Happy New Year

 

I think this is my favourite picture from 2021, from the World War Two weekend in August.

No Thursday Market

 There's no Thursday market this week, though there are a few stalls that are normally in the Cheesemarket huddled together in the Buttermarket - baskets, jam, and so on.  

It's raining quite persistently, so not a very nice day for outdoor stalls anyway.

April Ashley Has Died

 

Colin Spencer shared this picture on Facebook, of April Ashley sitting in the middle of Hay.

She has died, aged 86.

She lived in Hay for several years, and I met her when she came back to visit Richard Booth (I was working for him at the time).

She was a pioneer for transgender rights, and always glamorous (though I have seen her cooking bacon and eggs one morning before she'd put her makeup on!).

No Boxing Day Hunt

 The Boxing Day Hunt has been cancelled for the second year, so there are no horses at the Clock Tower today.

Still, I'm taking Basil Brush into work with me.  He'll be safe there!

Nadolig Llawen

 

Christmas Present for Friends of the Upper Wye

 The Friends of the Upper Wye have had some good news - they've been granted £9880 by the National Lottery!  This is to support the citizen science project, monitoring the pollution levels in the Wye.

Honour for Local Man

 The Westminster Abbey Carol Service is recommended viewing for people in Hay this year.  It's on at 7.30pm on Christmas Eve, on ITV.

Mac Eager and his daughter Cathy are in the congregation.

Mac has been a fixture around the streets of Hay for thirty years, keeping the town looking good, and he was chosen to go up to London for his contribution to the local community.

He was also chosen as joint Citizen of the Year this year.

The carol service was pre-recorded, so Mac has already been to Westminster Abbey.

Cancelled Concert

 Hay Music have just announced that they are cancelling the concert on 14th January, due to the uncertainties over the pandemic situation.

This is the second time that Llyr Williams' concert has had to be cancelled, but they are hoping to re-schedule it soon.  In the meantime, there will be refunds for the tickets already purchased.

They are hoping that the concert on Saturday 19th February will go ahead - this one features Lore Lixenburg and Bartosz Glowacki - but they are not putting any tickets on sale until they are certain that the concert can go ahead.

Choral Singing under the Bridge

 It was arranged at quite short notice, but I saw an announcement on the Hay Facebook page and when I got to the Bridge  there were a few people listening to medieval carols sung a cappella.  

Catherine Kramer was singing the soprano parts, as part of a new group called innominati.  This was their first performance, to raise money for the Friends of the Upper Wye.

The Friends of the Upper Wye have citizen scientists testing the water of the river for pollution and a Lift the River group celebrating the cultural diversity of the river - they have been sharing photos of the river, and information about walks and other events.  They also have a Designated Bathing Water group who are trying to make the river cleaner for swimmers.  The website is www.fouw.org.uk.

I was pleased to recognise some of the carols.  There was one about walking in the Garden in the cool of the day that I was unfamiliar with, but they also sang Lully, Lullay and Gaudete and Adam Lay Ybounden.

Christmas Party

 The Cinema Bookshop Christmas party was held this year in the upper room of the Three Tuns, which automatically made it better than last year, when we all sat in the big office at the Cinema as far away from each other as possible, and ate takeaway deep fried turkey from Chapters!

There was a slight mix-up in the organisation, when the menu that was downloaded for us to pre-order turned out to be for the Three Tuns in Lichfield, not the Three Tuns in Hay!  (it was a very interesting menu, too - but a bit far to go just for a meal!).  However,  the mistake was discovered in time for us to pre-order from the right menu, which was also very good - I had the turkey, and everyone who had the brisket said how delicious it was.

As we were upstairs, we only saw the staff all evening, so we felt pretty safe as far as Covid precautions were concerned.  There was another, bigger party, downstairs at the back, and drinkers in the front bar.  One of my colleagues had been pinged on her phone, so was self-isolating, and another doesn't do eating out, so there were only enough of us to sit round one table.  When I first joined the Cinema and we had our Christmas party, with Leon Morelli presiding at the top table, we filled that same room at the Three Tuns.

Wandering Round Talgarth

 There are some pretty corners of Talgarth, tucked away.

This is what I found behind a house called Waterfalls:

I walked up as far as the gates of the old Talgarth Hospital.  I didn't go any further because it was starting to get gloomy, and the street lights only ran as far as the houses around the hospital gateway.  Also I couldn't remember how much further Pwll-yr-Wrach nature reserve was - I think I'll wait until a sunny spring day to do that walk.

Just about everything in Talgarth was closed (apart from the Co-op, of course) - the Strand closed at 3pm, and I got there about twenty past three, so it was a good job I'd packed sandwiches and a flask.

I ended up on the bench by the war memorial, reading a book until the light got too bad.  The Christmas lights around the centre of Talgarth are quite pretty, though.  The bus came at about ten to five.

Bronllys Castle

 I was called in to Bronllys Hospital for my third Covid jab yesterday.

It was quite a bit busier than when I was there for my second jab in the summer, but the queue was moving pretty freely and everyone there was friendly and helpful.

The bus got me there just before my 1.40pm appointment, but as usual there was a long time to wait for the bus back to Hay, so I decided to walk down to Bronllys Castle, and from there into Talgarth.

Bronllys Castle is a tower, set above a small river on the road into Talgarth, near the Riverside International caravan park.  The site is managed by Cadw, and is free to enter.

Next to the tower is a large private house, presumably built when the tower was no longer used as living accommodation, and which mostly looks Victorian now from the road.  It's built on what was originally the inner bailey of the castle.

There are lots of steps:

There's a basement cut into the motte, and more steps inside the thickness of the wall to get to the top - the top floor was added in the fourteenth century.

I ate my sandwiches and drank my flask of coffee on one of the window seats at the bottom of the first flight of internal stairs.  While I was having my lunch, a family arrived to explore the tower, and climbed right to the top.

I went up after they'd gone - there are good views from up there up and down the valley.

Here's one of the window seats - the large windows show that the tower was built more for comfort than for defence.

Here's another window, and the fireplace at the top of the tower.

And here's the doorway to the en suite toilet for the top floor.

Not much seems to have happened at Bronllys, apart from a story that Gerald of Wales tells in his Journey Through Wales.  Mahel, Earl of Hereford, was at the castle when a fire broke out, and was killed by falling masonry.  I've also heard a version of the story in which Earl Mahel was unpopular locally, and the falling masonry may have been helped on its way....

The motte was built by Richard FitzPons, with a wooden tower, not long after the Norman Conquest.  The stone tower was built by Walter de Clifford III, who belonged to the same family as Fair Rosamund, who was the mistress of Henry I.  Walter de Clifford I, her father, built the castle at Clifford near Hay.  

