Cheese Stall and other Shopping News

I recently joined Instagram - not so much to post pictures, because I'm not a very good photographer, but to have another source of local information, and to enjoy other people's pretty pictures.
So that's how I found out that the Cheese Stall will be at the Cheesemarket this Thursday, 2nd April.
They are only doing preordered collections - customers can't just turn up to browse. Nicky will prepare the orders and give the customer a time to pick them up, to ensure social distancing.
To place an order, call 07568550378 or email nickyhurst@btinternet.com or go to their Facebook page Country Fare Whole Foods.

Also, Method Roastery will deliver packs of coffee to your door - contact https://methodroastery.com

Hay Markets have also, sadly, announced the death of Helen, who used to be on the stall for Lucretia's Cakes. I can't share the picture of her here, but she is shown with purple hair and a matching bag.

In other shopping news, Pughs/Londis have announced that they are no longer letting customers inside the shop. They are encouraging preordering or using their delivery service. The preordering can be as simple as popping your shopping list through the door to be collected later. Their phone number is 01497 820574 and they are now open from 7am to 2pm, and 8pm to noon on Sundays.

More Signs of Spring

I noticed these lovely little white violets along the Riverside Path.

Flowers by the River

Some of my favourite flowers down on the Riverside Path. I think they're a garden escape called Snowflake.

A Pop-Up Moveable Feast

Open today, for the first time, is A Moveable Feast as a pop-up shop in the shop on Castle Street which used to be The Story of Books. Bernie will be open on Saturdays and Thursdays while the market is closed.

Clapping for the NHS

My neighbour rang me yesterday evening to ask if I was going out on the doorstep at 8pm. She explained that she wanted to clap for the NHS, to show her support.
I didn't go out - I felt very uncomfortable with the idea. In the end, there were about 6 people in Broad Street, though I believe there were lots more in other parts of Hay.
It's a lovely gesture - but what the NHS needs at the moment is proper protective clothing, enough equipment to do their jobs, and proper funding after years of hospital closures and lack of staff. They don't even have changing rooms at hospitals any more where staff can change into their uniforms, and staff have to take their uniforms home to wash them where the hospitals used to do that laundry.

New Sculptures by the River

Just before the new rules about movement came into force, new sculptures were put up along the Riverside Path.
I went out for my permitted constitutional yesterday and went looking for them.

New Shopping Hours and Deliveries

Yesterday morning, I saw a well spaced queue outside the greengrocers - they didn't have any produce displayed outside and the staff (I'm not sure who was in there - I couldn't see up the steps) were collecting the orders and bringing them to the door. However, they've decided that this isn't really working, so they are going to delivery only. They are asking for people to phone up to 5pm the day before they want the delivery, or to choose a day to suit them, from Tuesday to Saturday.

Geraldine Like has been working hard to sort out delivery routes too, for Gibbons' Butchers. Details can be found on the Hay Community Facebook page and also www.hayonwye.info which is collecting all the local information in one place.
Pughs/Londis have new opening hours - from Monday to Saturday they will be open from 7am to 2pm and on Sundays 8am to 12 noon.
The Three Tuns has decided not to continue with a takeaway service.
Shepherds Ice Cream are offering a delivery service with a minimum order of 4 tubs.

The Co-op is offering a priority hour for vulnerable customers and those who care for them. This is 8am to 9am from Monday to Saturday and 10am to 11am on Sunday.

Further out from Hay itself, the Three Horseshoes in Velindre, the Honey Café in Bronllys, and the Old Barn at Three Cocks are doing takeaways.
Talgarth Mill is open for takeaways, bread and flour.
The Londis at Bronllys Garage is open as usual.
The Anchorage Caravan site is keeping the launderette open, and also calor gas sales.
Hay and Talgarth vets are asking for customers to phone ahead for repeat prescriptions and pet food.
The Castle Fish Bar in Talgarth is hoping to set up a delivery service.

Drover Cycles is one of the essential services which are allowed to stay open during the lockdown. They have closed their café, and have decided to be open only by appointment - customers should phone ahead or email to arrange for essential repairs to be done, to collect pre-ordered goods (no browsing in the shop), and to collect a hire bike. Normally they charge £35 for a day's hire, but they are extending this so that £35 will pay for a week's hire. The minimum hire term is two weeks. They can deliver if the customer cannot collect for any reason. They can also offer technical support by phone or email or video call.

The Story of Books

I'm sitting at home in lockdown at the moment, but before I came home I noticed that The Story of Books shop has now been emptied. Emma Balch has put a message on Instagram to say that they have made the decision to permanently close the shop, but that The Story of Books will live on in another form.

Community Support

I've just had a leaflet pushed through my door with Community Support information during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Not everyone is online, where there are helpful pages on Facebook and elsewhere, and this leaflet is meant to reach everyone.

PAVO is co-ordinating the formal volunteers - people who will drive equipment between different hospitals, and people who have a DBS check so that they can go into people's homes to provide care if needed, and those with the relevant skills to help other services.
There are also informal volunteers who can help out in the community, and anyone who wants to join these volunteers should email covid19communityteam@gmail.com and let them know what they are prepared to do, where they are based, and what skills they might have.
There's also a reminder to stay at home if you have a high temperature or a new, continuous cough. There is a helpline at https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19/ for advice, even if the symptoms are mild. It is also possible to ring 111 if you are feeling very unwell.

