"Day the First: Betook me to a meeting of the Revolutionary Council of Ministers, to speake together of how to overthrow that Wicked Tyrant King Richard, and so end the Sadde Declyne of this Good Town of Hay...."
I went along to the meeting at the Council Chambers last night, thinking that it was going to be a discussion about how to put the eccentricity back into Hay. When I got there, I found that Paul's idea of putting the eccentricity back into Hay was to depose the King!
Most of the people at the meeting have known Richard Booth for years, and some people who couldn't be there had made their opinions known, too. Boz is in favour of stuffing the King, rather than beheading him, and displaying the body in a glass case in the middle of town. Others favoured a bloodless coup, and the establishment of a Commonwealth (though Paul said that there was one thing wrong with the name - the original Commonwealth had come to an end).
All of us there acknowledged that, without Richard, Hay would not be anything like the town it now is - but we also have to face the fact that Richard isn't as young as he was, and has had a brain tumour, and we need new ideas for Hay to evolve, especially in the current difficult economic climate.
Paul was reminded of a time when he worked for Richard, and accompanied him to the US on a business trip. They were having dinner, and Richard had got to that stage of drunken-ness where he was weaving about in his chair. "I'm not bothered about the money," he said, "I just want a hundred booktowns." And he fell forward into his plate of food.
The waitress came over to see if he was alright. "It's okay," Paul said. "Jetlag - been a long day," and the poor girl had to help carry him out.
He's pretty much done that - there are booktowns all over the world now - but the state of the Castle Gardens (still full of mouldering books long after they used to be taken in for the winter) shows that he's starting to lose his grip.
None of us want to do anything that would really hurt or upset Richard (who is away in Egypt at the moment) but at the same time, there is a general feeling that it's time for him to step aside and make way for new blood.
Deifying him was thought to be one option (well, it's a step up from being King) - and we definitely want to organise a statue in his honour, preferably made by a well-known artist with some Welsh connection, and possibly made out of pulped books.
When Richard returns from his sojourn in the Land of the Pharaohs ("Is he looking for his mummy?" Haydn quipped when I saw him the next day), he will find that the Commons have risen against him, on account of his neglect of his once great kingdom. We think that the logical thing for him to do would be to summon all his nobility around him - all those people who bought peerages over the years that Hay has been an independant kingdom.
We also thought that Church and State together would have a better chance of toppling the King, so Anne is going to approach Father Richard, who presently holds the rank of Archbishop, and offer to make him a Cardinal. We should also offer Jimmy the Curate an important post in the new Cabinet. Dogs are going to be very important in the new regime.
We also want to have a new flag for Hay designed, and new currency. And the irony of discussing a revolution in the Council Chambers was not lost on us.
Paul has contacted Private Eye, which has maintained an interest in King Richard over the years, and they seemed quite interested in running the story. Let's face it, we need something lighthearted just now, with all the doom and gloom in the news.
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2 comments:
What an interesting post! From what I've seen, living near Hay for the past 5 years, the place is (outwardly at least) thriving. It is the envy of many other towns, not least because it enjoys a genuine feeling of community.
But is there a moribund vacuum at the heart of this splendid town? The Castle ought to be the jewel in Hay's Crown. Instead it decays and moulders and very few are granted the privilege or opportunity to see it inside.
Whatever future form the 'revolution' takes, it should consider making the Castle more of a focus than it currently is. I daresay this is not a new thought and clearly any proposal would need to be a joint one with Richard Booth. But I sense that this offers the greatest opportunity for exploiting new directions and bringing Hay once again to the lively centre of eccentricity that we all know and love.
You're quite right - there is a wonderful sense of community here, and the place is outwardly thriving - but that's based on a lot of minimum wage jobs (or thereabouts) in retail, pubs and the hotel trade. Farming isn't exactly a well-paid career, either.
When I first came here, twenty years or so ago, my husband and I still thought of ourselves as archaeologists, and as we were working for Richard, we got involved in a small way in the renovation of the Castle, meeting CADW officials and getting the wooden prop put up at the gate (which is well overdue for replacement with something more substantial or permanent).
More work has been done on the Castle since we worked there, but it still could be a really good venue in the right hands. Tracy thought that she could do something with it, with her background in English Heritage, until she found out that there wasn't any money to back up the ideas.
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