Dial-a-Ride Needs Drivers

 Dial-a-Ride are looking for volunteer drivers, with their own cars, to take people to hospital and medical appointments, or to the shops or social events.  They get re-imbursed at 45p per mile travelled, and Dial-a-Ride also offers free first aid training for drivers.  DBS, references, and other checks are required.

They can be contacted on haydialaride.com or haydialaride@gmail.com, or phone Lesley Moore on 01497 821616.

Dial-a-Ride is a service for all ages, and their vehicles are fully accessible for any kind of disability.  Membership is £10, with fares for journeys travelled starting at £2, and cares travelling free.  They need 48 hours notice to organise a journey, and the members must live within a 9 mile radius of Hay.

They provide transport for hospital and medical appointments, shopping in Hay, visiting the library, going for coffee with friends, and social trips, and there is a regular Bank Bus to Brecon.  They run a free shopping service into Hay every Tuesday, and can pick up prescriptions on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The Latest from Hay Library

 HOWLS, the Hay-on-Wye Library Supporters, have just put out a new leaflet about all the things you can do for free at Hay Library.

There are books, of course - you can borrow up to twenty books at a time!  There are also books to help to learn Welsh (or English), and 400 books in Ukranian will be arriving soon.  There are also eMagazines in English, Ukranian , Russian and Arabic.  There are apps for borrowing books, or ebooks, and eMagazines.

As well as books, there is computer use and internet access, and you can borrow an iPad for up to 4 weeks.  The library also offers printing and photocopying, and IT support.  In November they are launching a Computer and Web Literacy Course.

Then there are the free events:

Lego Club and Storytime

The Enchanted Hour - adults discussing books

Films and Talks by local authors

Welsh Conversation

Summer Reading Challenge for school children

Borrow a football

Science Boxes for 8 - 11 year olds

Boromi Bags for 0 - 5 year olds with toys and activities

Balance Bikes for 2 - 6 year olds, including helmets (as someone who needed stabilisers on my bike until I was 11, I think this is a great idea!)

Numeracy and Literacy support

And they're planning to start an Art Gallery!

The Library is open on Monday, Thursday, Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

HOWLS created a CIC (Community Interest Company) - Hay Public Library.org.CIC - to negotiate a five-year contract with Powys County Council to keep the Library open, and as part of the agreement they need to raise £5,000 a year, so all donations are welcome.  Not only does this money go towards keeping the library open, but to providing all the extra things that the Library can offer.  For more information visit haypubliclibrary.org

The CIC has also launched The Hay Community Resilience Initiative, which is backed by the UN, Welsh Government and Bannau Brycheiniog.  The purpose of this initiative is to find ways to feed the entire town locally, to own our own entire renewable energy supply, and to support mental wellbeing in the face of climate change.

Day Trip to Ledbury

 I decided to take a chance on the rail network working properly this time, and planned a day out to Ledbury.

Quite by chance, I met a regular visitor to Hay on the station platform, who was heading back to London, and we chatted all the way to Ledbury.

It's quite a few years since I stopped in Ledbury, but I remembered the basic layout - it's simple enough, with the main road running through the middle and a cobbled alleyway leading up to the church from the market hall.

On the opposite side of the road to the market hall is a large and impressive block of almshouses - small flats originally built in the middle ages for poor people to live in, and still in use today.  Behind the almshouses is the Master's House, where the chap who ran the almshouses used to live.  Now it has been renovated, and houses Ledbury Library - it's an extremely impressive setting for a library.  The entrance hall is a very grand medieval hall (according to one of the information panels, at one time fencing lessons were given there!).  Work is still going on around the almshouses, so I didn't take a photo - it would just have been a load of scaffolding.

At the Southend of the town is a big black and white building, on the turning where all the main road traffic goes up to Malvern.  This time I was able to get close enough to read the plaque on the wall.  The building is Ledbury Park, and it was used as Prince Rupert's headquarters when he was in the area during the Civil War.

Heading back to the middle of town, I set off up the cobbled alley way.  There's an exhibition going on in the Weavers Gallery called Spaces to Dream, by Stitch in the Middle, the Midlands Contemporary Quilt Group.  The theme is gardens, inspired by a group visit to Packwood House, and as well as quilting there is some delicate embroidery of flowers and grasses.  The exhibition is on until Sun 1st October, free admission, and from 10am to 4pm daily.  It's up a flight of stairs, so there is no disabled access.

Across the alleyway from the Gallery is a little black and white timber framed house called Butchers Row, which houses the Folk Museum.  It was moved from its original location to here, and is full of interesting things - old cameras, musical instruments, embroidered clothes, and a boot bath!  The chap in charge was a fount of knowledge about the local area, and enthusiastic about suggesting other places of interest around Ledbury to visit.  Sadly I didn't have time to visit the Painted Room.  The museum is also free to enter.  There are some very steep stairs to the upper floor.