Nat West Van

 So the Nat West van won't be coming to Hay until the New Year - I'm not sure what the problem is, but it means that the people who were using the van to do their banking are out of luck for a few weeks - unless they fancy a trip to Hereford or online banking.

Busy Santa and Friends

 Santa and his elves are going to be busy on Wednesday 15th.

At 3.30pm they are going to be at the Cheese Market with Jayne Darling for a Christmas Sing-a-long (she was the singer of all those lovely 40s numbers during the Second World War weekend in August).

Then at 7.30pm Santa, elves and Jayne will be at the Old Black Lion for a Christmas Concert and Charity Auction in aid of Homeless Hope.

Christmas Fayre

 It was lovely to wander round town with all the stalls today - some familiar faces from the Thursday market with a few festive extras.  It was possible to buy cider, beer, and gin from local specialists, as well as Ukranian vintage clothes, hand carved wooden spoons, baskets and rugs, sheepskins, plants, wreaths and mistletoe, hand spun wool, jewellery and lots more.  There was even a stall for the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, and there was a man in the corner of the Buttermarket doing hand printing.  

In the morning I heard two different choirs, one in the town square and one down by the Clock Tower, and in the afternoon Brass Bells were playing - who turned out to be a small brass band.  There's something very Christmassy about hearing carols played by a brass band.

I managed to get the last few bits of presents I needed - all I have to do now is send them off! 

Walk by the River

 The sun was shining after the heavy rain, so I put my wellies on and set off down the Offa's Dyke Path for a walk.

The river is just over the banks in places, and the island just by the bridge has disappeared under the waves.

On the way, I saw bullfinches darting about in a holly bush, a red kite gliding over the Roman fort, and - a white blob perching on a tree on the other side of the river.  My first thought was that it was a penguin!  It had a long white breast and black wings, and I could just see a long beak as it looked up and down the river.  Later I saw it flying upstream - it was actually a guillemot.

I also saw the By the Wye glamping people putting the finishing touches to their Christmas tree:

Hay Churchyard 2001

 Here's a blast from the past!

Howard, who can often be seen at this time of year sweeping leaves from the pavement on Broad Street (he likes to keep it tidy), was looking through some old files and came across a preliminary report on the wildlife in Hay Churchyard written by my ex-husband, who was doing the survey on behalf of the Brecknock Wildlife Trust.

He's given me the copy.

In the report, Allen recommends cutting the grass as if for hay, to encourage wild flowers to grow, and to cut back the brambles - but not completely, because they provide an important habitat for wildlife too.  He pointed out the value of the churchyard as part of interconnecting habitats with the riverside path and old railway - which of course has since been taken up very capably by the Hay Community Woodland Group.

He also recommended a more complete survey to identify flora, fungi and fauna on site, but I don't remember if this was ever done.

Bartonsham Meadows

 I used to buy milk from Bartonsham Dairy occasionally, but I haven't seen it in the shops for a while.

Now I know why.

Someone left a copy of The Flycatcher, the magazine for Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, in the launderette, and it's been quite fascinating to read.  One of the articles is about Bartonsham Meadows, in a loop of the River Wye near Hereford.  The tenants of the farm grazed their cattle on the water meadows, but the tenancy came to an end last year, hence no more Bartonsham Dairy.

The owners of the land, the Church Commissioners, decided to plough the pasture to plant crops.  This was a mistake, as the floods washed away a lot of the topsoil.

The Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, along with the recently formed Friends of Bartonsham Meadows, are trying to come to an agreement to manage the site as a floodplain meadow, with additional orchards and withy beds.  This would help with flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, ecological enhancement, improved river water quality, and a green space for the people of Hereford.  The meadows would be mown for hay in the traditional manner.

It sounds to me like a good use of the land, and I hope they come to an agreement with the Church Commissioners.

More Christmas Jollity

 On Saturday 11th December Hay is holding a Christmas Fayre in the middle of town - there will be 40 stalls offering festive gifts, crafts, food and drink, and singing from the Hay Community Choir and the Hay Shantymen.

At 3pm there will also be carol singing with Brass Bells (I'm not sure if that's the name of the group, or that they will be ringing bells, or both).  They will be fundraising for Homeless Hope.

So I think that will be a good opportunity to get the last few presents I need.

Christmas Concert

 Hay Music have a Christmas Concert coming up on 10th December.  It's called Then and Now: Christmas Music from Medieval to Modern, and the performers are called Hexad (I think because there are six of them).  The venue is St Mary's Church, and the doors open at 6.30pm to start at 7pm.  

And on January 14th, they've got Llyr Williams the concert pianist, playing a selection of pieces by Shubert, Liszt and Chopin.  That's also at 6.30pm for 7pm at St Mary's Church.

Tickets are available from www.haymusic.org.

Unusual Mead

 I was planning to go away for the weekend to see friends, but the trip had to be called off at the last minute.  So instead, I went Christmas shopping in Hereford.

I did treat myself at the same time.  While passing through the indoor market, I paused by the Gwatkin Cider stall.  I'm not really a cider drinker, but they did have a variety of unusual mead on offer, made by Chalice Mead Company (chalicemead.co.uk).  They're based in the South Downs.  My eye was caught by the chili mead - but what really interested me was the nettle mead.  The young man on the stall offered me a taste.  "I don't know what they do to it, but it really works," he said.  

It really does work - it's full of flavour and quite robust.

Recycling with the Lions

 Ever wondered how to recycle the blister packs that pills come in?  The ones with plastic on one side and foil on the other?

The local Lions Club is setting up a collection point in Hay for that purpose.  I met Chrissy from the Lions this morning - she was collecting money with a bucket at the market - and she said she was going down to the Library when she'd finished to see about setting up a collection point there.

Hay Library has a Five Year Plan

 Before we went to the Jonathon Porritt talk at Hay Winter Festival, our little group met in the Library.  Michael had some information to give out to us about the new CIC, which now has a five-year legally binding contract with Powys County Council.

So the hard work of keeping the Library open has paid off - now the hard work of innovation to improve the Library for the Community begins (it should be fun, too!).

The aim is to make the Library the first port of call for everyone in the community who wishes to access any of the County Council's services or other Welfare or Social Service.  (Rather like the way you could pay your Council Tax at the Library when it was in the old building, and the Council Offices in Hay closed).

Many challenges will face Hay in the future, and the Library can help the community to develop networks and tackle issues including food security, energy security, housing security and welfare and mental health security, particularly in the face of Climate Change, while also supporting our young people.  One of the ideas is to have a Climate Change Club for young people, for instance.  We know there's a lot of interest from young people locally in what they can do to mitigate climate change - before Covid there were meetings, with children from several different local schools involved, and one girl taking part in Town Council meetings, for instance.

The CIC is also planning to work with Hay Festival, which has given so much support to the Library up to now.

The BBC have also run a story about the Library and how it was saved from closure:

How Hay-on-Wye book lovers fought to save town library - BBC News

Turning on the Christmas Lights

 The centre of Hay was packed last night.

