New Bus Times

 It seems the T14 service has changed again.

The latest timetable I've seen, shared on Facebook, shows buses leaving Hay for Hereford at 7.24am, 10.24am, 12.24pm and 16.34, with buses coming from Hereford to Hay at 8.35am, 11.35am and 13.35.  The service appears to be split between the T14 and the 914, which runs from Hay to Hereford at 7.27am and from Hereford to Hay at 16.33 and 17.40.

From Brecon to Hay, the times are now 6.47am, 9.45am, 11.45am and 15.55.  From Hay to Brecon the times are 9.41am, 12.41, 14.41 and 18.46.

The early bus is meant for College students, though there is a complaint on the Dorstone Forum on Facebook that when the times changed (to 7.24am) on Monday, there had been no advance warning, so College students missed the bus on Monday morning.  There is also some concern that College students are being abandoned in Hereford on Wednesdays, when they need to get home at lunchtime.  Sixth Form College finishes at 1.30pm, which gives the students five minutes to get to the bus stop!

The 16.33 service is also supposed to be only for College students.

Also on the Dorstone Forum, Roderick Williams is campaigning for a return to a pre-Covid bus service.  He lives in Talgarth, and pointed out that the service to Brecon introduced during Lockdown only gave 55 minutes in Brecon before the bus passenger had to return home.  This has now been changed so that a bus passenger can get to Brecon and spend several hours there.  He's also provided links to https://bususers.org/ which provides information, lobbies for more accessible bus services, and helps with complaints.

Stagecoach, which runs the service, have said that they are concentrating their resources on the South East of Wales, where the need is greatest, but that doesn't really help those of us who live in more sparsely populated areas.

Mandy James on the Peterchurch Forum on Facebook is also campaigning for a better bus service.  She points out that some people who work in Hereford have had difficulties in getting home in the evening, when the last bus was at 4.30pm.

Open Air Bar

 The Rose and Crown has been closed since lockdown began in March - but they are now thinking of opening an outdoor bar, and they are looking for new staff.

Open Air Stalls Everywhere!

 There's a lot going on in the middle of Hay today.  

The usual stalls (cakes and bread, hand-spun items, veg, baskets and leather goods) are in the Cheese Market.

The Buttermarket is filled with another Mad Hatter's Craft Fair.

On the corner above Green Ink Bookshop is a table for the Keith Leighton Fund.

And, outside the British Legion, there are cakes, CDs and one of those games where you move a loop along a length of electrified metal, and get a little shock if you touch it.  This one is in the shape of a poppy.

I got a very nice wall plaque from the Keith Leighton Neuro Fund table, originally from Marks and Spencers, depicting a snowdrop plant.  Sheila Leighton has recently been able to donate £10,000 from her fund-raising activities to UHB Charities (the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham charity) for their Neuro Critical Care Unit.  The money will pay for two new beds, one in memory of her husband Keith, and the other in memory of Chris Price from Three Cocks, who had a brain tumour for five years, and died last year.

(information from the University Hospitals Birmingham website).

Collecting for Refugees

 The Old Electric Shop is collecting items (and money) for the refugees in the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.  There has been a fire in the camp, which is severely overcrowded, and the refugees are living in desperate conditions.

Here's the information they put out on Facebook:

They will be collecting until October 1st.

New Art Exhibition

 

Thru the Lens have got a new exhibition - My Shrinking World, by Geraldine Charity.

Some of her photos have been exhibited here before.  She takes photos of the things around her now she can no longer get out and about, showing that you don't have to go far to find interest and beauty.

Hot Air Balloon

 There's a hot air balloon floating around the edge of Hay, heading from the Brecon side of town around over Cusop Dingle.

There's something very serene about a balloon flight, somehow.

Office Space at the British Legion

 I stopped by the British Legion record sale yesterday and picked up a few picture frames for the art I've been doing.  

While I was there Kelvyn Jenkins happened to mention that they want to rent out the first floor of the building as office space, now they've done the renovations inside.

Baby Alpaca!

 

Alpaca babies are known as cria.

The owners of the alpacas have an Instagram account at Riverside Alpacas.

British Legion Record Sale

 When I went up the hill to the launderette this afternoon, I saw some unusual activity around the British Legion.

