On the first and third Thursday of each month, Bethesda Church (opposite the dentists) will be open from 2pm to 4pm for coffee, cake, tea and chat. There will also be crafts, games, activities and support. And it will be warm!
Entry is free, and the church can provide transport for anyone who needs it - they can be contacted on 07891 491726 or s.illingsworth@gmail.com
I don't use my iron very often. My mum bought it for me when I went away to college, so when I noticed that the flex was fraying last time I used it, I worked out that I'd had it for forty three years!
So I went down to the electrical shop by the Drill Hall, to see what they had in stock. I admitted to the chap there that, although my old iron was a steam iron, I never put water in it.
"We've got a dry iron!" he said, and picked one out for me for £20.
If it lasts as long as the last one, I'll never need to buy an iron again!
My Young Man was here last week (hence no posting on this blog) and one of the things he really wanted to do while he was here was to go and sing at the Baskie's weekly acoustic session. He had the words to Ghost Riders in the Sky all printed out ready.
So I got in touch with Bob (who runs the sessions), who got in touch with Ellie (who drives to the Baskie from Hay), and we were all set.
It was such fun to be back! There isn't an interval with chips any more, and it was a horrible, rainy night, so not many people turned up, but the ones that did sang some familiar songs, and I sang some of my repertoire that I knew back to front and sideways - I didn't want to sing something that I'd lose the tune half way through for my first outing for a while.
This is me, channelling Judith Durham of the Seekers, with We'll Build a World of Our Own.
It's a long time since I saw the square so packed with people!
Quite a few of the shops in the centre of town had stayed open late - Dugan's Patisserie and Timeless Treasures on the Pavement, and others closer to the Buttermarket.
In the Buttermarket itself were local groups like Hay School and the Scouts, fundraising - there was a tombola, and home made Christmas tree decorations.
The main square had lots of small covered stalls, rather than the marquee of previous years, selling turkey and pork rolls, baked potatoes, Mac and cheese, pizza, and mulled wine, mulled cider and beer.
At the top of the square, going into Castle Street, were two traction engines, one of which had a trailer to give rides around town with Santa. Behind them was the fire engine.
In another small tent by the Castle steps the Community Choir were crammed in shoulder to shoulder, singing Christmas songs.
There was also a handcart selling toys that lit up with flashing lights.
I bought a light saber (so that was me, and a bunch of seven year olds). It's a red, double ended one, like Darth Maul has in the Star Wars films. I showed it to a friend in the crowd, and he said he always knew I was evil!
Michael Morpurgo did the honours this year, and the square was completely packed for the count down, with people on every terrace around the Castle as well.
The Hay Shantymen were performing at a concert in Hay Castle the other night, and during the performance they were presented with one of those giant fundraising cheques.
They have raised over £7,000 for the RNLI with their singing, with performances under the bridge at the Bean Box, and elsewhere.
They were joined at the Castle by another group, from London, the Bellows Fellows.
The guest of honour at the Great Switch On will now be Michael Morpurgo, as Sally Phillips can't make it.
Off to Bronllys on the bus for my booster Covid jab this morning.
I've been offered lifts, but this time it was so easy - the 9.15am bus from Hay, and the 10.20am bus back from Bronllys.
I got off the bus at the roundabout by the hospital gates with a chap I know slightly, and we went in together. There were no queues, and the hall has been re-arranged. They don't have the blue tents any more - you get injected at desks spread across the room. There's a line of chairs near the exit if anyone wants to sit down, but you don't have to wait for five or ten minutes any more. You can go straight out.
I wanted to have a look at the bookshelf in Bronllys bus shelter, and found a copy of The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, by Terry Pratchett. While I was looking, I was chatting to the chap from the bus, who was telling me all about his family, who have been farming in this area for generations. He talked about his grandmother, who used to sell poultry on Hay Market, and the way various members of his family took in evacuees during the War - there was a big family of kids who were split up to go to different farms, but they all belonged to his relatives, so the kids could stay together.