On the other side of the leaflet, there is information for people who might need the help of the volunteers. This can be for:
food and essentials shopping
dog walking
general chat
help around the home
delivery of cooked meals
any other assistance.

There are also contact numbers for Gareth Ratcliffe (07974 353121), Trudy Stedman (07866 818600), Josie Pearson (07875 000750) and Fiona Howard (07581 454278)
The PAVO Community Connector can be reached on 01597 828649 or community.connectors@pavo.org.uk
There is also a website with information on local shops and services at www.hayonwye.info

I've already been out for bread and milk for my neighbour.

Changes to the Bus Timetables

I needed to go into Hereford on Saturday - some banking things that needed an actual open branch and I needed to get a refund on the train tickets that I will no longer be using, because the event I was going to go to has been cancelled.
A sign in the bus said that they are moving to the Saturday timetable for the T14 from tomorrow, Monday. This is actually not very different to the weekday timetable, apart from the College buses.
It was a rare pleasure to get from Belmont Tesco to the Asda roundabout without being stuck in a traffic jam, and although it was quieter than a normal Saturday in the centre of Hereford, most shops were open. I didn't linger to do any shopping - just did what I needed to do and came straight back.

Brave Potatoes

Things have changed a lot in just a week.
Last Sunday evening we paused Avengers:Endgame at a convenient place and went out to Tomatitos for dinner. We had been thinking of their patatas bravas, and between us we shared a big bowl, together with roast vegetables with a cheese topping, devilled mushrooms and calamari. Everything was very tasty, and washed down with a half of Butty.
We'd gone quite early, so there were only a couple of other tables occupied, but it gradually filled up as we were eating.
And now we don't know when the pubs will re-open.

More on the Oxfam Dispute

The headlines may be full of Coronavirus news, but that doesn't mean that other problems have gone away.

One of the volunteers who made complaints against the Oxfam management has had a letter from Oxfam management which she has shown me. It tells her that they are "withdrawing Oxfam's invitation to volunteer with us" because there is "a breakdown in our volunteer relationship that is irrevocable". This to a lady who has spent the past fifteen years faithfully fund raising for Oxfam, including helping to organise the table sale in the Buttermarket when the shop was closed last year.

One of the complaints the group of volunteers had was of the feeling of being bullied over the period of the dispute with the management. The Head of Retail states that "Your feeling of being bullied is not upheld."
I'd be interested to know who had looked at the case to assess it objectively.
The Head of Retail says that he is dealing with the complaint in accordance with Oxfam's Dealing With Problems at Work Policy. He also says that the conflict resolution meetings which took place last year "is above and beyond any resolution attempt that Oxfam Trading has previously made." The volunteers - not just the one lady to whom the letter is addressed - maintain that the conflict resolution agreement was not kept by Oxfam management, after all that effort and money that was spent to get to an agreement. This complaint is not addressed by the letter.

The other concern that the volunteers have is the change in the stock carried by the shop - there's much more new stock, and expensive donated goods, with a phasing out of the cheaper end of donated goods (at the moment there's a copy of Planet Hay by Huw Parsons, signed, for £29.99, on display in the window - more than most second hand bookshops would put on it!).
Charity shops traditionally have been very environmentally friendly, since their stock has been donated goods getting a second (or third) chance to be used. It's recycling with the added effect that it raises funds for the charity. This seems to be changing at Oxfam so that new goods are bought in, with all the costs of production and use of plastic containers and other raw materials - the original low carbon footprint suddenly gets much bigger.
Oxfam have carried a range of Fairtrade goods for several years now, and this is part of their primary purpose of helping poor communities around the world, but the new goods that are now being stocked are not part of the Fairtrade range. Some other big charities sell new stock, of course - the Red Cross shop has bags and mugs and similar things, for instance - but bags and mugs are not perishable goods, such as the shampoos that are appearing on Oxfam's shelves.

The actions that the group of volunteers (or ex-volunteers) have taken have not just been for themselves and their grievances against the Oxfam management. Their concern is that, if this is how they have been treated, how many other volunteers have been treated in a similar fashion?

Hay Festival Cancelled

I just saw this on Twitter.
Hay Festival have announced that the Festival this year is cancelled. They're also appealing for funds because this has come at a time when they have already committed to their infrastructure costs (all those marquees etc.) and they won't be able to raise any money from box office sales. So they are trying to put together an emergency fund so that the Winter Weekend and next year's Festival can go ahead. The appeal can be found on the Go Fund Me website.

Gradually Locking Down

The chip shop is open, but customers are being asked to shout out their orders from the doorway, and the staff will bring them out.
Up at one end of town, the Blue Boar has closed, and down at the other end of town, so has the Globe.
Booth's Cinema is also closed for the duration.
All the schools in Wales are closing on Friday, so that's Hay and Clyro locally, and English schools are closing too, basically extending the Easter holidays.
Meanwhile, Powys County Council have been asked if they will be re-opening or funding public toilets - they say they won't, but Public Health Wales can provide posters reminding people to wash their hands!
As far as I know at the moment, most of the bookshops are staying open - but the Poetry Bookshop is closed.
Cartref is restricting visitors to safeguard the elderly residents there.
Hay Market is going on as usual tomorrow, but I think the Antique Market on Friday is cancelled.
Lots of local shops are offering a delivery service.

