Advice Surgery at Hay Library

 Gareth Ratcliffe will be holding an advice surgery, as Hay's County Councillor, at Hay Library on Saturday 2nd September from 10am to 11am.  

Since the time is limited, appointments are first come, first served, for anyone who's got concerns about local issues, or need help with personal challenges.

Gareth is happy to arrange meetings at other times for anyone who can't attend on Saturday, and he can be reached on 07974353121 or email cllr.gareth.ratcliffe@powys/gov.uk 

Recently, Gareth tabled a debate on water pollution at the County Council meeting, and the result of this was a decision to call upon the Welsh Government to set up a monitoring framework to assess the phosphate levels in our rivers.  They also want to see more funding from National Government so that bodies like the NRW can do their jobs properly, and they want Welsh Water to upgrade their sewage systems so that they no longer release sewage into the rivers, as well as upgrading the current pipeline system.

So far they have recieved a reply from Welsh Water, which says that they are working on upgrading the system.  The full letter can be read on Gareth's Facebook page Cllr Gareth Ratcliffe News and Updates.

Writing With Light

 There's going to be a film weekend at the Castle.

On Friday 1st September there will be an outside screening of Fantastic Mr Fox, on the Castle Lawn (bring a blanket or chair).  The screening will start at sundown, about 8.30pm, but the bar will be open from 7pm.  Hot dogs (and vegan hot dogs) will also be available, as well as ice cream and popcorn.  The price is £15 a ticket, or £9 for under-16s or students. 

On Saturday morning, 2nd September, there's an art session with Hay Youth Art Group, from 10.30am to 1pm in the Clore Learning Space.  Inspired by the film David Copperfield - the fun one with Dev Patel which will be showing that evening), they will be looking at illustrations of Dickens.  All materials will be provided, including a sketchbook for the first session.  The age range is 11 - 16, and there are only 12 places, so best to book ahead.  Tickets cost £12.50.

This is only the first of a series of sessions - the next one, on September 16th, will be on lino printing.

On Saturday evening there will be an outside screening of David Copperfield, with the same arrangements as the previous evening.

On Sunday 3rd September, there will be a talk about British film music from 1900 to 1950 at 3.30pm, in the Clore Learning Space, with film clips.  The talk will be given by Amanda Huntley from Huntley Film Archives. 

Tickets are £5, but it's possible to get reduced price tickets at £3, and 'pay it forward' tickets at £7.50.

At 5pm, also in the Clore Learning Space, Jasper Fforde will be talking about his time working on the film On the Black Hill, which was filmed around Hay.  Jasper was the clapper loader on the film crew.

Tickets for this talk are as above.

Following the talk, the film itself will be screened in the Clore Learning Space, from 6pm, for the same ticket rates.

Noches de Rumba

 There's a regular busker at the top of the Pavement on market days.  His name is Stephen Dan Russell and he's got a new CD out - Noches de Rumba has 11 tracks and costs £10, and it's very pleasant listening.

He's a very good guitarist.

Timelines Re-enactment

 I've just got back from Hay Castle, where the 17thC re-enactors will be carrying on until about 5pm.

They're set up with a row of tents across one end of the lawn, with an open area for pike drill, and an extra roped off area for musket drill.

I ended up staying a lot longer than I thought I would - the re-enactors were all happy to talk, and very knowledgeable.

There was a calligrapher, using genuine 17thC inks ground from minerals like lapis (bright blue) and gum arabic, and a red colour that was made from a particular beetle that lives on oak trees in Africa - just showing the immense distances some desirable substances travelled to be used in Britain.  

Further along, a chap was cooking over an open fire, on a raised firebox so the grass wasn't burned.  He was making maize meal pancakes - the New World had been known for well over a hundred years by this point, so maize was available to 17thC cooks.  

There was a lady with a spinning wheel, and another who had a basket with a variety of craft materials in it - she was doing five stick weaving, which I used to demonstrate to school children when I was being a Viking, and a lucet, which makes cords.

Another chap was playing board games with a pair of fascinated children.

The musket drill had to be at a distance from the public for fairly obvious reasons (real gunpowder!), but pike drill was open to the public, including small children with little pikes.  A proper pike is between 16 and 20 feet long.

The best bit of this was the demonstration of how pikes were used against cavalry.  The pike person grounds the butt of the pike against their foot and leans it out at an angle.  Massed together, this was a formidable barrier to cavalry charges.  Since the re-enactors didn't have any horses, the attackers rode on hobby horses!  One of them even had a lady running behind him with coconut shells, making horses' hoof noises!

Also in town is a troupe of morris dancers - they're dancing on the raised pavement in front of the old Barclays Bank on Broad Street, bashing sticks together and jingling.

Apparently there was a historical tour based on the Major Armstrong murder case, too - they went up to Cusop Churchyard (where Mrs Armstrong was buried) and various places around Hay associated with the case.