He is also very interested in public transport in the area, and would love to see Hay become a hub for more routes up and down the Marches - or failing that, at least get an electronic board for the Hay bus stops to show when the buses are due, like the one they have in Talgarth.
We chatted all the way back to Hay.
The cherry picker has been trundling round town, putting up the Christmas lights - the Great Switch On will be on Friday, November 25th, as part of the Winter Festival, and the celebrity switching on the lights this year is Sally Phillips. I'm not familiar with her work, but she's been in the Bridget Jones films, Smack the Pony, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!
There will be several Christmas Fairs, too - the Fairtrade Christmas Fair is on Sunday 27th November, as part of the Winter Festival, with old favourites like Tools for Self Reliance and Love Zimbabwe as well as new stalls.
The Globe is hosting a Christmas Fair on Sunday 4th December, and Hay Markets are holding a Christmas Fair on Saturday 10th December. The Hay Shantymen will be singing.
There will be a public meeting about the pollution of the River Wye at the Parish Hall at 7pm on Monday 5th December.
I'm sorry I missed today's U3A talk - it was Denise Darbyshire on The Wonder that was Syria. A few years ago now, there was a day trip to Oxford organised by the Local History society, where Denise gave us a private viewing of some of the artefacts at the Ashmolean Museum, where she is a curator, and in the afternoon guided us around the exhibition - I forget the title, but it was all about religions re-using the statues and artefacts of the religions that had gone before, and it was totally fascinating.
U3A meet once a month in the Music Room at Baskerville Hall, which is a beautiful space, with coffee served from 10am and lunch from 12.15. Admission is £5 for members and £7 for non-members.
They have a website at https://u3asites.org.uk/hay/welcome
and they're holding their Christmas Lunch on Tuesday 13th December, also at Baskerville Hall.
Geoffrey Meadon died earlier this year, and someone has kindly sent me his obituary - he had a fascinating life!
Geoffrey Noel Meadon was born 23 December 1944 and sadly died on 31 July 2022, aged 77. He was the son of a civil servant and he and his younger brother, John
grew up in North London. His mother died during his childhood.
He was a pupil at St Paul’s school, London, where he proved to be an exceptional scholar.
He was admitted to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge at the early age of 17 where he graduated in History.
During his time at Cambridge he famously captained his college on an early1960s University Challenge contest.
He won a post-graduate scholarship to Harvard, USA, but his studies were cut short when his previously undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes began to manifest itself and he became unwell.
Back
in London, Geoffrey was encouraged by his father to join the
civil service and soon gained employment at the Admiralty.
He
lived in the Resident Civilian Duty Officer’s Quarters in a
suite of rooms on the first floor of the Admiralty Main
Building.
This residence was full of Edwardian baroque furniture and was staffed by three messengers and a servant.
Geoffrey later moved to St James’s Place in a flat previously occupied by ‘Bosey’, Lord Queensbury’s son and lover of Oscar Wilde.When Richard Booth invited Geoffrey to become his Publicity Officer, he moved to Hay-on-Wye where he remained for the rest of his life.
He worked in the Performing Arts section of the Cinema Bookshop and later ran his own music shop, selling mainly records and sheet music.
He subsequently turned his talents to indexing books, mostly on shipping and music.
Geoffrey
was a Hay institution, a superb conversationalist with a unique
sense of humour which endeared him to everybody he met.
He was a gifted musician and was a founder-member of the Augustus Hare Piano Trio of Hay-on-Wye.
The trio had ‘a pleasing repertoire of 19th century light music’ and performances were always rapturously received. He was a bass baritone and sang with gusto in several choirs.
Geoffrey held a lifelong passion for Brigitte Bardot, Dan Dare of the Eagle comics, Victor Herbert and Vincent Price. He was also partial to the verses of W S Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame.
One of his favourite saying, particularly in the last year of his life, was:
‘I thank whatever gods there be
For my unconquerable soul’
(from Invictus by William Ernest Henley)
He was great company and is sorely missed.
