle of the row of almshouses.

"We were just reading about the poor and indignant women - and here you are, right on cue!"

(It's actually "poor and indigent", but who says indigent any more?) 

A New Chapter for Chapters

 I've just seen the announcement that Mark and Charmaine McHugo are closing their restaurant in Hay after seven years.  Chapters is in part of the building of St John's Chapel, opposite Tomatitos.  They are serving their last meals on 16th May.

Taking over will be chef Matt Sampson.  He intends to serve just twelve covers (Chapters presently serves twenty two covers), and plans a fourteen course tasting menu focusing on fish and shellfish, with a few meat courses - all for £98!

Not the sort of place to pop into for a snack, then - more of a very special night out. 

A Long Walk and a Bus Ride

 I'm really glad I decided to go for a walk up Cusop Hill yesterday, when it was so hot I didn't even need a coat (and I nearly always wear a coat).  I'd been looking at some aerial photos of the area and saw what looked awfully like crop marks on top of Cusop Hill - and my curiosity was aroused.  

The public footpath goes up past Capodolwyn, and I was pleased to see that someone is renovating the house after many years of it lying empty.  On the way up the field, I startled a hare, who loped off into the distance, and when I had a sit down later, higher up the hill, a red kite flew by below me.  There's another ruined building above Capodolwyn, and I was lucky enough to find a piece of a slipware bowl there, probably from the 17th century.  I was up that way because I slightly mislaid the path, so I was following the fence line round until I came to the stile, which is usable though not in very good repair.

The views from the top of Cusop Hill are spectacular - all down the Wye Valley and across the plains of Herefordshire.  The traces of archaeology were less so.  I think that the markings I had taken to be ditches were actually natural features draining the water from boggy areas - though there had been some stone quarrying up there at some point, and there's a fairly modern pond with the spoil heap from digging it out right next to it.

Still, it was a glorious day, and the hedgerows were full of wild flowers as I came back into Hay.

This morning the weather was decidedly chilly and grey, but I had to go into Hereford to do a few things.  The Golden Valley is still blocked off, I think at Peterchurch, so the bus turned round to go down the hill and cross the river, for a non-stop journey to Hereford.  Despite the greyness (and some rain) it was lovely to see all the apple orchards in blossom.

One of the things I wanted to do was to look at the local history section of Hereford Library.  The Library has been in temporary accommodation in the Town Hall for some time now, and it's a very ornate building inside as well as out.  Being temporary, until the new premises in the Shire Hall are ready, there is only a small selection of books available, but I still found something useful.  I also joined the library, so next time I can check out up to twenty books (!).  I was given the choice of four different pictures to go on my new library card, and I chose the one with shelves of books facing each other, with birds flying between them.

On the way back, the bus was labelled the X15 rather than the X44, and again went non-stop on the other side of the river from the Golden Valley. 

River Wye Pollution Case Reaches the High Court

 This morning there was a piece on the Today programme on Radio 4 about a legal case that has just reached the High Court.  There's also an article on the BBC news website.

Leigh Day are suing Avara Foods, who have intensive chicken rearing sheds in the Wye catchment area, and Welsh Water, who have failed to keep the pollution from chicken manure out of the river and have also been releasing sewage into the river themselves.  About 24 million chickens are reared in the catchment area, a quarter of all the chickens in the UK.

This is supposed to be the biggest environmental pollution case ever brought in British courts, as over 4,500 people who live and work along the river have signed up to be part of the action. 

Evidence of the river's declining water quality has been collected over several years by citizen scientists testing the water, and Natural England rated the condition of the river as "unfavourable - declining" in 2023.  There was also a big local campaign to make the Warren into an official bathing area, so that the water had to be officially tested, but it seems to have made very little difference to the pollution.

Supporters of the action turned up at Court this morning with the giant puppet Goddess of the Wye.

 Here's the picture from Paul Powlesland's blog (he's a London campaigner for clean rivers and a barrister).