There were a few stalls along the edge of the car park, and more in the Buttermarket.  

The Community Choir sang, and so did the Hay Shanty Men and the school choir.

George the Town Cryer rang his bell and Andrew Williams introduced the special guests.  Citizens of the Year this year were Zoe McLean and Mac Eager.

Miriam Margolyes said a few words about how much she loved Hay, and how thrilled she was that Hay had invited an old Jew to turn the Christmas Lights on!

(she's not the first Jewish celebrity to turn the lights on in Hay - I seem to remember Matt Lucas making a similar comment when he did it.)

Hay Winter Festival - Jonathon Porritt

 I wasn't planning to go to any of the events at the Winter Festival this year, but as a committee member of the Library Supporters group I was invited to go to the event that the Library sponsored.

Half-a-dozen of us met up at the Library before heading down to the tent, where Michael Eccles got the chance to speak to Jonathon Porritt and tell him a bit about Hay Library before he went on stage.  Also there was Anita Wright, chair of HOWLS, and Barbara Erskine, local famous author and patron of the library group.  She's working on a new novel, but it's been going slowly, partly because of the difficulties of travelling to do research during the pandemic.

Hannah Martin was talking to Jonathon Porritt.  She's the Co-Executive Director of Green New Deal UK, and he has been an environmental campaigner for 45 years, in the Green Party, Friends of the Earth and Forum for the Future, as well as Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission.

Jonathon has a new book out, Hope in Hell.  He explained that, in 2013, he wrote another book from the point of view of someone in 2050, describing all the things that had been done to make the Earth a better place, so he had been writing in quite a hopeful state of mind.

Since then, he's met younger campaigners who didn't see the optimism at all, so this book is rooted in present day reality, with the message that it's not too late to do anything about climate change, but that an awful lot of things have to be done to keep a planet that humans can comfortably live on.  

There was a brief discussion about the generational divide between campaigners like him and the younger people like Hannah and Greta Thunberg, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the US, and how it's not helpful to say that we hope the younger generation can save us - they can't do it on their own, and we all need to take action wherever we can.  They also touched on the contrast between younger campaigners emphasising the courage they needed to go on, and older campaigners emphasising hope for the future.

He was at COP26 (so were Michael and his partner Seza) and said that, though the conclusions of the conference were woefully inadequate, there had been a lot of work behind the scenes that was promising.  It still fell short of what needs to be done, but at least it's going in the right direction.

Part of what is needed is a change in individual lifestyles, but on its own, that's not enough.  We need to be active as citizens rather  than consumers, and get involved in politics at every level, not just national party politics, but at the local level too.  He even mentioned the fight for Hay Library as an example of a non-party matter that was important enough to local people for them to fight for it's survival.

He talked about 2019, and how Extinction Rebellion was effective in getting the UK government to declare a climate emergency, the first government in the world to do so, and also to sign up to the Net Zero Emissions target, again the first government to do so.

He also talked about international finance - he's dealt with a lot of business leaders and investors in his career.  At some point, investors will stop advising their clients to put money into coal powered power stations, for instance, because they will not be able to get a return on their money over the number of years required.  In fact, he believes that coal is already a dead industry, and is being propped up by national governments.  

Because of Covid safety restrictions, questions were taken at the end via an app rather than a roving mic in the hall, and one of the questions was about Insulate Britain and their disruptive civil disobedience.  Jonathon approves of non-violent civil disobedience and says it has an important part to play in the range of tactics campaigners can use, but in this case there is a disconnect between the cause (getting homes insulated and tackling fuel poverty) and the method of civil disobedience (gluing themselves to motorways).  He said it would make a lot more sense if they glued themselves to the doors of the Treasury offices, or the offices of large-volume house building companies, and they might get more sympathy from the general public.

Another question was about legislation passing through Parliament at the moment, the Policing Bill and the Elections Bill, both of which are designed to curtail non-violent protest (some of the Insulate Britain protestors have already gone to jail), and curtail the right to vote.  Another problem in the UK is the First Past the Post voting system, which the Bill wants to extend.  At the moment there are only two countries in Europe with a First Past the Post voting system - the UK and Belarus!

Meanwhile in Germany, with a proportional representation system, a coalition has just formed between the right leaning party, a left leaning party, and the Greens, something he never expected to see when he went to Germany to see the first Green politicians enter the Bundestag.

Finally, he was asked what kept him hopeful.  

He talked about the brilliant activists he'd met over the years - and if that failed, he recommended hugging trees.

I bought the book at the end of the talk, and also a little paperback by Jay Griffiths called Why Rebel.

72,000 Glass Bottles

 Pugh's has just been celebrating on Facebook.  They have been selling milk and juice in glass returnable bottles for some time now, and they have just reached a total of 72,000 sold!

That's 72,000 plastic single use bottles kept out of circulation, which is a lot of plastic!

They pay 5p for every bottle that's returned, so they can be used again and again.

Two Jumble Sales!

 An abundance of riches this morning!

First of all I went down to the school, where there was a jumble sale in aid of the Keith Leighton Fund.  This is a Neurological charity founded by Keith Leighton's wife Sheila after he died of a brain tumour.

Bigger things for sale, including furniture, were scattered along the corridor into the school, and the school hall was full of stalls, as well as a small area for the inevitable tea and nibbles.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but my eye was caught by some stuff on the toy stall - a big Thunderbird One (seriously, it's about 14 inches tall!  Or about 35cm.), Thunderbird Two (bigger than the one I already have) and Thunderbird Five, the space station.  The lady at the stall threw in a Virgil Tracy figure with one leg, poor chap.

I am just a big kid really.

Then I headed to the Parish Hall for the Dial-a-Ride Christmas fair.  This was a lot smaller, but with more room for teas - and there was entertainment.  A local ladies' choir were singing round the piano at the far end.  I found some books there.  Because I always look at the books.

New Gallery

 

Preparations are underway, transforming Day's Household Goods on the end of Castle Street into a new art and craft gallery.

Winter Festival

 Not long now!

The marquee is going up in Cae Mawr field by the school.  Shop windows are filling up with Christmas decorations and the Christmas lights are going up all round town (Miriam Margolyes is turning them on this year).  

Trying on the Medieval Costumes for Hay Castle

 The volunteers making the costumes for Hay Castle are getting to the stage where they're thinking about accessories.  Most of the bulk of the costumes have been stitched together.  I loved the name tags that are being sewn in - "Laundress", "Matilda de Breos 10 - 12" and so on.

I was making suggestions rather than actually sewing.  One lady has made a wonderful dark blue cape with fur-lined hood (I'm sure it's fake fur), and had added buttons to fasten it.  The lady who made the cape was so pleased with it that she's going to make one for herself! 