The Heritage Centre, once the grammar school, was closed - it opens on Thursdays and Fridays.  Beyond that is a fine Georgian house which was originally the Magistrates' Court, and a small park called The Walled Garden. 

At the end of the alleyway is the church, which is enormous, and has a detached bell tower.  There is a free exhibition in the ground floor of the tower about the bells.  They are fund raising for new bells and clock hammers, and are about half way to their goal.  They originally had 8 bells, but as part of their major restoration project they now have ten, and can also use six of those bells as a separate peal.

Then I went round the church.  New since I was last there is a huge painting of the Last Supper, which has been restored and discovered to have come from the workshop of Titian - the faces of the apostles are thought to be portraits of Titian, his family, and some other artists like Tintoretto.  The painting was brought to Ledbury in around 1775 by a local man who had been on holiday in Italy.

There's also some rather striking modern stained glass - three panels depicting the six days of Creation in dark reds.

I did remember the embroidered seat cushions, which are very well done.

At random, I chose the Seven Stars pub for a break for refreshment, and had a half of Ledbury Bitter.  It was quiet at the front of the pub, but they were pretty busy serving food at the back.

I also picked up a jar of local honey at the greengrocers.

Then I headed back to the station, expecting to have a short wait for the 3pm train - but in fact I caught the 2.24 train which arrived at 2.42!

This gave me an hour or so to run some errands in Hereford before I came back on the 4.25 bus.

This was a mistake - the bus was jam packed with college students going home, and I didn't get a seat until Belmont Tescos!

It was a lovely day out, though, and I'll certainly be going to Ledbury again soon.

New Local Business

 

Tails of Wales have been around for a while - they've had a stall on the market selling their photos - but now they have a permanent studio above the British Legion.  Their speciality is dog portraits.

Inside the Cabinet of Curiosities

 I spent this morning wandering round Henallt House, which is the stone house next door to the old Nat West Bank building.  This is a Grade II listed building dating to the late Georgian period.

The whole building has been turned into an exhibition space by Botany and Other Stories.  It's a wonderful building to begin with, full of original feature like wide floorboards, doors and a servant's bell in the hall.  It's also bigger than I thought it was - the exhibitions go right up to the attic rooms - and there's a lovely enclosed garden at the back.

Some of the walls are bare plaster, and some have fragments of old wallpaper - but that sets off the exhibits very well.  For instance, on the upper staircase dried flowers are arranged in the gaps in the walls.  

The two front rooms downstairs are full of books about plants and botanical drawings.  Everything is laid out so that there's something new to look at wherever you turn, but the effect is not cluttered at all.

Under the stairs, there's a tiny schoolroom with little chairs facing a stage.  There's even a little display devoted to Gertrude Jekyll in the back entrance hall, on the way out to the garden.  Other displays mention Darwin and Gilbert White.  There are butterflies on the first stair landing. 

One of the first floor rooms is devoted to weaving and dyeing - a length of linen is accompanied by some fascinating information on bleaching linen (white, or blue-white, or yellowish according to fashion).  Another room has a globe made with dried flowers, and a figure in a blue dress decorated with flowers.  Several artists have work on display throughout the house, and I had a very interesting chat with the dried flower lady.

I recognised some exhibits from the exhibition that was put on in the Buttermarket some time ago, like some of the astronomical pieces, but others were new to me.  There was also a lot of information on cards dotted around the exhibits about what humans are doing to the planet - an explanation of Earth Overshoot Day, for instance, or the melting of the world's glaciers.  There was even some information about the ink used in tattooing in the bathroom (and how the UK is not keeping up with the regulations for various toxic substances that have been passed in the EU).

Quite a few people were visiting the house while I was there, but not enough to make it feel crowded.

The exhibition will also be on tomorrow from 10am to 5pm (and one lady I spoke to said that she'd have to come back several times just to take everything in).

Welsh Water pipeline

 Roadworks have started opposite the Cinema Bookshop - half of the road has been fenced off between the Swan and Blue Boar for the water pipes to be dug up and upgraded.  This means there are traffic lights controlling the three way junction around the Blue Boar corner.  

As far as I know, the works will continue right across Hay, so there will be disruption for some time.  I suppose this will help motorists to keep below the new 20 mph limit!

While work to upgrade the water pipes is to be welcomed, it's a pity that Welsh Water do not seem to be doing anything about the sewage they regularly discharge into the River Wye.

Historic Oxford Road

 When I was sent the email about the Cabinet of Curiosities, they also sent me a picture of what the top of Oxford Road looked like before the bank was built:

I'm guessing that this picture was taken before the First World War sometime.

