Hayfield Gardens Needs YOU!

You can imagine a picture of Kitchener pointing accusingly out of the frame at you!
I sat in on the Transition Towns meeting at Kilvert's last night, and probably the most important thing to come out of the meeting was that Hayfield Gardens needs community help. Phoebe is doing a wonderful job, but she has a life as well (and a job!) and she can't carry on doing the bulk of the work. There's a lot of potential for expansion at the Gardens, and doing different things - linking up with the Youth Club was one suggestion - but it all needs extra people willing to put the ideas into practice. The Gardens always have someone there on Wednesday mornings and all day Saturday, which is when the volunteers come in to actually do the gardening - and they get a share in the produce of the garden too, so it's something worth doing quite apart from getting out in the open air and getting some exercise! It's easy to get to - just across the bridge on the road out to Clyro.
So, don't leave it all to the "usual suspects" - please get involved!

Later, Tim the Gardener came by to tell everyone that Open Mic was out in the tent at the back. I hesitated by the bar. To get Islay round the back, I have to load her back into her trolley and wheel her round the outside of the building. This is difficult when also carrying a full glass of beer. I was going to leave it on the bar and come back for it, but a helpful chap I'd been chatting to about the beers on offer said he'd carry it through for me, which was very nice of him.
Tim was reading out his history of Open Mic Night (Part 2), which goes back to the regulars at Lucy's, also known as The Three Tuns (before the fire and the renovation!). He recalled St Lucy's Night, with people singing the Santa Lucia song in Swedish, and Lucy herself dressed up in a long white dress (or possibly a nightie) with a crown of electric candles on her head. She was always very gracious on these occasions. He also recalled other special occasions, such as a "Humorously Carved Vegetable Competition", for which Lucy opened up her second front room.
And then there was the usual mix of guitars, singing and poetry (and me doing a monologue - people laughed in all the right places!). It was a bit cold sitting out the back, considering it's midsummer, and there were a few half-hearted attempts to decamp to the indoor bar, but it was another enjoyable night all the same.