 Unfortunately, buttons were not used in the 13thC.  I had a cloak, as a re-enactor, which was fastened with a hook and eye arrangement.  One lady started searching on her phone, and the closest we could get to that seemed to be Norwegian cardigan fasteners!

That led to a discussion with a lady who knew a lot about horses - she pointed out that horses really don't like things flapping about on their backs, which the long sleeves of the cape would do, and a little detail of medieval style finally made sense to me.

In the Norman period, women tended to wear long veils to cover their hair, sometimes draped, and sometimes like a modern nun's wimple.  In the 13thC, this was changing, especially in Wales, to a hairnet to keep the long hair contained, with a linen band under the chin to keep the hairnet on, and a stiff linen crown to hold everything in place.  Gerald of Wales describes this style in his Description of Wales.  

The lady who knew about horses pointed out that, when she was riding, girls were supposed to wear hairnets under their riding hats, so this new style would have been far better for women who were riding - and women rode a lot.  Eleanor of Aquitaine, for instance, went on Crusade with her first husband, King Louis VII of France.  In later years she travelled from Poitiers to Castile to select a suitable princess as a bride for the son of the King of France - the princesses were her son King John's nieces, and she crossed the Pyrenees at the age of 77.

Meanwhile, a young family had arrived - a little girl, little boy and their dad - to model some of the children's costumes.  The little girl looked amazing in the little noblewoman's dress.  The boy tried the knight's gambeson, which has come out really well - it's the padded jacket that goes under chainmail, and they also have a child's chainmail shirt.  Emily, who has been running the workshops, was surprised at how heavy it is! 

He also tried on the archer's outfit.  The quiver to hold the arrows is still a work in progress - the first attempt was too narrow, and I recommended that it should have loops to slide it onto a belt rather than the Robin Hood style of hanging on the back, which is not as efficient if you're trying to shoot quickly at an advancing army!

There was also a rather wonderful felt hat, which one of the ladies had made out of black Welsh fleece.  They were considering finishing it off with a decorative feather - but not a pheasant feather, because pheasants had not arrived in Britain at that time.

Remembrance Parade

 

Here's the Henllys Pipes and Drums warming up for the Remembrance Sunday parade.  It was lovely to see the young pipers taking part.

This was very much a young people's parade - also marching were the Beavers, Scouts and Explorers, each with their standard bearers, as well as the Army Cadets and the Sea Cadets.  

Also present was the Mayor with several town councillors, and the Fire Brigade.  Then there were veterans, and the relatives of veterans, wearing medals, and other older people who were attending the church service.

The parade set off through the town at 2.30pm precisely towards St Mary's, led by the pipe band playing The Scottish Soldier as their first tune, and after  the service there was a wreath laying ceremony at the cenotaph, followed by an invitation to the British Legion Club.

Good News for the Library

 There's a story in the online version of Hereford Times about new arrangements for Hay Library.

HOWLS, the library supporters' group, set up a Community Interest Company, HayPublicLibrary.org, to enter into negotiations with Powys County Council on a way to manage the library at the same opening hours and staffing levels, under a threat of budget cuts.  There has been a successful CIC in Hay before, of course - they renovated the Cheesemarket, including the flat above which is now a holiday let.

The negotiations have been successful, with a new five year long commercially binding contract.

There are also plans to extend the services that the library can offer, and offer more activities in the library.

Silence in the Market

 The main service will be on Sunday, but at 11am today the two minute silence was held at the cenotaph.

As it was market day, the stalls were all laid out as normal, but with enough space around the cenotaph for the mayor and Gareth Ratcliffe to say a few words, and Father Richard to give a blessing.  He had his two standard poodles with him.  The mayor and a young boy (Cadets, maybe?) laid wreaths.

There was a good crowd, in the space between the market stalls, and out onto the road, and as the Last Post sounded (a recording - there was no bugler this time), mingling with the chiming of the hour from the Clocktower, the whole market was silent.

The main Remembrance service will start with a parade from the Clocktower to St Mary's Church at 2.30pm on Sunday afternoon, and after the service there will be wreath laying at the cenotaph at 4pm.

Extension to the Cemetery

 Back when I was reporting on the Council meetings, this was one of the issues that kept coming up - the cemetery was running out of room, and an extension was needed.  Various negotiations took place with the owners of the fields at the back of the cemetery, and now it's finally happening!

I was told yesterday that work had started, and I went up this morning to take some photos.

Here's the new path from the most modern end of the present cemetery, going off to the side behind the sports fields and the Bowling Pavilion.

A big roundabout is being built in the middle of the new area, and a new road will be coming up directly to the extension from behind the Sports Pavilion, where red and white tape has been strung out along the edge of the sports field.

This is the view from the back of the Sports Pavilion, with the new extension to the cemetery in the middle distance.

New Art from Botany and Other Stories

 Botany and Other Stories have installed new art in their window.  The flowers were made by Chloe Benbow, who has a website at www.chloebenbow.co.uk

Post Office Counter Update

 I spoke too soon!

I went up to pay my Water Rates this morning, and the workmen are still carrying pieces of wood into Country Supplies, where the shelves are all shrouded with plastic - so it'll be a bit longer yet before the new Post Office is up and running.

Post Office Re-opens

 Tomorrow Country Supplies re-opens with the brand new permanent Post Office counter - they've been closed for three days for it to be installed.

Climate Choir

 The COP26 conference is about to start in Glasgow, and yesterday the Hay Climate Choir sang in the square, standing on the new steps up to the Castle.  The song about taking your canvas bag to the supermarket was pretty catchy!

The Climate Choir meets every Tuesday evening from 6.30pm at the Globe (or in the Globe Garden if it's good weather), and they're always looking for new members.

I was going to have photos, but I've had technical issues - since I had my laptop fixed, I can no longer access my gmail account.  I can still be reached on my BT account at lesley.arrowsmith468@btinternet.com

~

A little while ago I heard a local lady complaining to Andrew Williams, who works for the Hay Castle Trust, about the new steps.  She said that the deep steps that spread out at the bottom around the edge of the square would only encourage tourists to sit there, and she thought this was a bad thing.  She seemed to think that the steps had not been built with local people in mind.

The first time I saw those steps being used was by the Talgarth Male Voice Choir in August, at the World War 2 Commemoration weekend, and the second time I've seen them used was yesterday for the local Climate Choir, so I don't think the lady needs to be concerned that the steps will not be used by local people.

Re-opening the Castle

 The hope is that, despite all the delays, the Castle will be ready to re-open by 1st April next year.  That would be the ideal date, since it's Hay Independence Day, as fixed by King Richard Booth.  There will probably be some sort of ceremony, possibly with a parade through town.  One of the other ladies on the tour with me is involved with the Castle volunteers, and is hoping to get something organised.

