Happy New Year

From my favourite fictional bookshop this year - A.Z. Fell's bookshop in Soho, from Good Omens.

Heraldic Beasts at the Border

The wooden sculpture of a dragon has been in the first gateway as you cross the bridge from England to Wales for some time:

It was only when I walked back from Cusop Church the other day that I noticed that the Welsh dragon now has a British lion facing him from the English side of the bridge:

Hereford for the Sales

It wasn't as busy as I expected.
For Christmas I got two M&S vouchers, so I thought I'd head into Hereford to see what I could find.
As it was Saturday, the bus fare was Zero - for a return ticket.
Marks and Spencers was full of black trousers, and I don't need any black trousers. The lovely silky blouses I'd seen some time before Christmas were nowhere in evidence.
But, I had a Plan B.
I also needed a new printer, as the old one won't do black any more, so I walked out up Widemarsh Road to the Currys/PC World there, and succeeded in finding a colour printer for £29.99. They only seem to stock Hewlett Packard, though I'm sure that will be fine. I haven't got round to trying it out yet.
This meant, of course, that I now had a fairly large box to carry round with me for the rest of my shopping trip, which wasn't so bad at first, but it gradually got heavier and heavier. Next time I'm going to embrace my inner little old lady, and take a shopping trolley!
However, I did find some nice trousers (in sage green and rust brown) in Debenhams, so the clothing part of the trip wasn't a total write-off.

Christmas Trees at Cusop Church

This exhibition of Christmas trees has been going on for a while, but yesterday I walked up the hill to Cusop Church to see it.
There are nine trees in the church, including the two flanking the entrance. Each of them are sponsored by different groups, such as the Keith Leighton Neuro Fund, and decorated by other local groups. Hay School did one, and so did the WI. The WI craft group did one with fabric hearts and patchwork; another was all blue and white pom poms, and another was all card angels. Also around the church were information boards about the history of the Christmas tree.
And on the wall were some of the poppies from Remembrance Day, done in crochet and as rag rugs.

The two smaller trees in the porch were decorated with all natural materials, as Cusop Church is now an Eco Church.
I picked up a leaflet. This is an initiative by A Rocha UK (ecochurch.arocha.org.uk), with the support of Christian Aid, the Church of England, the United Reformed Church, Tearfund and the Methodist Church. They award the title of Ecochurch (with bronze, silver and gold categories - I didn't notice which one Cusop is) on the basis of a questionnaire, which asks about things like use of renewable energy, low energy light bulbs, composting toilets, insulation, and encouraging wildlife in the churchyard, as well as praying and having special services on environmental themes and encouraging cycling and walking, and getting involved with local wildlife trusts and so on.

As far as walking is concerned, the church keeps a kettle with tea and coffee for the use of passing walkers, and has a Walker's Prayer on laminated paper to take away:
Creator God, you hold the whole world in your embrace.
The hills speak your eternal name and the green fields reflect your glory.
Give us who walk this earth sunshine, shade and rain in due season, and open eyes to see its beauty.
May we have joy in the morning, strength through the day and peace when we come to our rest.
Amen.

A Rocha UK also have a nature reserve in the Stour Valley in Essex, and an urban community garden project at Wolf Fields, Southall, near their HQ.

Sculptures on the Riverside Path

Because I've been unwell in the last month, I haven't been out walking at all, so it was only yesterday that I managed to get down to the Riverside Path to see the wonderful new sculptures that have been put in. This time they're in full colour!
Because I am a rubbish photographer, I only managed to get a decent photo of one of them:

The others are a badger and a hawk swooping down on a pigeon.

I also liked the new information boards at the bridge, that the Town Council have put in:

Boxing Day Traditions

There was no Thursday Market today, but there was the traditional gathering of the Boxing Day Hunt at the Clock Tower.
Despite the drizzly weather, there was a pretty good turnout (Christmas Day, by contrast, was lovely and sunny).
This year I got some good action shots from the top of the hill near the Blue Boar:

One rider pulled up just past the Cinema Bookshop and didn't go any further. I saw him later chatting to the people who were still clustered around the Clock Tower.

Nadolig Llawen

Monday Market

Specially for Christmas, there was a Monday Market this week. I don't usually get much chance to wander round the stalls - when I come out of work for lunch, the market is usually starting to pack up and go home. This time I had a lovely chat with the man from Harrisons' Teas, and bought one of my favourite teas, Russian Caravan, and a Chinese tea I hadn't tried before, Zeng He Golden Dragon.
There were also carol singers, and George the Town Cryer dressed in his finery - and also manning a stall with beeswax soaps.
And there were the usual food stalls, Christmas wreaths, blankets, socks and jewellery.

