Tibetan Dawn

One of the stalls on the Buttermarket for the Thursday market is called Tibetan Dawn - they sell clothes and bags and jewellery and so forth which look very nice quality stuff. I think I took more notice that I would normally have done because I've been reading a series of mystery novels by Eliot Pattison, in which the Chinese Inspector Shan is taken out of the labour camp where he's been imprisoned in the first book because he is the only person with the skills to solve a local murder. The books are full of fascinating detail about Tibetan Buddhism and how the Chinese run Tibet now. The people running the stall are also raising awareness about the situation in Tibet, which has been occupied by China for over 60 years. That's why the Dalai Lama lives in a refugee community in India. I remember Adele, who took over the Nepal Bazaar shop which was at the entrance to the Castle some years ago, talking about her visit to Tibet. Just to see what would happen, she tried looking up the Dalai Lama on a computer in an internet cafe - and the police arrived within minutes. She was able to talk her way out of it by acting the innocent tourist, but Tibetans can't do that. A few years ago, a group of Tibetan monks performed traditional dances and music at Hay Festival - that was a fascinating evening. There were several leaflets available on the stall. Locally, there is the Cardiff and South Wales Tibet Support Group, with a website at www.CardiffTibetGroup.wales and a Facebook page called Cardiff Tibet Group. The Tibet Foundation supports Tibetan communities both inside and outside Tibet with practical help such as the Yak for Life project, which donates yaks to nomad families in Eastern Tibet, and assisting the Tibetans living in India with healthcare, education and poverty relief. They are also responsible for the Tibetan Peace Garden in London, which was opened by the Dalai Lama in 1999. They also work in Mongolia, and their website is www.tibet-foundation.org There is also the Tibet Society, at www.tibetsociety.com and a Facebook page at Tibet Society, and a Twitter account at @tibetsociety. They are campaigning for a fair and just solution to the situation in Tibet, focussing on the lack of basic human rights to freedom of religion in Tibet, the right to freedom of expression and the right to a nationality (the Chinese government claims that Tibet has always been a province, rather than an independent country in its own right.) And Free Tibet reports news from Tibet, where the international media are banned. They can be found at www.freetibet.org and are on Facebook as freetibetorg and Twitter as @freetibetorg [Edited to add: I'm having a bit of trouble with the new Blogger interface at the moment - I wrote this in paragraphs, but it keeps coming out as a solid block of text....]

Socially Distanced Drama Workshops

Hay Theatre are holding a Summer School in Cusop Churchyard, starting from 1st August, over five sessions. Each session will cost £8. The Juniors (7 to 12 year olds) will have their session from 10.30am to noon, and the Seniors (13 to 16 year olds) will have the afternoon session from 1pm to 2.30pm.
For more details call 07733 055430 or email haytheatreco@gmail.com

Bean Box at the Cinema Bookshop

At last the Cinema Bookshop has a cafe!
The Bean Box has parked their horsebox stall outside the front of the building, and people can relax in the garden while drinking their coffee, or browse the outdoor bookshelves.
The Bean Box also sells coffee from the garden by Hay Bridge, which is a very pleasant place to sit and relax.

Play Areas Open

Good news for the parents of small children - the play areas on Brecon Road and Gypsy Castle have re-opened. Adults with children are encouraged to bring their own hand sanitiser.

Order and Collect at the Library

Good news for Library users - an Order and Collect service is being set up. The idea is that the Library user fills in a form with details of the sort of books they are looking for, and the staff hand pick a selection for them. Library users can phone on 01597 827460 or fill the form in online at https://en.powys.gov.uk/orderandcollect
Ten books at a time can be requested, and if the staff can't find the exact book the Library user is looking for, they'll find the closest substitute that they can. Books are quarantined for 72 hours before collection and after return. With the help of volunteers, they also have a delivery service for people who are shielding at home.
They also have an ebook and eaudiobook download service, which are free during lockdown.
Hay is not yet one of the libraries in this scheme - the nearest library taking part is Brecon.

Pedestrianisation in Hay Town Centre

The plans Powys County Council put forward for pedestrianising the centre of Hay, to help with social distancing, have not gone entirely smoothly.
The original thought was to have barriers at the end of Castle Street (and elsewhere) with wardens to allow cars with blue badges through, and delivery trucks during the restricted hours of 11am to 4pm. However, there is no budget for wardens and they have decided a plan to use volunteers is not feasible.
So on Monday the barriers will go up without volunteers.
Hay Council have suggested a chicane, so that permitted vehicles can still access the town centre, and are producing signage to show what the restrictions are, where parking is available and that the businesses in the centre of town are very much open for business. They are also setting up Pop-in and Collect points so that goods can be collected by car.
They are now waiting for Powys County Council to respond.

Meanwhile, Powys County Council have announced two hours of free parking in all their car parks from Saturday 25th July to 31st August to help local businesses.