One of the delays has been in getting a set of glass doors which have been made in Italy.  The team at the Castle did source local material as much as possible, but some things had to be specially made further afield, and because of Brexit, it's been very difficult to get the doors delivered.  They're hoping that they will arrive around December now, and be fitted in the tower by February.

Touring Inside the Castle

We entered the Castle by the door from the lawn (or at least, it will be a lawn again fairly soon), but there there will be a second entrance at the top of the steps from the Honesty Garden.  This will lead directly into the King of Hay Bookshop, and off to the side down the corridor is the counter for the cafe - the kitchen being at the end of the corridor.  

Across the way is the big room that has been used in recent years for events, and that will be the cafe.  There was a plan to turn the stable block into the cafe, but that's been put on the back burner for now.  When the Castle re-opens next year, the buildings round the yard will be retail units as they were before.

Upstairs, there are offices and toilets (there's an accessible toilet near the cafe counter on the ground floor), and one room has been kitted out with a lot of storage space for educational purposes.  The Hay Castle Trust got a grant from the Clore Duffield Foundation to set it up.  The Foundation only has two other educational rooms in Wales, both of them at St Fagans.  The idea is that it will be used by school groups, or local groups like Local History Societies, and so forth, and will be suitable for talks, courses and workshops of various kinds.

One part of the first floor has been re-inforced, because a printing press is going to be installed there!  It's the one that is, at present, in the cafe at Booth Books, and they are hoping to have people there who can work it, and encourage visitors to have a go.

Upstairs again, what was once the attic space is now going to be an area with comfy chairs where members of the public can go to quietly read - there will also be displays showing the history of the castle, including oral history (for instance, an interview with one of the firemen who helped to put out the 1977 fire).  I think this may be where the historical costumes will be, too.

On the other side of the building, the room has been reinforced with steel mesh in the walls and ceiling, to make it as impregnable as they can so that top art galleries will be able to loan displays.  The first exhibition planned for the space will be a collection of portraits of authors, from the National Portrait Gallery.  

And then we were heading up again to the top of the tower, where the new viewing platform is:

It's easy to see why the Castle was built in that spot!

Castle Tour - Blending Ancient and Modern

 I was invited on a tour of the Castle, together with a couple of other ladies who have been involved in helping the Castle Trust, and it was great fun!

First of all, we went into the old site office, where Nepal Bazaar used to be, to change into hi-viz vests, white hard hats and steel toe capped boots, since the Castle is a building site at the moment.  I brought my own hi viz, but it's a long time since I had my own steel toe capped boots (I was issued with a pair when I was on the Castle Mall dig in Norwich, thirty years ago!).

Andrew Williams was guiding us round, and he started outside the castle, where the lawn used to be.  It's all churned up at the moment, but eventually it will be landscaped, and available for people to picnic, or just sit around on.

He started by explaining that he fills in a report for the Clerk of Works for each week of the project.  At the beginning of the renovation, it was thought to be an 80 week job - and they're now on week 166.  Some of this is normal building work delays, but a lot of it is Covid, and some of it is because of Brexit causing delays in materials arriving.

We were standing on some of the new flagstones outside the front door of the castle.  They're the same stone as the steps leading down to the square on the other side of the castle, and the stone was chosen (and agreed on by Cadw, the National Parks and other interested bodies) to look modern, rather than to simulate something old.  He pointed out the gables on the front of the building - three are original, and two were reconstructed last year, and those are built with exactly the same stone as the original, and blend in perfectly.  So the thinking has been that as much of the original fabric of the building should be preserved as possible, but the new parts should look modern because this, too, is just a phase in the history of the building, and in a hundred years, people will be looking at those steps down to the square and thinking how quaint and twenty-first century they are!

Then we went into the entrance hall, which is at the side of the building which was affected the worst by the fires in 1939 and 1977.  That end of the building had been open to the elements.  Now there is a roof, but the re-building has left the space open up all the three floors, with mezzanine galleries.  This is where the modern and the ancient fabric have to fit together like a jigsaw:

The modern brick will not be covered up - behind it is the lift shaft which gives access to all the floors and the viewing platform at the top of the tower.

And at the top of the tower, there are skylights (Andrew said they were supposed to be self-cleaning) which also look very modern:

The black steel is basically holding the building together, and behind the skylight is a good view of the Jacobean chimneys.

Elsewhere, the original beams have been retained, and the original roof was taken down and refurbished with original tiles over most of the area of the roof.

Ice Age Ponds

 As part of the One Planet feature in last week's Hereford Times, there was an article on ice age ponds in Herefordshire.

I knew that the area around Letton had been a lake during the last Ice Age, but I hadn't realised that the ice had left behind a lot of smaller ponds, too.  Even better, the ponds are havens for wildlife, and some species have been there for thousands of years!  For instance, tubular water-dropwort is only found in Herefordshire in these ponds.

Over time, though, many ponds have become overgrown, dried up, or been filled in when they were no longer useful.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has been involved in a project to find and restore as many of these ponds as possible, along with the Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Trust and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust.  So far they are aware of about sixty ponds, and the next stage is to restore some of the dried up ponds, which will have dormant seeds in the soil waiting for water to return so they can germinate.

They are also looking for traces of the rare medicinal leech - leeches used to be used by doctors to suck blood from patients, and modern medicine has also found uses for leeches in microsurgery, and reconstructive surgery such as finger re-attachment.

There's a website with more information at www.herefordshirewt.org/iceageponds

Save the Wye

 Last week, the Hereford Times published a special feature, the One Planet: Campaign.  It was bringing together information about the environment and climate change, with special attention on Herefordshire and the Borders.  This will be a monthly feature.  As part of the feature, they launched their Save the Wye campaign, calling on the authorities to tackle the pollution in the river.  This includes the River Lugg, which is a tributary of the Wye.  The area is already a Special Area of Conservation, and Sites of Special Scientific Interest - which begs the question: what are rivers like which do not have the same level of legal protection, since the Wye has been allowed to get into its present poor condition?

It has taken citizen science projects along the river to draw attention to the pollution in the water, when it should have been dealt with by Natural England and the Environment Agency - which have not been adequately funded by government.

The Hereford Times would like to involve as many people as possible in its campaign, and they welcome contributions from people who can tell the newspaper what they are doing to champion the natural world and combat pollution.

In the run-up to the COP 26 (UN Climate Change Conference) in Glasgow at the end of the month, this seems like a very good idea.

Hay Writers' Circle

 The Hay Writers' Circle are holding a competition - it's the Frances Copping Memorial Prize for Fiction, named after the lifetime president of the Circle, who died last year.

The competition is open to anyone, members or non-members, and should be of a piece of fiction between 600 and 1500 words, on any theme.  The closing date is Tuesday 16th November, and the fee is £5 payable by cheque or BACS.  The entry form can be found on the Hay Writers blog at https://thehaywriters.wordpress.com

There are also cash prizes, sponsored by Parthian Press, of £50 first prize, £15 second prize and £10 third prize.  Parthian Books are a Welsh publisher, based in Cardigan, and the publishing manager, Carly Holmes, has agreed to judge the competition this year.