A Cabinet of Curiosities

 Botany and Other Stories have a new project.  They are turning Henallt House, at the top of Oxford Road, into a Cabinet of Curiosities.  The theme will be Nature.  Having seen their previous exhibitions, I'm really looking forward to seeing what they are doing this time.

The house will be open to the public on September 23rd and 24th, from 10am to 5pm.

20mph in Hay

 There's been some discussion in the Senedd recently about reducing speed limits across Wales to 20mph.  One of the reasons this was being considered was to reduce the severity of road accidents - a person who has been hit by a car is far more likely to survive, or at least have less severe injuries, if the car is travelling at 20mph rather than 30mph, for instance.

 There have been several trial schemes across Wales, and the results were positive enough for the general roll out of the scheme to be agreed.  There have been several petitions opposing the scheme, and the Welsh Conservatives are against it. They say it will cost the Welsh economy around 4.5 billion pounds (but this does not take into account the savings that will be made).

 One of the objections is the cost of changing the road signs and repainting road markings, but Mark Drakeford at the Senedd pointed out that the savings to the NHS far outweigh the costs, as it will save the NHS 92 million pounds a year.

The restrictions are not for every road right across Wales, of course - just the ones that have been 30mph previously, in built up areas with a lot of pedestrian activity.  Hay is one of those areas, and the new speed restrictions will come into force on midnight of Sunday September 17th.  

Brecknock History Festival

 I picked up the leaflet for the Brecknock History Festival the other day, and there are a few things on locally that look interesting.

The Festival runs over September and October.

It's a special year for Brecon Cathedral, being the centenary of the creation of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon, and thus also the centenary of Brecon Cathedral being a cathedral - previously it was the Priory Church.  They've got Dr Rowan Williams to come and give a talk on Welsh Cathedrals: Past and Present on 14th September at 7pm, and on Saturday 16th September they're having a Medieval Festival, with food, events and re-enactments.

Meanwhile in Hay, the Hay History Group will be giving a tour of the historic pubs of Hay.  The leaflet says entry £3, but doesn't mention the start point of the tour.  Their website doesn't mention it either, but further information can be obtained from Alan.j.nicholls@btinternet.com

[edited to add: The tour starts from the Swan - thanks, Alan!]

On 1st October, there will be a pop-up museum at Hay Castle from 12 noon to 4pm.

Herefordshire Art Week

 It's Herefordshire Art Week this week, and I'd forgotten about it because I didn't see any leaflets around Hay this year.  Then one of my friends on Facebook told me about someone she knows who is exhibiting as part of the scheme.  Her name is Susan Parry, and her work is part of the exhibition at Warehouse 701, a converted World War I munitions shed near Rotherwas outside Hereford.

In fact, there are several venues around Hay that are part of the Art Week.  Oil and Oak on Castle Street is one of them.

Then, about a mile up Cusop Dingle there are 5Artists Playing With Fire - they are working with silver, ceramics and glass, and they're based at the Old Stables in Cusop Dingle.

Just across the bridge at Raquety Farm there is Larchwood Studio.  Artwork on display includes watercolour paintings, etchings, bentwood sculpture and furniture, willow sculpture and baskets, chainsaw carvings and pottery.  There is also a licensed restaurant, run by the lady who used to own the restaurant at St John's Place in Hay, and three other experienced restauranteurs who live locally.

Meanwhile in Clifford, at the Cowshed, Old Pontfaen, is the Channelling Gallery, where Jesse Eve Watkins has an exhibition of paintings entitled Myth and Magic.

Some of the venues need people to book in advance, so please check the Herefordshire Art Week website at www.h-art.org.uk

By Train to Malvern

 I'm having a few days off, and I've just taken possession of my Senior Railcard, so I thought I'd have a few days out on the train.

My first destination was Malvern.

As soon as I arrived at Hereford Station, I could see the importance of ticket offices in action - across England, there is a plan to close all ticket offices (though Hereford will not be affected).  Ahead of me in the queue was a man who was buying a railcard for his little girl, and the member of staff was helping them to fill in the form correctly.  At the next window, an American tourist was asking how to get to the next destination on their itinerary, and the member of staff was explaining the route, and printing out the details for them.  And then I wanted a day return with the Railcard discount - £6.60 day return is a bargain!

One of the things I wanted to do in Malvern was to visit St Ann's Well Cafe again.  I first went many years ago, and the group I was with came down to the Cafe from the top of the hill, so I thought it was a lot more remote than it actually is.

The hill up from the main road is very, very steep, though.  The turning is up St Ann's Road, next to the Unicorn pub.  About half way up I found a plaque describing how Victorian tourists used to ride up on donkeys, and I'm not surprised that was a popular way of getting up there!

Also on the way up, I noticed this blue plaque.

It was on the wall of this rather impressive building, which is now divided up into apartments.