I got an alert on my phone to say that EE are doing work on the mast in Glasbury from 14th November for three days. They say it should be possible to make calls and texts during that time by enabling WifiCalling on the phone.
I arrived at the war memorial just before the Last Post sounded (a recording this time), and in time for the two minute silence. Then Gareth Ratcliffe and Fiona Howard, for the Council, laid wreaths, followed by a little boy and girl from the school, and a couple of others.
The main service will be on Sunday, when there will be a procession from the Clock Tower and more wreath laying.
Lots going on at the Castle over the next few weeks!
To tie in with their exhibition, The Printed Line, Aiden Saunders (who runs Prints of Hay at the Castle gate) is doing a workshop on lino printing on 16th November.
Then on 24th November Kate Kato is doing a book art workshop, and a book journal making workshop on 11th December.
And on 7th December Hannah Firmin will be giving a masterclass on printmaking in the morning, and running a workshop in the afternoon.
There will be events at the Castle over the Hay Winter Festival, too.
The Castle is also running a series of local history talks on Wednesday evenings. They started on 2nd November with a talk about the Burney brothers.
On 16th November, Tim Hoverd will be talking about the Herefordshire Viking Hoard
and on 30th November Stephen Bates will be doing a talk on the Armstrong Trial - he's written a book called The Poisonous Solicitor on the case.
Events can be booked through the Castle gift shop or on the website, and they are also asking for ideas for future events.
There's another Hay Music concert on Sunday 13th November, at 4.30pm in St Mary's Church (sadly I'll be at work).
This one is the mezzo-soprano Lore Lixenburg, accompanied by Bartosz Glowaki on the accordion, and the music ranges through the centuries from Hildegard of Bingen in the 12th century, through the Baroque era of Purcell and Monteverdi, Bach and Handel, right up to date with Cage, Polwart and Aquaviva.
That's quite a range of styles!
Tickets are £12.50, or £6.25 for under 25s.
Alan Cooper was a noted jazz musician locally. He died a few years ago, but his widow still lives locally.
After his death, she discovered a portfolio of his art works, and has decided to mount an exhibition of them at Ty Tan Arts. The exhibition starts on 19th November.
It was one of those "only in Hay" moments. I went into the Farmer's Lavender shop by the Clock Tower, looking for inspiration for Christmas presents.
As I went in, I could hear big band music. A group of people were clustered round the counter, watching something on a laptop, and I recognised the tune.
"Come and watch with us if you like," they said.
The film clip they were watching was black and white, and 1940s vintage, and the big band was playing Kalamazoo. We sang along with the vocalists, and watched the tap dancing sequence in awe at the skill of the dancers, wincing occasionally as they did the splits and bounced straight up again.
The lady behind the counter said that one of the customers watching was from Kalamazoo.
I didn't get any ideas for presents, but I was humming the Girl from Kalamazoo for the rest of the day!
Griots Arts is putting on an event!
On Sunday, 13th November, at 7pm, Clifton Joseph will be performing at the Globe, with a Q + A session afterwards. The cost is £10. Clifton Joseph is an Antiguan Canadian dub poet, and he's been doing readings in London and Southampton. He's also doing a poetry workshop at 3pm, cost also £10.
There's a possibility of the evening performance starting with an open mic session - anyone interested should contact Griots Arts for more information.
Meanwhile, the Poetry Bookshop is also putting on an event, on Friday 18th November at 7.30pm. This is called Pebbles on a Child's Palm. This is a tribute to Czech poet Jan Skacel in his centenary year.* The poems, in translation, will be performed by local poet Simon Pettifar, with music from cellist Sonia Hammond and pianist Rod Paton, who was a neighbour of Jan Skacel in Brno for a time.
This is a free event, but donations to the Prison Phoenix Trust are encouraged.
*there should be an accent over the 'a' of Skacel.
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Unusually for Hay, they are selling new books!
I did like this, displayed in the window (I'm pretty sure it's by Jackie Morris):
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