New Boiler

 

Yesterday I had Mark Vaughan and his assistant in the house all day, fitting a new gas boiler.  They were very efficient, and I now have a new thermostat to play with.  I'm sure I'll soon get it adapted to my routine.

  Here's the old boiler, shortly before Dickie Hebbard came round with his wheelbarrow to take it, and all the other bits of scrap metal, away.  I was very impressed with the way he packed his wheelbarrow - there's definitely an art to it!

Winter Festival

 The leaflets for the Hay Winter Festival are out now - with a mixture of online and live events from Hay Primary School and a stage on Cae Mawr field, a move from the old beast market site where the last Winter Festival with live events took place.  I remember the days when the main summer Festival was compact enough to take place around the school, too!

The Festival will be happening from Wednesday 24th November to Sunday 28th November.

Only one event is only available online - in which the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction talks to Craig Brown, from Hay Primary School.

The Wednesday evening conversation and concert is live only, and will be on the Llwyfan Cymru Wales Stage on the Cae Mawr Field.  Also live will be the switching on of the Christmas Lights, on Friday evening, and Father Richard playing the organ to The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, in St Mary's Church, and on Saturday evening there is live stand up comedy, also from the stage on Cae Mawr Field.  The last live only event will be from Hay Primary School on Sunday morning, and is called The Lights that Dance in the Night, with Yuval Zommer.

Free online events will be available to view from 15th November, and there is a free programme for schools on Wednesday and Thursday.

Local author Owen Sheers is on the programme, along with Miriam Margolyes, Jonathon Porritt, Bear Grylls, Jeanette Winterson, and many more.

Vintage Bentley

 

Seen on Broad Street - a magnificent vintage Bentley.

Trip to Hereford

 I had a voucher for Marks and Spencers, for being part of a Covid testing scheme (still negative, thank goodness!), so I had to go into Hereford to spend it.

I had a pleasant chat with some people waiting for the bus this morning - a lady from Normandy who is on holiday from her job in a bookshop in London (so of course she came to Hay!) and a chap from near Bolton in Lancashire who is walking the Offa's Dyke Path a bit at a time - he was heading home to his job for the weekend, and starting back on the Path next week.  He thinks it'll take him a couple of weeks more to get to Prestatyn and the end of the Path.

It was nice to see that the paper timetables at the bus stop are now up to date!

Masks now seem to be optional on the bus - at any rate, only about 50% of passengers were wearing one.  They're pretty much optional in shops in Hereford too, but I was wearing mine.

I spent my voucher very easily in Marks and Spencers, on a men's white shirt I need for a costume some time in the coming year.  I like their men's shirts - they're always long enough in the arms for me, and good quality.

I've started a habit of always going into Cult Vintage to look at their silk shirts, too, and I found a perfect scarlet one for my Young Man, who is going to a Vampire event soon - it should go very nicely with his dark suit and his fangs.  I also found a roll neck black jumper, which will be perfect for another costume - it's been very hard to find a decent jumper with the right shape of collar to cosplay the Demon Crowley from Good Omens in his 1967 outfit.

Something else I've got in the habit of doing is visiting the stall in the main square to buy Monkhide Mead.  I noticed that the shape of the bottle had changed from the last time I was there, from a wide, flat bottle to a round one.  "We used to source the bottles from Germany," the stall holder said.  "I don't really need to finish that thought, do I?"  He said that the last lot of bottles they ordered got as far as a warehouse in Calais, and no further, so eventually they had to cancel the order.  The new round bottles come from Yorkshire.

I had time, too, for some very nice oolong tea from the little tea shop near the Old House in the main square.

Hay Music is Ten!

 Hay Music has celebrated its tenth anniversary, at their annual Friends and Patrons party at the beginning of September.  There was cake!

Over the lockdowns, they kept going with online events, and more recently have been getting back to live performances, notably with their mini-festival in August.

There are difficulties, though, since they are having to limit the number of tickets available for performances so there can be adequate social distancing, which means they can't get as much revenue as they used to do - and they would like everyone who wants to support them to turn up for the concerts.

The next concert is by the Ligeti String Quartet, on Friday November 12th, from 7pm to 9pm at St. Mary's Church.  

They've been to Hay before, in 2016, when they packed out the upstairs room at Booth's Bookshop.  This time, they're demonstrating how music from folk traditions have influenced the string quartet repertoire from Beethoven to the present day, finishing with Bartok's 5th string quartet, which includes the melodies of Hungarian folk music.  Tickets are £15, or £7.50 for students.

Good News for the Post Office

 Work will start in November to put a permanent Post Office counter in Country Supplies, with Syd Morris as Postmaster.

Advice and Support from Gareth Ratcliffe

 As our County Councillor, Gareth Ratcliffe will be holding an advice and support surgery at Tomatitos on Thursday 7th October from 6pm to 7pm.

So if anyone locally needs help with any issues that Gareth can do something about, he'll be available to chat.

Richard Booth's Gravestone

 I went up to Cusop Churchyard yesterday, to see the new headstone on Richard Booth's grave, and it's very tastefully done: 

It's not obvious from this angle, but it is in the shape of a book, with "Brenin Y Gelli" written on the spine:

And a quotation on the back:

House Clearance

 The people at Wren House, on the edge of Hay Car Park, are moving, and they've been having sales of the odds and ends they don't want to take with them for a while now.

Today was the last chance for everything that was left - everything outside the gate was free, including an armchair and a Christmas tree!  I came away with a big picture of yachts which really doesn't fit anywhere on my walls (but I love the yachts!) and a useful little folding stool.

I did make a fuss of the dog, too (a lovely black labrador) but he wasn't for sale.

Timbuktu Latest News

 Good news for women in Timbuktu was reported in the Brecon and Radnor Express this week - 44 of them have been trained to recognise Covid-19, and have been given the task of spreading information about the pandemic.  There have also been radio broadcasts encouraging girls to return to school, and encouraging girls and women to re-engage with local health clinics.

This was made possible by a grant from the Welsh Government's Wales for Africa Scheme, which was made to Hay2Timbuktu.  Hay2Timbuktu has already been involved in training girls in healthcare in the past.

Four health clinics and forty eight families have been helped by the grant, which has also been used to buy water containers, soap, disinfectant and protective equipment.

PAVO Volunteers Awards

 There's a big piece in the Brecon and Radnor Express this week about the PAVO Volunteer of the Year Awards.