Afternoon Tea at the Swan

A friend came round with her laptop - she needed to get onto somebody's Wifi to send an important email, and her other friend who had been helping her had technical problems.
I had technical problems too - I couldn't work out how to get her laptop to talk to my Wifi Hub.
It occurred to me that cafes often provide free Wifi, and the Swan is now open so we headed out to the garden at the Swan.

On the way, we met another friend who had just been taking photos of Swan Well, where someone had left flowers.

The young man on reception recognised me from Stitch and Bitch meetings, and was incredibly helpful in getting the laptop to talk to the Wifi. We sent the email!
And we had English Breakfast tea with bara brith in the garden, which gradually filled up with people as we sat and chatted. The tables are well spaced out around the garden, which is a lovely place to sit.
Over by the wall, a rather cross little sparrow popped out of a bush and started chirping at people who were coming too close.
It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon, and the first time I've been out to eat since before the lockdown.

Black Mountains Preserves

Londis is stocking a new range of local jams, so I bought some today (what an exciting life I lead!).
When I got the Spiced Plum jam home, I looked up the website on the label.
Black Mountains Preserves was originally started by Merlin and Vaughan, who grew fruit in their garden in Talgarth and made it into jam. They supplied The Bakers' Table at Felin Talgarth Mill.
Last year they retired, and passed the jam pot on to Helen, who runs a nearby B&B, Tegfan Garden Suite, which is a self-contained converted Victorian greenhouse. She also has a garden full of fruit (and veg), and has re-launched the brand with new labels and a website shop at www.blackmountainspreserves.com
As well as the jams, she does marmalade, chutneys and mint sauce.

New Exhibition at Thru the Lens

A new exhibition is opening at Thru the Lens, photographs related to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Old Electric Shop Seeks Cook

The Old Electric Shop looks as if it will be re-opening soon - they're looking for a good cook or chef to run their vegetarian cafe.

Access Mobility Plan by the River

I had a chat today with a lady who lives along the road to the Co-op, and she's quite worried about plans she's heard for the area by the Gliss which is rented by Hay Council from the Water Board.
At the moment it's just a patch of rough ground, bordered by the Dulas Brook on one side. She said that Hay Council had been talking about plans to put in a new footpath and possibly benches, and even a bridge across the Dulas Brook to provide a new walkway to the Co-op. She was also worried because none of the residents along the road had been consulted about the plans.

So I went to Hay Council's website to look at the Council Meeting minutes.

The most recent minutes are from March, where an idea for providing better access to the riverbank for the disabled is discussed. The Council wanted to put together an Access Mobility Plan. No further details were given, apart from a possible pathway.
At the same meeting, they were interested in looking at a long-term plan to encourage disabled people to use the Miles Without Stiles routes which have been created around Hay. These are the public footpaths where stiles have been replaced by gates, to make wheelchair access possible.
They were also thinking about putting in information posts which would include audio information. Apparently GPs can now make prescriptions out for walking (rather than the more usual pills from the chemist), to encourage patients to walk further, and the Miles Without Stiles routes could be helpful in this, perhaps using the information posts as markers for how far the patient has to walk.
The Council also discussed the possibility of applying for a grant of £96,000 from the Visit Wales Tourism Fund. This would be for a project which would completely resurface the Old Railway Line (they estimated this would cost £56,000), with information boards and a life-sized wooden statue of a horse and carriage on the Old Tram Line (presumably the sort of carriage that had been used on the Tram Line). The Council would need to provide 20% match funding, but most of this could be in the form of volunteer hours. In March, this was put forward purely as an Expression of Interest.

Of course, the lockdown for Covid-19 began on 23rd March, so all of these plans may come to nothing.

I could find nothing in the Council minutes about a proposed bridge across the Dulas. They were talking about the houses that had flooded shortly before their meeting, though, and I would think that the construction of an extra bridge close to the point where the Dulas empties into the Wye might cause more problems for the houses upstream - so maybe not a brilliant idea?
It would also, of course, need to be discussed with Cusop Council, the Dulas Brook being the border between Hay and Cusop. The most recent minutes for Cusop Parish Council are from 18th March, when they were far more concerned with the possibility of Covid-19 lockdown, and made no mention of footpaths or bridges.

Covid comes to Cartref - or does it?

There are reports that someone who works at Cartref has been confirmed to have Covid-19, with no visible symptoms.
[Edited to add new information] However, someone who works there says that they only know of tests which have turned out to be negative.
We've been fortunate so far in Hay - the epidemic has seemed to be far away - but we all need to be careful, use the hand sanitisers, and wear masks.
I haven't been wearing a mask perhaps as much as I ought to - I'll be trying to do better.