I'm feeling very grateful to my Young Man for bringing me an excellent bottle of whisky when he came up - I think I'm going to need it!

Lunch at the Old Electric

Over the weekend, my Young Man came up to visit, and we decided to eat out for lunch.
The Old Electric Shop was full of people, but we managed to find a table, and ordered their soups - he had the Golden Bowl, which involved lentils and turmeric, and I had the vegetable soup with butter beans. To wash down the meal, we had a bottle each of Jonagold apple juice. The soups just burst with flavour - we both enjoyed it very much.

Local Responses to the Pandemic

It all seems quite normal out there (apart from the lack of toilet rolls in the Co-op!), but local people and businesses are starting to take the pandemic of Covid-19 seriously.
When I went into the chemist's over the weekend, the women at the till were wearing helmets with clear face guards, white coats and blue gloves.
Lucinda's hairdressers now has a sign up asking people to re-book their appointments if they have any symptoms (high temperature, cough) and not to come to have their hair done if they have just come back from a foreign holiday.
There's a hand sanitiser dispenser taped to the outside door of the Granary.
Meanwhile, on Facebook, there's a new page called Hay/Talgarth Community Covid 19 Support. They've been getting a list together of people who are willing to help vulnerable people locally - things like delivering groceries to people who are self-isolating, or phoning up isolated people to chat.
Cat Wylie-Fox will be live streaming her regular 2pm dog walking as a bit of entertainment for isolated people, on the Facebook page The Quarantine Break.
In Talgarth, they are thinking of using the old Coronation Café on the central square as a central point for supplies - the library was considered, but now it's part of the school building it might be best for older people and people with suppressed immune systems to avoid areas where children might be carrying the virus without symptoms themselves (or without serious symptoms).
In Hay the library was suggested as a central point too - it does have a separate entrance from the school building.
As a delaying tactic, to stop the virus from spreading so fast, Powys County Council have put out guidance. They are saying that anyone with a high temperature and/or a continuous cough should self-isolate for seven days. The County Council is also making it possible for as many of its staff as possible to work from home. Public Health Wales has advice on self-isolation. People are being asked to call 111 only if they feel they cannot cope with their symptoms at home, or their symptoms get worse.
The organisers of the Facebook page (including Gareth Ratcliffe) are now waiting for national and regional advice so they can plan for the best help to give and see where it will be needed.

The Bakers Table in Talgarth are ready to deliver bread in the Talgarth area, and the Rhydspence Inn does takeaways. Nonna Caterina Italian Food are preparing for being unable to operate their pop-up evenings by offering a Friday and Saturday delivery service of handmade pasta and dessert. All the pop-up evenings they have already arranged are happening, unless the advice changes.

Updated to add: The Science Café has cancelled future meetings for the foreseeable future, and the next Hay Music concert is also cancelled.

Corona for Local People

Seen in Golesworthy's window.

Poster from the Oxfam Volunteers

This poster was put up near the Buttermarket before the weekend. It's gone now, but fortunately a friend took this photo of it.
The text reads:
NEW OXFAM SHOP
Reason why you won't see most of original volunteers in new shop Oxfam have broken their Conflict-Resolution promises to us.
With new £1 minimum price, they treat your more humble donations with contempt.
They treat our protests with indifference.
Contact trichardson@Oxfam.org.uk

Dinner at the Black Lion

I haven't been to the Black Lion for quite a long time - I think the last time I ate there was a Stitch and Bitch Christmas Lunch a few years ago, and Christmas meals aren't exactly a typical meal out.
So it was lovely to be invited for a meal there by a friend, who goes there so regularly that she has a "usual table".
I had the shin of beef, partly because I was intrigued by the black cabbage they served with it - it turned out to be very garlicky, which I like, and the beef was beautifully tender. I had a half of Butty Bach with the main course. My friend chose the chicken.
We were having such an interesting conversation that we went on to have dessert, and shook hands across the table as we both chose the chocolate cake, which came with orange bits and cream and was very rich and altogether delicious. Everything was beautifully presented on the plate as well.
And because we were still talking after that, I had a coffee and she had mint tea.
The Black Lion menu is a wee bit pricey, but absolutely worth every penny.

Small Business Saturday

Congratulations to Number Two, which has now moved from it's original shop on Castle Street to the old HSBC bank, which they have re-fitted beautifully. The official opening was on Thursday.

Happy Anniversary!

Here's the butcher's shop on Castle Street, celebrating their first anniversary of moving into the new premises from across the road.
The old butcher's shop is being filled up with interesting-looking equipment - I understand it will shortly be opening as a bakery.

Dragon in Hay

This beautiful creature has taken up residence in the front window of the Keeper's Pocket.

Dydd San Dewydd Hapus

Happy St David's Day!