I was very pleased to see that there is now an award in honour of Rev. Ian Charlesworth, who died suddenly last year and who was, among his many interests, chair of PAVO.  This is the Ian Charlesworth Calon Award, which was won by the Rhayader Carnival Committee, aka The Misfits, which over the pandemic has been organising virtual carnival events which could be carried out at home.  The award was presented, over Zoom, by Rev. Charlesworth's widow Catriona.

Another winner I was pleased to see was Grow For Talgarth, winning the Environment Award this year for their gardens around Talgarth.  I very much enjoyed sitting out in one of their gardens on the day I had to go to the doctor's surgery in Talgarth.  They have also won a Gold Award from Wales in Bloom, and the All Wales Award in the Large Village category.

New Treasurer Needed - and New Drivers

 HOWLS are looking for a new Treasurer, as the present Treasurer, Nigel, and his wife Rose are moving out of Hay (not very far - they're going to Llangors).

The finances for the Hay-on-Wye Library Supporters are not very complex - he says himself that its not an arduous job, and he's organised it in such a way that it will be easy for a new person to take over.

Meanwhile, Dial-a-Ride are still looking for more volunteer drivers - there's quite a lot of demand for their services!

Longtown Castles Project

 As I don't have any new gossip to report, I thought it would be nice to share an article I found in the May/June issue of British Archaeology magazine.

A community archaeology project took place around Longtown Castle - or more accurately, both Longtown Castles - in the summers of 2016 and 2017, in a project run by Herefordshire Archaeology.  More than 130 volunteers worked on those digs.

I knew about the stone keep on top of a motte, with bailey earthworks - it's pretty obvious when you visit Longtown - but I didn't know that there was another motte at Ponthendre, only about half a mile distant.  The project was set up to find out more about the relationship between the two castles.

They discovered that the motte at Ponthendre had not been finished, and had never been occupied.  Longtown Castle itself, however, had been built in the remains of a Roman auxiliary fort.  Previously it had been thought that there was no Roman presence in Longtown.  

The ramparts were larger than would have been expected for a Roman fort, though, and the conclusion was that the ramparts had been made stronger by Harold Godwinson's army when they invaded Wales.  Prince Gruffydd ap Llywelyn had sacked Hereford in 1055, and this was a retaliatory invasion.  The defences at Hereford were also strengthened.

It is thought that the motte at Ponthendre was built by Walter de Lacy, who was granted the lordship of Longtown after the Norman Conquest of England, to defend the border against the Welsh.  As the motte at Ponthendre was never finished, it is thought that de Lacy preferred to use the castle that became his main stronghold, at Longtown, as his headquarters in the area, and it was around this castle that the de Lacys laid out burgage plots to encourage the growth of  their "Longe Town of Ewyas Lacy".

There is a new book out from Logaston Press detailing the excavations and the findings.  It is The March of Ewyas: the Story of Longtown Castle & the de Lacy Dynasty, by Martin Cook and Neil Kidd.

Small Business Saturday

 

The shop was closed when I took the picture this morning, so I couldn't talk to anyone about it, but this is a brand new guitar shop, near the Clock Tower where CommuniKate mobile phones used to be.

[Edited to add]  I've just seen on the Hay Community page on Facebook that the shop is called Wye Fret!

Costumes for the Castle

 The costume project for Hay Castle has been somewhat delayed due to the pandemic, but yesterday there was an introductory meeting in the room above the cafe at Booths Bookshop for all the volunteer stitchers.

The idea is that, when the Castle is open to the public, there will be a selection of medieval costumes from around the era of Matilda de Breos for children and adults to try on.  As I was involved in 13thC re-enactment, as part of the group Drudion, portraying 13thC Welsh mercenaries, I was there to talk a bit about the clothes and how they would have been worn, and it was great fun!

The group are going to make ten different costumes, from a child king and queen to adult king and queen, with a knight, an archer, and a laundrywoman, and a young Matilda de Breos.  The Castle has been gifted some gorgeous fabric - a variety of colours of Welsh flannel, and some opulent brocades for the upper classes to wear.  There's also some lovely blue wool which was intended to be a coat, but will be perfect for the adult knight's tunic.  They've got a good variety of linen for undergarments as well.  They've even got a small grant from the Ashley family (of Laura Ashley), so they can buy a few accessories, such as crowns for the kings and queens!

They've also got some very experienced seamstresses as volunteers.  I talked to a couple of ladies who are involved in English Civil War re-enactment - one lady has been in the Sealed Knot since 1984, and her whole family are involved.  She had brought along some pattern books for seventeenth century fashions to show around.  Emily, in charge of the project, had managed to get hold of a copy of The Medieval Tailor's Assistant, an invaluable book on medieval fashion and how to make it, and another lady brought her own copy along too.  So there's lots of expertise there.

They are going to be meeting on Saturday 11th and 25th September, and 9th October, from 2pm to 6pm, with the possibility of spreading out from the room above the cafe into the cafe itself, which is still closed.  After that, they'll see how much they've done and if they need to do any further sessions to finish off.  They're also getting guest speakers like Mari Fforde, who is going to talk to them about Matilda de Breos and her life.

The costumes are not going to be completely authentic - Emily was a bit worried about clothes that have to be taken on and off over the head, because of the risk of spreading disease, so they are going to be slit up the back, with ties, so people can get them on by diving their arms into the sleeves.

An Interesting Way of Recycling

 The newest edition of The Cabbage Leaf is out, and they have a great idea for recycling - the magazine is designed to be turned into bookmarks!

In this edition, they choose nine books, which they found in Hay, on environmental issues. 

"The books give an overall picture of the crucial issues our world is facing and alert the reader to the harmful effects of our way of life."

The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf, sub-titled The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, The Lost Hero of Science is among the titles chosen.  He was an extraordinary man, an explorer, geographer, naturalist and writer in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and one of the first to explain how forests influence the climate.

Rape of the Fair Country by Alexander Cordell is a book that a friend of mine used to re-read every year - it describes the communities of Blaenavon and Nantyglo in South Wales during the height of the Industrial Revolution.

There's also a French graphic novel (it has also been translated into English) called Climate Changed/Saison Brune by Phillipe Squarzoni, and a collection of the writings of Rachel Carson called Lost Woods (she was the author of the famous Silent Spring).

There are also absolutely beautiful botanical drawings by Françoise Verger, one of the creators of The Cabbage Leaf.

Bus Diversion

 There are road works on the way to Hereford which mean that the village of Clehonger is cut off for the next few weeks.  Instead of turning at Kingstone Post Office for the church, the bus goes straight ahead, through the village of Thruxton, and joins the main road into Hereford further out than the usual route.

Unfortunately, this road is pretty narrow.

Last week I was taking a trip to Malvern.  I had about an hour between the bus arriving in Hereford and the train leaving for Malvern, so I was going to do a bit of shopping.  Or I thought I had an hour, according to the timetables....

Then the bus got stuck on the diverted route.