Glamping by the Wye

The woodland area just on the further side of the bridge from Hay is almost ready to become a Glamping Site - the owners of the land, from The Start B&B on the other side of the road, have been working on the paths for some time now, including the public footpath that winds through the site, as well as trimming trees, and creating stone tables and log chairs. They've also put up bat boxes, and are working hard to make the site sustainable and eco-friendly.
But eco-friendly doesn't have to mean roughing it - these are going to be luxurious safari tents with kitchen and bathroom - they even provide eco-friendly toiletries and ask that campers don't bring their own. There's even wifi in The Hide, which is almost a tree house - it's on stilts with a view of the river from the decking, and it's in the process of being built now:

There are also cwtch tents - which appear to be tents that are suspended from the trees. I'm not sure that would be my cup of tea! And they are happy to accept dogs.
They have a website at www.bythewye.uk

Children's Photo Exhibition

I had time the other day to pop into Thru the Lens, the new photographic gallery. They've got an exhibition on at the moment by local children - the oldest are sixteen - and they are so good I feel like throwing my camera away!
One good idea they have is selling small polaroid pictures for £1 each, and they also have Christmas tree decorations for sale.

Meals at the Three Tuns

By chance, both the Christmas meals I've been to this year have been at the Three Tuns, so I had an opportunity to sample two different main courses and sweets - I stuck to the butternut squash soup for starters, because I love butternut squash soup.
At the bar, the real ales are from Wye Valley - I tried the dark Space Hopper, which was very pleasant.
They have a whole menu of different gins on a board on the wall, but I think that's something to sample on a different occasion. They also have a good selection of wines, so we were sharing bottles. I enjoyed the prosecco, and the Malbec (Las Pampas?) was a smooth and tasty red wine which went very well with the beef.
I feel you've got to have at least one traditional meal over Christmas (I'm going to have a very untraditional game casserole on Christmas Day), so for one meal I went for the turkey and Christmas pudding option. There were plenty of vegetables, the meat was tender, and the custard for the pudding was lovely.
For the second meal I went for the beef and plum and apple crumble option. Again, the beef was delicious, and the crumble came in two little pots - one for the crumble itself and the other for ice cream. They also offered a gluten-free pudding option from the ordinary menu.
So I had two very enjoyable meals, and several people I was eating with said that they'd like to come again to sample the ordinary menu - the Three Tuns specialises in Italian food.
There was a conversation over the second meal about how we would probably not want Christmas crackers again, considering the amount of plastic involved, and how much got thrown away. And hardly anybody wanted to wear their party hat anyway.

Houses on the Cattle Market?

When Oliver Balch wrote Under the Tump, his book about living in the Hay area, he interviewed the people who ran the cattle market. They had seen a decline in the use of the market over the years, since it is quite a small, local one.
Gareth Ratcliffe has now shared a letter on the Hay Community Facebook page to say that Powys County Council are putting the site forward to the Brecon Beacons National Park local development plan for consultation to change it to residential use.
This does not mean that the builders are about to move in - it's just a suggestion, should the cattle market site become vacant.
One local resident at that end of town is in favour of the site being used for affordable/social housing. She is surrounded by houses that are used (rarely) as second homes, and others which are being offered for very high rents. Another house is now an AirB&B. So she actually has very few neighbours who live there all the time. Also, of course, there is a need for more affordable housing in the Hay area. Others have pointed out the need for more housing for the over-65 age group.
The Swan at Hay have also reported that, from January 2020, the cattle market car park will not be available, as the gate will be kept locked.

Charity at the Three Tuns

The people from the Three Tuns have posted on the Hay Community page on Facebook to say that they are collecting for a new local charity, the Brecon Baby Bank. They are looking for new/unopened packets of nappies, baby wipes, new bottles and teats and so on. One lady has already offered a pushchair.
If this appeal goes well, they are thinking about collecting for other local charities next year.

Charging for the ATM

I've just come back from a wonderful weekend away (I'll be posting about it on my other blog, Morwenna's Tower, if anyone's interested in an idyllic Cotswold break), to find a furore about the ATM machine at the Post Office.
Since Friday, the machine has charged 99p for every cash withdrawal - this is a flat rate, no matter how much or how little money is taken out.
I've been reading the thread on the Hay Community page on Facebook, and the point has been made that, as usual, it is the poorest people in society who will be the hardest hit by this.
Apparently this is nothing to do with the Post Office - the ATM is owned by a separate company and they decided to start charging for withdrawals.
There is a free ATM machine at the back of the Co-op, and it is also possible to draw money out at the Post Office counter when the Post Office is open.
What annoys me about this is that they are charging for me to access my own money. I haven't paid a charge to take my own money out of the bank for 40 years - and I don't want to start now. I also don't want to start using my card to buy things routinely - I much prefer cash, which does not rely on electricity to work.