The first thing I saw was one of those elevated platforms, which was being used by a couple of men to do something to the flashing on the roof.

Below that, there was the usual table outside for foodstuffs for the food deliveries that the Legion are organising, and on the other side of the door was another table with records, CDs and a few bits and pieces for sale.  There were lots more records inside.

While my washing was on, I spent some time going through the records (I still have a record player), and I picked out about half a dozen - High Society, Judy Collins, a Peter Sellers comedy LP and one of Bob Newhart monologues, The Seekers and The Shadows - which tells you more or less what era most of the records were from.  There were a few earlier ones - Buddy Holly and Elvis - and a few 1980s ones, and plenty of Easy Listening and Classical records.

Hay Music Online

 The programme of concerts that Hay Music had organised for this year didn't take place, for obvious reasons.  They were also going to collaborate with Glasbury Arts' Harp Summer School (which I was looking forward to).

So, like many groups, they have gone online.

The first concert they organised online was with Ruth Wall on harp and her composer husband Graham Fitkin.

Now they are organising another concert via Stage Hub.  

Der Wanderer und der Fluchtling (the Wanderer and the Refugee) is a concert of songs by Franz Schubert and Hans Eisler and will be given by Loré Lixenberg (mezzo-soprano) and Bartosz Glowacki (accordion).

The Schubert songs will focus more on The Wanderer, and the Eisler songs are taken from his Hollywood Lieserbuch, which he wrote during his exile in the USA from 1938 to 1943.

The cost of the concert is £7.50, and it will be available to view from Friday 18th September at 7pm to midnight on 31st October.

The link is https://www.stage-hub.com/hay-music

A New Art Gallery

 

The Flaming Lady of Hay, opening later this week.

The Hen Allt Common Auction

 I happened to look at the auction site (Paul Fosh Auctions) in the last ten minutes of the auction for Hen Allt Common.  In fact, it took a bit longer than ten minutes to finish the auction, because every time there was a new bid in the last 30 seconds, the clock re-set to 29 seconds to give someone else a chance to bid - and there was quite a flurry of bidding.  In the end, Bidder 9 won the auction for £30,500.  

The secretary of the Graziers Association which is responsible for grazing animals on the common is trying to find out who Bidder 9 is so they can protect the Common (he posted on the Hay Community Facebook page, where there's a discussion about the sale).

Meanwhile, the auction for the Lordship of Leye also met its reserve, and was sold for £2,750.

A Lovely Day for Getting Lost

 That is to say, I wasn't lost in general - I knew where I was.  What I didn't know was exactly where the public footpaths went.

I decided to head for the hills to see if I could see anything of Hen Allt Common, and it seemed to me that the best way of doing this was to climb the lane that branches off from Forest Road to the Neolithic Long Cairn, and keep going until I got to Pen yr henallt Farm.  There's a public footpath marked on my map that goes straight through the middle of the woodland on Hen Allt Common.

It was a lovely walk up the hill, with panoramic views across the Wye Valley:

On the verge, I found Autumn Crocus:

When I got to Pen yr henallt farm, I found the stile for the pathway below the Common easily enough, but I couldn't see any way markers for the path through the woods.  There was a track, just above the farm, but there were no signs on the gate to show it was a public footpath, so I didn't go along it.  Instead, I went a bit further up the lane and found a field gate where I could eat my lunch.

On the way back, I met a girl on a pony followed by a family with a small child being led on a Shetland pony.

I took the path below the farm house, and was starting to worry that there wasn't a way out at the bottom of the field when I saw the yellow way marker on another stile through the trees.  Then I headed roughly downhill and across towards Hay, over another stile.  The map showed the path going down to Wernwilk House and up to meet the path that came through Hen Allt Common woods, so I went up as far as a gate:

This is as close to Hen Allt Common as I got, I think.

From the gate, I looked across the field to see another stile leading into woodland which I guessed would take me to the Offa's Dyke Path.  Despite the yellow way markers, though, as soon as I got into the woodland on the other side of the stile I saw a notice pinned to a tree saying: "Private Land: So Get the Feck Out."

I went back over the stile and headed downhill towards Wernwilk House.

