Small Business Sunday

 A new shop has opened, next to the British Legion:

This shop has previously been an antique shop, bookshop, had craft units and a cafe, and was a bottled beer bar for a while.

Trip to Hereford

 I went into Hereford yesterday to buy shoes, successfully finding a perfect pair of black brogue style shoes in Clarks.  I was pleased to see that most people were still wearing masks in shops.

As I ambled along the pedestrianised area between All Saints Church and the inner ring road - there are a few charity shops I was interested in - I noticed that the shop that used to be Peacocks has changed into some sort of entertainment centre.  They were offering indoor golf - and a special Valentine's Day offer on axe-throwing!

I've always wanted to try axe-throwing, ever since I saw Kirk Douglas cut that girl's braids off in The Vikings!

Bridge Repairs

 Finally!

The railings on Hay Bridge are being replaced - they've needed doing for years.

Here are the old railings:

and here are the new ones:

They're about a quarter of the way down one side of the bridge at the moment, keeping one lane open for traffic.

Tartan for Burns Night

 It's Burns Night tomorrow, the 25th, and the Red Cross Shop has tartan fashion in the window, including a rather nice full length green tartan skirt.

I went in to ask what size it was.

"Small," said the chap at the till.

"Bugger," I said.

He grinned.  "A few people have come in to ask, and they all say 'I don't think I could squeeze into that'!"

The Wall at the Warren

 I finally got round to walking up to the Warren to see the renovation of the stone wall along the top edge of the area.  The Woodland Group, and the stonewaller Dai Davies, have done a lot of work, including cutting back a lot of bushes and trees that had overgrown the wall.

Here's one of the more decorative bits:

They've completed about 65m so far, with another 65m to go.  They need to raise more funding for the next phase.  Here's where they've got up to:

Someone has also been busy hedge laying around the car park area:

Hay Music Makes Concert Changes

 Hay Music have been experiencing difficulties with their concerts recently.  

The January concert with Llyr Williams was cancelled, and then they made the decision to cancel the February concert as well - partly because the soloists would be coming from Berlin and Poland and they were uncertain about whether international travel would be possible.

However, there will now be a concert on Saturday 19th February, at 3.30pm, when Jayson Gillham will be performing a piano recital.  He's performed at Dorstone House before, and recorded an online concert for Hay Music during lockdown last year.  This time he will be playing Bach transcriptions, as a preview to a concert he's performing at St. Martin in the Fields on 22nd February.  (This seems to be Bach's music adapted by other composers, I think?).

After that, the next planned concert will be on April 1st, with medieval music performed by the Sirinu Ensemble.  They are hoping that this will be the first concert in Hay Castle when it re-opens after the restoration, but if they're not quite ready, the concert will be in St Marys. 

Report on River Pollution

 The citizen scientists of the Friends of the Upper Wye have contributed to a government report on pollution in rivers which has just been published, along with groups for other rivers, like the Ilkley and the Windrush.

The conclusion the report came to was that the majority of river pollution is caused by farming, followed by water companies releasing sewage into the waters.  Run-off from roads is also mentioned.

According to the academics from Lancaster University who were involved, the phosphates in the River Wye come from poultry (44%), sheep (28%) and cattle (28%).  They say that massive reductions in poultry and cow manure are needed to get the river back to net zero for phosphates, as well as no further spreading of phosphate fertiliser on farmland.  They also recommended that planning permission be refused for any further intensive chicken farming in the catchment area of the River Wye.  That's going to mean a huge change in farming methods - and the manure from twenty million chickens has got to go somewhere....

Don't Touch Dead Birds

 As if one pandemic wasn't enough, there has been a resurgence of avian flu in the UK.  Wild birds have been badly affected, especially waterfowl, and the government advice is to call DEFRA if anyone finds a dead bird, so they can collect it, find out how it died, and so work out how the disease is spreading.

There are also a lot of farmed birds in the area, as anyone with an interest in the River Wye catchment area will be aware.  So far there have been confirmed cases of avian flu at a chicken farm near Shobden and a turkey farm in Clifford (I had no idea there was a turkey farm in Clifford!).

Most cases of bird to human transmission of the disease take place when the human is in close proximity with the birds for a prolonged period of time, for instance cleaning out the sheds, but it's still not a good idea to touch any dead bird found in the wild.

According to the government website, all bird keepers, even people with just a few chickens in the back garden, have to take biosecurity precautions, including keeping the birds indoors apart from very specific circumstances, and even people who have a flock of fewer than fifty birds are strongly advised to register with DEFRA.

Michelin Star for Local Restaurant

 I don't usually read Business Live, but I got an alert in my emails with an article about two Welsh restaurants which have been awarded a Michelin star.  One is SY23 in Aberystwyth, and the other is Chapters in Hay.  They've always placed great importance on sourcing local ingredients, and this seems to be one of the reasons that the Michelin star was awarded.

New Photographic Exhibition

 Thru The Lens has a new exhibition for the New Year.

It's called Golden Valley Faces, and is a selection of vintage photos of people who lived in the area over a hundred years ago.

New Year's Eve in Hereford

 I went into Hereford to do some essential bits and pieces, and also to look at the Sales - which were rather disappointing.  I was looking for some new shoes to replace the Victorian style ankle boots I found at the Red Cross shop (the heels finally disintegrated), but I didn't see anything that looked quite right.

I had a break from shopping at the Antique Tea Rooms near the Old House.  It was New Year's Eve, and it was warm enough for me to sit outside with my coat open to enjoy my pot of Oolong tea.

That's not normal.

That's climate change right in front of our eyes.

Brook Street Pottery Closes

 I'd known that Brook Street Pottery was going to close for a while, but it was still a surprise to walk past the shop the other day to see it empty, with only one or two pots left in the windows.

It's not disappearing entirely, though - Bill will still be making his pottery in the workshop at the back of the shop area, and selling online.  The website is www.brookstreetpottery.co.uk