Sunny Day at the Market

Quite busy at Hay Market today - there was even a busker on the Pavement!
It's all getting a bit more streamlined, too, with taped off areas for queuing by the cheese stall, fish stall and into the Cheese Market.
I intended to get only sensible shopping, but it seems like a long time since I treated myself, and there was a vivid blue silk top on one of the stalls in the Buttermarket which caught my eye....

A Virtual Tour of Hay Castle

For obvious reasons, Hay Castle will not be opening in August as they had originally hoped.
Instead, they are offering a virtual tour of the work still in progress, hosted by Managing Director Nancy Lavin Albert.
This will take place at 4pm on Thursday 30th July. The tour is free, but anyone interested should email the Castle on info@haycastletrust.org so they can be sent a link to the video call.

When they do finally open to the public, one of the things they are doing is creating a compendium of short stories from local authors to be read in the Castle. The authors include Owen Sheers, Barbara Erskine and Jasper Fforde, and include a memoir of King Richard Booth, a ghost story and a visit to the Castle by Rev. Kilvert.

Two members of the Hay Castle team are leaving.
Helen Horton has been dealing with the charity side of the Trust since 2012, and is now retiring.
Mari Fforde has been working at the Castle since 2015, on the local history side of things - I went up once to a Young Archaeologists' meeting she organised and had a great time helping the kids with pot washing and drawing their pots, and showing them some of my medieval re-enactment kit. She's also done talks on Matilda de Braose and other aspects of the Castle's history - what she doesn't know about the Castle isn't worth knowing! She is also moving on to pastures new, though I'm sure she'll still be involved with the Castle in some way in the future.

The Castle is also now ready to rent out the unit on Backfold which was occupied by the Thoughtful Gardener.

Pubs are Opening

The Three Tuns has a signboard outside now, saying "Please Keep Your Distance and use the Sanitiser Station", though the front curtains are still drawn so I presume they have just opened the courtyard at the back. Kilverts and the Swan have opened their gardens, and Tomatitos are opening their courtyard at the back from Thursday.
I'm not sure when the other pubs in town are planning to re-open.
The Granary cafe is also open, with tables outside and a one way system in one door and out the other.
Opposite the Buttermarket, the shops along that row are also re-opening, and Haymakers is open again, too.
Booktown Taxis are now available for hire again - with cleaning between each customer.

The Mystery of the Saxon Sword

I was talking to John Price, via email, when he mentioned the Saxon sword. He had sent me some information about Penywyrlod barrow, and happened to add that Colwyn Vulliamy had done some digging in the Begwns around 1930 and had discovered a Saxon sword, believed to be the only one ever found in Wales.
He was kind enough to send me some links to further information. The dig itself is the subject of an article in MAN, the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, for May 1931. Vulliamy was actually excavating a prehistoric hut circle, and found the sword, broken into two pieces, in the debris of a collapsed wall. It was pretty badly corroded, with only the tang that had fitted inside the lost hilt, but it was 34 inches long. There was also a bronze ring nearby which he supposed to be for the purpose of attaching the scabbard to a belt. Vulliamy also mentions the dig in his autobiography, Calico Pie.
A local newspaper article of the time mentioned that the sword had been given to the British Museum, and that sent me down a rabbit hole of research. A lot of the British Museum collection is listed online now, but there was no trace of the Vulliamy sword.
There was, however, another Saxon sword found in Wales. This one had been found or acquired at Builth Wells in 1969, from R Warren. It was made in the 9thC, and this one has the remains of a rather fine hilt:

This one is only 31cm long - or about 12 inches, but has hilt decoration in silver and niello, which is the black inlay on the silver, made of a mixture of sulphur, copper, silver and lead.

Still on the trail of the Vulliamy sword, I tried the catalogue of the National Museum of Wales. There was no sign of a Saxon sword, but they do have a good collection of Iron Age swords which were found around Llyn Cerrig Bach on Anglesey, when the runway of RAF Valley was being extended in 1942. These would have been deliberately thrown into the lake as offerings.

And then John Price came to the rescue again. He got in touch with the Senior Curator for Archaeology at the National Museum in Cardiff, Evan Chapman, who provided a link to the "Medieval Sword (probably Saxon)", which is in storage in the collection of the National Museum of Wales, along with the bronze ring.

More Re-openings - and Closings

The Old Black Lion has announced that they will be opening their outdoor area round the back for meals from 17th July.

Days Household Goods, which has been for sale as a business for a while, has begun a 30% off closing down sale.

I noticed the lights on and the window being cleaned out at the Red Cross Shop, and also at Bain & Murrins, so they may be re-opening soon.

More on the White Leaved Oak

Here's a picture from the Ledbury Fire Station's Facebook page, of them fighting the fire.