By now I was getting a bit tired of stiles - and I wasn't even going to attempt this one:

It was impossible to get through the brambles on the other side!

Fortunately, there was an open field gate just along the hedge.

There was another open field gate onto the lane that leads to Wernwilk Farm and Dan-y-Fforest, so I came out of the fields and came down to Hay on the roads from there.

I may try this walk again from another angle - if I take the Offa's Dyke Path up the hill the way markers are probably better from that side.  I did enjoy getting so high above Hay for a while - the views really are wonderful up there.

A Small Shopping Spree

 It was Market Day yesterday, and my Young Man wanted me to get some leather for a costume he's making from the leather stall by the Clock Tower.  While I was there, I looked through the rack of leather waistcoats they had, and treated myself to one of them in a really soft brown leather.  I think I got a good bargain!

Under the Clock Tower, two lads were doing juggling as buskers, and just beyond them was a new coffee stall, Smiler's Coffee.co.  As well as the coffee, he was selling the sacks that his coffee beans arrived in.  I've been wanting to make more rag rugs for a while now, and this was the perfect opportunity to get the backing material.

The jugglers weren't the only buskers - up at the top of the Pavement was a chap with an electric guitar who has become a regular fixture, playing something mellow.

Then I went up to investigate the Dial-a-Ride pop up charity shop, where the hairdressers' used to be opposite the Blue Boar.  They've had some very good quality donations, and I came away with a lovely hand-embroidered cushion cover, done in a style called blackwork, but in green thread.  I do blackwork myself, so I have a good idea about just how long it must have taken to cover the entire front of  the cushion.

Hen Allt Common

My attention has been drawn to an auction of land just outside Hay.  It's not something I would normally pay any attention to, but there seems to be something odd about this particular sale.

 Hen Allt Common is an area of grazing land and woodland between Cusop and Llanigon.  There's an online auction going on now (with about 7 hours to go as I type this), though the bidding hasn't met the reserve price yet (the highest bid so far is £11,500).

There's a slight problem with this, though - nobody is sure who owns the land.

At the moment, the 25 acres are administered by the local authorities in conjunction with Natural Resources Wales - the Common is an SSSI, or Site of Special Scientific Interest - but they are not selling the land.  The seller is Trelleck Estate Ltd., run by someone calling himself the Lord Marcher of Trelleck.

And this is where it gets interesting - the Lord Marcher of Trelleck is a businessman called Mark Roberts, and he has tried to sell land he doesn't actually own before.  He's even got his own Wikipedia page.

In 2015, it was reported in the Western Telegraph that Mark Roberts was trying to sell 25 acres of land in the village of Spittal, Pembrokeshire, as the Manor of Spittal, which he claimed was land that went with his title.  The newspaper reported that this was not the first time Mr Roberts had tried to do this - he had also claimed other pieces of land, and also the rights to shipwrecks round the coast, which led to a court case.

In 2017, an article in the Daily Post reported that he was trying to sell the Common at St. Asaph, in North Wales, again as land which went with one of his titles - this was contested by St. Asaph City Council and the University of Wales, which owned a part of the plot, an 8 acre site beside the River Elwy.  Fishing rights were included in the auction lot.

He also tried to charge local residents of Peterstone in South Wales £45,000 for access to pathways and verges.  However, if a pathway has been used for 20 years or more, the law states that no charges can be made.

And those are just the more recent articles - I also found a piece from the Daily Mail dating back to 2007, detailing several court cases that Mr Roberts had already been involved with.

And now he's claiming Hen Allt Common.

There's a common thread between all of the more recent attempted sales - they have all gone through Paul Fosh Auctions, based in Newport.

In the same online auction as Hen Allt Common, Paul Fosh Auctions also has listed one of Mark Roberts' many titles, for sale with a reserve price of £2,500.  The bidding on this lot has not met the reserve price yet.  It's for the title of the Lordship of the Manor of Leye.  A map is included with the auction listing.  The original manor seems to be somewhere near Montgomery, but what is on offer is only the title, with no rights to land attached.

Natural Resources Wales have been made aware of the auction of Hen Allt Common, so it remains to be seen if the lot reaches its reserve price....