Gay on Wye

 

Hay's newest bookshop specialises in books from or about the LGBTQ+ community.  They've transformed the interior of the old newsagents into a really welcoming space.  

There's some good SF and fantasy in there, as well as books on all sorts of other subjects, and tote bags, badges and mugs.  They're planning to hold events like author readings, book clubs, workshops and discussion panels, as well as collaborating with local LGBTQ+ organisations.

DVLA Petition

 There is a petition at the counter of the Post Office at the moment.  Please sign it if you want DVLA services to continue to be available from the Post Office, because the Powers that Be want to phase it out as a counter service.

We've lost too many services from Hay that used to be possible to access in person.

Artistraw Cider Harvest Celebration

 Also on Saturday, but being without transport I won't be able to get to this one:

Artistraw Cider are holding a Harvest Celebration from 3pm to 10pm, in Clifford.  They will have Indian street food from Lockdown Dhaba, and a Lammas Ceremony, plus live music, a cider bar and a fire.

Re-enactors at the Castle

 17th century re-enactors will be at the Castle on Saturday 19th August from 10am to 5pm.

This is basically English Civil War living history, and will include pike drill, (and a kids' pike drill!), a musket display, cannon display, a wood bodger, spinning and crafts, calligraphy and arts, a 17thC kitchen, fashion show, and costumes to try, and more.

(the Castle lawn is a bit small for any combat, even a small skirmish!).

Tickets are £7.00 for adults, £4.00 for children, and £20.00 for a family ticket, and are available in advance from Hay Castle Trust or on the day.

I was once a pike person in a Royalist regiment (Gilbert de Houghton's in Lancaster), so I'm looking forward to this.

Four Art Exhibitions in a Day

 I had a choice on Saturday - I could either go to Wye Float in Hereford (with Viking re-enactors) or I could go to Brecon.

I chose Brecon because I wanted to support Les Coveney, who was singing and playing guitar in one of the art galleries in Brecon, and because someone else I know had his photographs in another art gallery.

Also, it was the weekend of Brecon Jazz.  I've never been into Brecon during the Jazz Festival before, because I'm not overly keen on jazz, but the atmosphere was great.  The whole middle of the town was cordoned off, with food stalls and face painting and cocktails on offer.  The Brecon Tap had their bar outside, and there was a big stage set up facing the statue on the Bulwark.  There were buskers at intervals around the town centre too, as well as the indoor venues.  The Market Tavern, near the bus station, had a stage set up in their beer garden, too.

So I started off at the Ardent Gallery, where Les was playing, and admired the (mostly) landscapes there.

Then I headed to the other end of the Bulwark for the Found Gallery.  (It used to be a Chinese restaurant).  Richard Greatrex has his photographs down in the basement, and I thought they were very interesting.  I was sort of expecting, well, photographs, but what he's done is to take several images and layer them into the same picture, and the results are gorgeous.  I noticed that the five musical pictures already had a red dot next to them.

The paintings upstairs are worth seeing, too, and later in the afternoon I saw a double bass getting into position by the window as they had musicians too.

Meanwhile outside, a band was playing on the stage, the rain was pouring down, and a large crowd was still watching, and dancing, as a juggler juggled with Indian clubs and a stilt walker waved a huge Welsh flag.  I got a deep-fried vegan lunch from one of the food stalls - mini spring rolls and pakora and a few other bite sized nibbles.

Then I headed for Y Gaer, and into the Museum part for their two exhibition.  One was the paintings and engravings of David Jones, who was one of the artists at Capel-y-ffin.  I thought his engravings were similar to the style of Eric Gill, who was the really famous artist who lived at Capel-y-ffin.  David Jones was engaged for a time to Eric Gill's daughter Petra, and one of the portraits is of her.

The other exhibition room at the Museum had pictures by a range of artists who visited the area - mostly, it seems, to paint or engrave pictures of Llantony Abbey.  One of the featured artists, Reg Gammon, also did the illustrations for the 'Romany' series of nature books that accompanied the radio programme on Children's Hour in the 1930s and 40s.

Both the exhibitions are free to enter.

Meanwhile in the Market Hall, the Farmer's Market was going on, though I only managed to make it down there when they were starting to pack up and call the raffle prizes.

Pride of the Wye

 I was just coming home from Tomatitos this evening, from a farewell drink with Antoine and his two daughters, who are off to Nottingham soon, when I heard the whistle of a traction engine.

It was the Pride of the Wye, chugging down Belmont Road and heading across the river to the Steam Rally tomorrow.

Falconry at the Castle

 I spent yesterday evening on the lawn of the Castle, looking at birds of prey.

The information about the event had mentioned it would be a good idea to bring your own stool, so I took my incredibly useful folding stool that I last used during Hay Festival.  There was a roped off area to one side of the lawn, and the audience just fitted nicely around the edge of it.  Some of the birds were outside under a canopy, and others were in Luke the falconer's van.  

First of all, he showed us a long eared owl - the 'ears' are actually feather tufts, and not used for hearing at all.

