Wheelchair access

Hay is not, it has to be said, a wheelchair-friendly environment. Most of the town is built on a hill, the pavements are narrow and the shops tend to be in historic buildings which are difficult to convert to allow wheelchair access. Bob Gardner, from the Children's Bookshop (who died last year), used to complain regularly about cars parked across the dips in the kerbs which were the only places he could cross the road, and the clutter outside one of the antique shops that forced him into the road.

However, things are looking up for wheelchair users on the Riverside Path. There's a new kissing gate at the entrance to the Warren, with enough space to allow a wheelchair through and still stop the sheep from getting out, and a new ramp is being built down to the river's edge for disabled fishermen. This is quite a large scale project - just before the snow, a lorry load of stone was dumped on the top path, and this had to be moved with a mini digger down to the bottom path and put into place on the new ramp with another little digger. Tree trunks have been used from the trees that fell down in the winter storms. And all this with the minimum of disruption to the dog walkers and other users of the riverside paths.

Meanwhile, Julian Jones from the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust is giving a talk on Wednesday, February 28th at 7.30pm at the Baskerville Arms Hotel in Clyro, just across the river. The title is Big Oaks, Dormice and Curlews - all of which Radnorshire has in abundance.