At the Polling Station

Going to vote in Hay is always a pleasant experience, even in the rain. When I went down at lunch time I saw a couple of people I knew.
One of the ladies giving out voting slips also volunteers in one of the charity shops in town, and she said she'd put a hat to one side for me if I wanted it.
There were tellers outside for the Lib Dems and Conservatives, and they were talking about how people had struggled over the years for the ability to vote - like the suffragette Emily Davidson who jumped in front of the King's racehorse (she and the horse died).

General Election

Don't forget to vote tomorrow!
The polling station for Hay is the Bowling Club pavilion on Brecon Road.
You do not need to have your polling card with you.

Farewell to Big Al

This is copied from Alistair Shaw's Facebook page, for anyone who would like to attend his funeral or the gathering in Hay afterwards:

"An open invitation to the funeral of Alastair Donald Shaw on Monday 16th December 2019
11.30am Burial at Humber Woodland of Remembrance, Risbury, Leominster, HR6 0NE
2.30pm Send-Off Gathering at Honesty Bookshop, Castle St., Hay-on-Wye
This will be a day of remembering and celebrating Alastair, bringing the people and things he loved together…
• Please bring a hug and a smile and wear your most colourful (warm) clothes.
• If you have a crazy vehicle, why not make it your ride for the day.
• If you have a story, a song, a poem, a picture, words of remembrance or music you want to play, let us know.
• Please bring food and drink to share at the Send-Off Gathering.
• Instead of flowers, consider making a donation to a charity close to Al’s heart - The Flying Seagull Project is a troupe of clowns, magicians, circus performers and musicians who take smiles to those in need. They believe that every young person has the right to a childhood with play, laughter and creativity. Donate here https://theflyingseagull.charitycheckout.co.uk/…/alastairsh…
Some boring stuff…
Humber Woodland – This is a field and the ground is uneven and most likely wet, there is no inside space or loo and parking is limited, so please share lifts where possible. www.humberwoodland.co.uk
Honesty Bookshop – there will be a canvas canopy for shelter, but as it’s December please wear warm clothing.
May we have merryweather!"
The organiser can be contacted at amberknipe77@gmail.com

Unicorns, Almost

I wasn't able to go to see this play at the main Festival this year, when it was performed in the Swan - there were too many other things going on!
But after going up to the Edinburgh Festival, and a spell at the Bristol Old Vic, and an audio version that was recorded to be played at Bayeux during the Normandy Landings commemorations, Unicorns, Almost came back to Hay on the last day of the Winter Festival.
It's a one man play about the Second World War poet Keith Douglas, written by local author Owen Sheers, directed by John Retallack, and produced by Emma Balch from The Story of Books in Hay. The chairs had been moved at the front of the tent to form three sides of a square, where the action took place, with a desk, coat rack, boxes and sandbags.
Dan Krikler plays Keith Douglas, with the help of special effects and voices off, some of them quoting lines from Keith Douglas's poetry. He was a tank commander in the Desert War, and some of the descriptions of the dead scattered in the wake of tank battles were graphic. Poets back in England lamented that his poetry was "losing its musicality" - considering what he had witnessed, of course it was!
At the end of the desert campaign, he came back to England to wait for D-Day, when he landed an amphibious tank on the Normandy beaches - and died a week later. He was twenty four. The play ends with one of his poems: "Simplify me when I'm dead", which we got as a handout at the end of the performance.
There was also a question and answer session. When Dan came back on stage, having changed, he commented: "Now I get a mic!" as the entire performance had been him speaking without a mic. Owen Sheers and John Retallack were also taking questions, and said that the play has never previously been performed to more than sixty people - last night there were two hundred and fifty people in the tent, and we were spellbound.
Another questioner asked if there really would be Christmas lights on Oxford Street in the middle of the war, as mentioned in the play, but Owen Sheers said that was a quotation from Keith Douglas's own letters, so it must have been true.
And another person asked if they would consider putting the play on for the Ledbury Poetry Festival.
Owen Sheers said that the play was intended as a kind of haunting, so that Keith Douglas would be remembered, even though his published work fell into obscurity after the war. If he had lived, he could have been one of England's foremost poets of his generation.
It was a wonderful evening of theatre.

Small Business Sunday

Foozling is now open, at least for the Winter Festival. Over the last few months they've had some of the most inventive window displays in Hay - brass instruments mounted on pram wheels, and something with ghoulish dolls for Hallowe'en.
I'm not quite sure what they're selling, but it all looks very interesting!