And a bit further on, I found the opening times for the cafe - of course I'd chosen the day they're closed!  I went up anyway, along a switchback path under the trees, and it really is a lovely building.

Since I couldn't get a snack at the cafe, I headed back into town, and further down the hill was a new (to me, anyway) real ale bar called The Weavers.  I had a half of Black Knight stout, from Ludlow, which was very nice.

By about half past two, I'd done everything I wanted to do, so I thought I'd catch the earlier train home.

That's when it all started to go wrong, of course.

The 14.47 train pulled into Great Malvern, and everybody had to get off, including four people with bikes and a lady in a wheelchair.

No-one seemed to know why - one of the train staff told us that Hereford was not accepting any trains.

A couple of people got on their mobiles to try to find out more, without a lot of success.  Then someone said there would be a replacement bus service, so a bunch of us went up to the car park to wait for it.

Then someone who had stayed on the platform said there would not be a replacement bus service, and we just had to wait for the next train at 15.47, so we all trooped back again.

I went to the toilet, which is opposite the ticket office, and when I came out, I asked the lady at the window if the station had a working tannoy system.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, an official announcement would have been nice."

"What about?"

"The cancelled train."

"Oh - I didn't know about that either, until one of the passengers told me."

"That's not very good, is it?  Someone should have let you know."

So the 15.47 train came in, and none of the passengers were sure if it would make it all the way to Hereford, or if we'd be told to get off at Ledbury.

We got as far as the entrance to the Colwall tunnel, where the track goes down to a single line.  It was only then that we discovered, from the train driver, that there had been a points failure at Hereford, and that was why there were delays and cancellations.  He was waiting for the London Paddington train to come through the tunnel, but the London Paddington train couldn't come through until the train standing at Great Malvern moved on - and it was stuck on a red light.  No-one knew why, but he did his best to find out.  Apparently there was a problem at one of the signal boxes.

By this time, I had missed my bus from Hereford to Hay - fortunately, it wasn't the last bus of the day, so I still had a chance of getting home.

As soon as the London Paddington train passed us, the journey proceeded normally, and I had about an hour to wait for the last bus to Hay in Hereford.  Of course, by then all the cafes had closed, so I was reduced to buying a packet of biscuits from a corner shop to keep me going.

I was very glad to see the T14 when it arrived!

It's kind of put me off planning any more days out by train, though!

Guitar Concert at Hay Castle

 I have a new favourite composer for classical guitar!  His name is Mauro Giuliani, and Michael Poll played his Variations sur Les Folies d'Espagne last night.

The entrance hall at the Castle was packed out, and the applause throughout the evening was enthusiastic.

Michael Poll was just stopping off in Hay - he's just returned from a tour of Poland, and is heading off to play somewhere in the UK next.  He started off with a seven string guitar, which was made for him - it's a sort of hybrid between a modern guitar and the historical instruments, and he used it to play the Three Pavannes by Luis de Milan (the oldest pieces he played) and the Suite BWV 995 by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Then he switched to a modern six string guitar for the Giuliani and the more modern pieces in the second half.

He started off with something very Spanish, the Suite Catellana by Federico Moreno Torroba, from the 1920s - he was a friend of the great guitarist Segovia.

I'm not a great fan of Benjamin Britten, but the next piece, by him, was fascinating.  Michael Poll explained a bit about each piece before he played them, and this was a set of variations on an original tune by John Dowland called Come, Heavy Sleepe, from a book compiled in 1597.  Unlike most variations, the original tune comes last in the sequence.  It was composed for the guitarist Julian Bream, who first performed it at the Aldburgh Festival in 1964.  

And finally, Michael performed one of his own pieces, bringing the concert right up to date.  This was a set of variations on a melody called Vltava, from Eastern Europe, and he was inspired by Benjamin Britten and Giuliani.  In this case, the original tune went in the middle rather than at the end.

He said he appreciated the chance to play in a building as old as Hay Castle, where the walls must surely have been witness to something like the earliest pieces he played.

Other music coming soon:

There were flyers at the concert for some up-coming musical events.

The Early Days of Bing Crosby will be performed in Hay Church on Sunday, 3rd September from 3pm by Thomas "Spats" Langham.  Tickets are £15.

And on the weekend of September 15th to 17th, The Fitzwilliam String Quartet will be performing several concerts at St Mary's Church, while at Hay Castle there will be a guided walk, folk music in the Great Hall at 8pm on the Saturday, and a showing of Disney's Fantasia at Booth's Cinema on the Sunday morning at 11am, with a guided walk around Hay with music in the afternoon, starting from the Castle at 3pm.

There will also be an art exhibition in the Parish Hall throughout the weekend by local artists.

Tickets are available from www.thefitzwilliamathay.com