The road is wide enough for a bus to go one way and a car or small van to go the other, but in this case there was a Pontrilas log lorry in front of us facing a wide tractor and trailer - and then the tractor had to get past us, and then we had to get past a big lorry....  Fortunately, there was a new driver on the T14, so there was another driver there to show him the route, and he was able to get off the bus to direct traffic.  We were pushed so far into the hedge at that point that he couldn't get off through the normal doors, and had to use the emergency exit on the other side of the bus!

When we passed the tractor, the driver got a round of applause!

Twenty-five minutes later, we were through the traffic jam and back on the open road, but there was no chance of me doing any shopping when we got to Hereford - I stayed on the bus all the way to the railway station, and the Malvern train was already waiting at the platform!

XR Rebellion in Action

 

Last Thursday it was the turn of Barclays Bank to turn up at the Parish Hall - they can't provide basic banking services like giving cash, though.

Extinction Rebellion were there because Barclays are the biggest investors in fossil fuels in Europe.  The bank finances fracking, coal and Arctic oil and gas extraction.  To mitigate climate change, the use of fossil fuels has to be phased out, and the longer we wait, the faster it has to be done in order to prevent more chaotic weather - droughts, forest fires, floods, the melting of ice caps and glaciers, and so on.

Local activists chatted to customers as they went in, or came out, to ask them if they wanted their money to be used to fund fossil fuel investments.

The banner saying "Act Now For Today's Children" was made two years ago, and carried at the big Extinction Rebellion protests in London.

At about midday, an open letter was handed in to the staff in the Parish Hall, explaining why XR are protesting against the bank, and asking them to reconsider their investments.

Computer Trouble

 I've been offline for a few days - my hard drive died!

However, Tim Pugh has fitted a new one, so I'm up and running again, and will be updating the blog as soon as I've trained the new system to do what I want it to.

More of the World War Two Weekend

This is just a quick round up of other things that happened over the weekend - like running into Rene from 'Allo, 'Allo in Backfold (not the actor - just someone dressed like him), and the French officer and French Resistance lady who were wandering around the field.

There was also a service on the Saturday at the Cemetery at the war graves, most of which are of German and Italian prisoners of war who never made it home.  The re-enactors portraying the Wehrmacht fired a volley over the graves.  There are good photos in the Hereford Times.

Wreaths were also laid at the grave of the Land Army girl who is buried there, and the Icarus statue (he was an RAF pilot - his mother was the sculptor and his stepfather was the author Rafael Sabatini).

My Young Man was impressed by all the motorbikes he saw around town, especially this one:

I rather liked this vintage car we found in the main car park, too:

Service of Commemoration

 On Sunday, the main event was the commemoration of 75 years since the end of the Second World War (actually 76, since this event was supposed to take place last year) and the 100th anniversary of the British Legion.

This was held in the Town Square, by the cenotaph, so it was fortunate that the weather was better than on Saturday morning.

The parade through town began with groups of bikers, some of them on gorgeous three-wheeled machines.  

They were followed by more vintage jeeps (and an armoured car) than I have ever seen in one place.  There were also some vintage cars.  Some of the dignitaries (including Winston Churchill and the lady who was with him) were delivered to the square in these vehicles.

After them came the pipe bands, the Swansea Pipe Band and the Shirley Pipe Band.  They led the British Legion standard bearers into town - there were a lot of them, and they'd come from all over the country.

Also in the parade was the regimental mascot of the Royal Welsh, and two wolfhounds (I couldn't get close enough to see the regimental badges on their coats):

Already set up in the square were the Surrey Police Band and the Talgarth Male Voice Choir, who were on the newly opened steps leading up to the Castle gates.  There was also a trumpeter and a bugler stationed near the Castle gate.

After the service, which involved wreath laying and the laying of red roses by relatives of the men commemorated on the Hay War Memorial, there was a reception for the dignitaries in the Buttermarket (I still have no idea who the gentleman in the blue velvet tailcoat carrying a sword was, but he was obviously important!).

Tea Dance at Kilverts

 Here we are in the garden at Kilverts, enjoying the Ashby Little Big Band sound.  There was also singing from Jayne Darling and a chap who crooned Don't Fence Me In in the style of Bing Crosby - and Winston Churchill made a speech during the intermission.

The WW2 Living History Field

 

I've always wanted to get this close to a Spitfire!

There was a great variety of groups on Cae Mawr over the weekend.  As well as the Spitfire, there was a rather wonderful traction engine:

The local fire brigade were there, and the Cadets, and there were some modern Army vehicles at the top of the field.  

ENSA were there - with a chap singing George Formby songs (the coffee van man said he'd memorised them all by the end of the weekend!)

There were American GIs and a group of Wehrmacht, and a tent demonstrating what the Observer Corps did.

There was a group of First World War soldiers there, and someone displaying his grandad's tools.

There was a big contingent of Land Army girls (some of them turned up for the concert on Friday afternoon).  I loved the local touch on their hay wain:

Everybody got drenched on Saturday morning, but the weather was better for the rest of the weekend.  There was even some sun by Sunday afternoon!

Concert at Cartref and the Change Step Charity

 One of the first events of the World War Two weekend was an afternoon concert at Cartref, by the Surrey Police Band on Friday.

The band set up on one side of the garden, with chairs set out for the audience on the other side.  There were also several residents in wheelchairs near the door to Cartref, and we were among the audience sitting along the garden wall.  There was a little flurry of excitement when the lady sitting in front of us realised that her foot was right next to the exit to an ant's nest, and the flying ants were coming out, but she managed to move a little way further on to avoid them.

There was a dual Welsh and Forties theme to the concert, ranging through a Welsh lullaby to Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones medleys, and from Cole Porter to the Dambusters, and Blue Birds over the White Cliffs of Dover.  The soloist was Lauren Williams, and there was a bugler playing Evening Prayer alongside the band.  

The concert finished with God Save the Queen and Land of My Fathers.

There was also a speaker from the charity Change Step - we saw him the following day at the Change Step stand on Cae Mawr, and he admitted that he hadn't been expecting to speak about the charity.  There were no microphones, either, so I didn't catch everything he said.  However, he was very helpful with leaflets on the Saturday.  

The charity was set up to provide support to military veterans in Wales, including help for those in crisis, older veterans (they work with trained dementia nurses) and people with mental health and substance misuse needs.  We didn't meet the Admiral Nurse who had come for the weekend, because she'd managed to slip and hurt her wrist the day before!  

They help soldiers who have just come out of the army to adapt to civilian life, and have started a drop in centre at the British Legion Club in Hay.  One of the leaflets they were giving out gives information on a variety of support groups that are available to help.  They also help with claiming benefits and debt advice.

They also have a booklet called Stories of Service: Human stories from military conflict, where people who have benefited from the help of Change Step tell their stories.

They have a website at www.changestepwales.co.uk