The White-Leaved Oak

This is only local news inasmuch as it's just about in Hereford, and Phil Rickman mentioned it in one of his Merrily Watkins novels.
The White-leaved Oak featured in The Remains of an Altar. It is right on the other side of the the county, where Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire meet.... and a couple of nights ago, it burned down.
The tree itself had been dead for some time, but it was still an important local habitat for insects.
It is thought that someone either left a lantern burning at the tree, or lit a fire there.
The tree is the focus of ten ley lines, and is visited by fans of the Phil Rickman books and pagans.
Whiteleaved Oak is also the name of the hamlet close to the tree.

Yet More Re-opening

A sign has gone up in the window of Rohan to say that, as part of a phased re-opening of all the Rohan shops, they will be opening their doors on 16th July - but until then it is possible for customers to buy online, and the Hay shop will still get some sort of commission.
The Poetry Bookshop is changing their window display (it was set up with a Black Lives Matter display) and will be re-opening on reduced hours from Wednesday.
The Granary is re-opening, again in a reduced capacity, on Thursday. They will be selling takeaway drinks, breakfast boxes, ice creams, soup and roll and bacon rolls from 9am to 2pm, and to celebrate their first day they are giving away a free cake with every hot drink.
Little Green Refills will be on the Market this Thursday.
The Great British Sandwich Co. will have their takeaway van on the layby near the pill factory on Fridays from 5pm to 8pm - Powys County Council have told them they can't cook on the main Hay car park. They sell a variety of burgers (including Tex Mex) and hot dogs.
The Rhydspence Inn is also open for food now (pre-booked).
And the shop which used to be half of Roses' Bookshop, near the Clock Tower, has had a new purple paint job and will be opening soon as a Private Training Studio with Cat (from the Gym round the back of the Rose and Crown).

Scouts' Plant Sale

Here's the queue for the Scouts' Plant Sale, in the walled garden on Belmont Road. They were only letting four people into the garden at a time because of social distancing.

British Legion Auction

There's an auction going on now, on Facebook, to raise money for the British Legion food bank which has been running throughout the lockdown.
Major Chris Hunter (retired) is auctioning the gold ring he received from his colleagues in the SAS. It has the motto Who Dares Wins engraved on it and is made of 9 carat gold. Major Hunter was a bomb disposal expert in the SAS and was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for his work during the Iraq War.
The bidding has gone over £1,000!

Social Distancing While Shopping

I went up to the market yesterday, and everyone was being careful - the volunteers were there again with their long sticks, to show how far apart 2m is. The Cheese Market, where the local veg stall is, had a one way system and a hand sanitiser in a clever little wooden box that had been made to fit over the railings.
I treated myself to some Russian Caravan Tea from Harrisons' Tea stall by the Clock Tower.
Then I went into Hay Deli for the first time since lockdown. They have set out a one way system starting at their side door, then with a lane going round the main part of the shop with plastic sheeting hanging down from the ceiling between the lanes and across the front of the counters. Of course, there was one confused looking chap trying to wander round the wrong way.
A lot more shops are open, including most of the ones in Backfold. I had a chat with the lady from the Sandwich Cellar through the window - she's serving from a table across the doorway. Fleur de Lys Antiques and the Antique Centre are open, Lion Street Art Gallery and the Haymakers, the clothes shops and most of the bookshops now.

Covid-19 in Timbuktu

A report by journalist Baba Ahmed has come out of Timbuktu that Covid-19 has reached the city, with around five hundred cases so far, and at least nine deaths. The local hospital has put up tents to house the Covid-19 patients, and there are no ventilators. So far they have enough oxygen tanks to treat the thirty two patients, but they are struggling to find enough nurses. They also have no radiologists to read chest x-rays, no lung specialists with experience in respiratory diseases and no doctors who specialise in kidney diseases, which is one of the complications of the virus. There have also been problems in getting samples to a lab that can do the tests, though Timbuktu has now been sent a team with a mobile laboratory which is capable of processing a hundred tests a day.
No-one is sure how the virus got from Bamako (where the first Covid-19 case in Mali was recorded) to Timbuktu - there is a bus from Bamako to Timbuktu several times a week, and the trip takes about 24 hours, though an infected person could also have arrived by car.
The north of Mali is still a dangerous place where the UN still has regular peace-keeping patrols against the extremists there, and the population is mostly nomadic, which adds to the difficulties of controlling any outbreaks of disease there.

Openings, Closings and Movings

The Old Electric Bookshop on the Pavement is no more - they are moving the books back into the main Old Electric Shop on Broad Street, but they are not open to customers yet.
The greengrocers on Castle Street are re-opening in a limited way from 2nd July, but are also going to continue their delivery service, which seems to have been a success.
Days Household Goods on Castle Street say they are not ready for browsing yet, but a lot of their stock is over the road at Flow, which has re-opened (again with limited access).
Dugan's Patisserie has been operating from the Cheese Market on Saturdays. Now this is coming to an end they are looking for another place in Hay that they can use as a pop up shop.