Wonders of the Border

 There's been a camera crew in Hay over the last couple of days, filming for a new TV series called Wonders of the Border.

They did some filming at the Cinema Bookshop, and Greg the manager had his fifteen minutes of fame by taking them around town and chatting to the presenter, Sean Fletcher, about the history of Hay as a booktown.  Sean Fletcher is walking the Offa's Dyke Path for the series, which is a follow up to Wonders of the Coast Path.

I also follow a blog called Archaeodeath, written by Howard Williams, who is a professor of archaeology at Chester University, with a special interest in death, burial and commemoration.  He is also taking part in Wonders of the Border, and was filmed on the Offa's Dyke Path where it overlooks Tintern Abbey at the Devil's Pulpit.

New Chapter for the Story of Books

 When I passed by The Story of Books today, a chap was inside building new shelves, so something new will be happening there soon.

Recycling Breakdown

 Up at the Cinema Bookshop end of town, the recycling is usually collected mid-morning, and then when I come back from lunch I can take the empty tubs back into the shop.  That was not the case today, though, and the tubs are still out  there waiting to be emptied.

According to Gareth Ratcliffe's Facebook page, the lorry broke down, so they'll get round to finishing the collections as soon as they can.

A Reduction in Medical Cover

From 1st October, the Haygarth medical practice will lose their funding for the Triage Nurse.  This project has been very successful in reducing waiting times for the surgery, from an average of two to four weeks down to three or four days, and it made it possible to increase the amount of time the doctor spent with each patient when it was needed.

But with the loss of funding for the Triage Nurse, the practice has had to look at different ways of working, and they have decided that they will have to reduce their opening hours.  So Hay surgery will be closed in the afternoons from 1pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and Talgarth surgery will be closed in the afternoons from 1pm on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.  Emergency appointments will still be available in the afternoons, and patients will still be able to pick up prescriptions until 5pm from the collection points.

Anyone who wants to comment on these changes should contact:

Jayne Lawrence,

Assistant Director of Primary Care at The Primary Care Department,

Powys Teaching Health Board,

The Gwalia,

Llandrindod Wells

Email: PrimaryCareGeneral.Powys@wales.nhs.uk with any concerns with a copy to the Community Health Council enquiries.powyschc@waleschc.org.uk by Friday 18th September 2020.

The Benefits of Going for a Walk

 I thought I'd go and have a look at the new bookshelf in the bus shelter yesterday afternoon.

It's already full of books, but I wasn't tempted by any of them.

However, a few doors along, someone was selling surplus garden produce from the wall in front of their house, and I picked up a bag of pears and another of cherry tomatoes (they had a jar for the money).

Then I went along Forest Road to take the path behind the school back to the centre of town.  There's an apple tree growing on the verge, loaded with apples, and I filled up my bag with windfalls that I'm going to stew tonight.

I hadn't intended to come home with a bag full of fruit and vegetables, but it was a very nice side effect of going for a walk.

Dial-a-Ride Pops Up!

 Dial-a-Ride had plans for a pop-up shop in their offices in April.  Obviously, that didn't happen because of lockdown, but now they are going to try again.

They are opening a pop-up shop at their offices at 14 Castle Street from 10am to 3pm from Thursday 10th September to Saturday 12th September, and the same times the following week.

If anyone has donations for the shop (they will not accept electrical goods) they can be left at the office on Thursday and Friday between 9am and noon.

Dial-a-Ride were trying to set up a permanent charity shop and volunteer hub, but their grant application to start them off was not successful.  However, they intend to try again next year.

Costumes at the Castle

 It's a pity I've got rid of my Medieval re-enactment kit.

When the Castle re-opens, one of the planned activities is to have medieval costumes on hand so that visitors can dress up, and a group of volunteers will be making the costumes over the winter months.  They'd like anyone with sewing skills who is interested to get in touch at info@haycastletrust.org

They're also looking for interesting fabric to use - velvets, satins, and cottons in rich natural colours (going for the aristocratic costumes rather than peasants in wool and linen, it seems), and also trims like braid, pearls and gemstones.  

The costumes will need to be pretty hard wearing, and machine washable so they're not going for total authenticity as a re-enactment group would do - the important thing here is the look of the thing.