Then he showed us an Ashy-Faced Barn Owl - basically a barn owl, but with much darker coloration.  This bird did a bit of flying from a perch on top of an a-frame to his glove.

Then he brought out a peregrine falcon, and described how they hunt by basically diving on their flying target and punching them out of the air.  Mostly they go for pigeons, but someone at Slimbridge once witnessed a peregrine (weight about 1kg) bring down a Canada Goose (weight about 5kg)!

I was very pleased to have recognised the next bird, a saker falcon.  This was the breed that began falconry, about 4,500 years ago in the Middle East - and falconry is still a big thing in Arabia today.  As well as doing demonstrations like this one, Luke's birds are working birds, and the saker is his best bird for clearing pigeons and seagulls from landfill sites and airport runways.  They're not supposed to actually kill the pigeons or seagulls, but as he said: "Try telling the bird that!"

The next bird, a Harris hawk, comes from Central America, and did a bit of fancy flying for us.  One of the ways it hunts is to catch bats out of the air, which was demonstrated by Luke sending the hawk off to the branch of a nearby tree and then throwing a bit of chicken in the air - the hawk missed, but gave the general idea.  This bird was also well trained enough to fly over the heads of the audience, so Luke stood behind the crowd and got the bird to fly from the perch in the arena.

Luke bought this bird from the Chester Falconry Centre - when I went to Chester a few years ago, I saw the centre from the city walls when I was walking round, but sadly the centre had to close during covid, and had to sell their birds.

The final bird was an eagle hawk, the smallest type of eagle.  This one was still in training, and Luke attached a long string to its jesses (the leather bits that go round the bird's legs, which the falconer can hold onto when the bird is sitting on his glove).  The birds have trackers on them, but best if they don't fly off in the first place.  As he said, it's like training a dog on a long lead before you let them run free.  The eagle hawk was a bit reluctant, but did fly from the perch to the glove several times successfully.

It was an entertaining and educational evening, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wye Valley Falconry has a website at www.wyevalleyfalconry.co.uk

Around the Market

 It's a very busy market today, with lots of stalls and lots of visitors.

One of the new stalls is in the Buttermarket, selling handbags and other smaller bags made out of cork leather, which comes from cork oak trees in Portugal.  The dyes for the decorations on the bags are vegetable dye, and the glue used is acceptable to vegans.

I remember seeing a documentary a few years ago where the local farmers in Portugal were worried that the cork oaks would die out, because the bark wasn't being harvested to make wine bottle corks as much.  It's nice to see that a new product has been developed.

While I was in the Buttermarket, one of the collared doves that is trying to make a nest in the rafters fluttered down in front of me, picked up a stick, and flew back to the nest where its mate was sitting.  They really are spectacularly bad at making nests.  One of the stall holders said that a pair tries to do this every year, and eventually they give up and go somewhere else.  In the meantime, they make a mess, and they have no fear of people at all.

In the opposite corner of the Buttermarket, Tam's Jams is winding down - this is the last month she'll have a stall here, as she goes on to other things, such as baking cakes for Shepherds.  It's a pity, because I like her jams and marmalades, but hopefully it will be a good move for her business.  And there are other local jams and marmalades available in Hay.

Lots of Hay Music Happening

 The next concert held by Hay Music at Hay Castle will be the Albion Brass Consort, with the doors opening at 7pm for a 7.30pm start on Friday 18th August and the cost is £17.50 or £8.75 for under 25s.  Pre-concert suppers will be served in the Castle Cafe from 6.30pm, and can also be booked via the Hay Music website.

They'll be playing a very wide variety of music, from 16th century dances to the Golliwog's Cakewalk by Debussy, on trumpet, French horn, trombone and tuba.

Tickets are also being sold through the Hay Tourist Office.

Then on Thursday 31st August, also at 7pm for a 7.30pm start and with a pre-concert supper available, will be 500 Years of the Guitar by Michael Poll, which I'm very interested in seeing.  The concert will be on Thursday 31st August, and the cost is £15.00 or £7.50 for the under 25s.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Hay Music Trust is planning a merger with the Black Mountains Chamber Music Trust.  They will be releasing more details about this after this year's Fitzwilliam Chamber Festival, which will be happening on the weekend of 15th to 18th September.

Falconry at the Castle

 I missed the falconry display at the Summer Show this year, but I will be going to the Castle on Friday 11th August to see a falconry display there.

The display starts at 5pm and goes on until 7.30pm, and the ticket is £8.50.

Book Launch at North Books

 I only found out about this today, but it sounds fascinating.

The author Ian Marchant will be at North Books at 4pm today (Saturday) to talk about his book One Fine Day.

It's based on the diaries of his ancestor Thomas Marchant, who kept a diary from 1714 to 1728, and he also draws out the parallels between life then and life in Britain today.

Tickets are £5 (including refreshments) and space is limited, so contact jules@northbooks.co.uk to book.