Booksellers' Leaflet

 The new booksellers' leaflet is out today.  Last year's is orange - this year it's purple.

There are a couple of new additions this year, too.

Coming in at number 9 is Gay-on-Wye, the new LGBTQ+ bookshops - they sell new books, as well as tote bags, mugs, badges and so on.

Clocktower Books and Green Ink Booksellers have changed places, at 12 and 13, to make the numbers on the map work more logically.

Then there's the Literature Laboratory at number 14, which describes itself as a child-centred bookshop.  As well as new books, they stock toys and games, and a range of adult books too.

At 15 is the new Red Cross Book Shop, opposite the original Red Cross Shop on the corner of the Pavement.

At 18, North Books can no longer call themselves Hay's newest bookshop, but they are a shop of new books only.

Only one bookbinders is listed this year - there is no listing for the Hay Binders on Lion Street (which was established in 1974) and the Black Mountains Bindery will be working from home, with customers welcome by appointment, as it looks as if the shop next to the launderette will have to close.

Out of town, there is a new bookshop in Westhope near Hereford called Arresting Titles, specialising in murder, mystery and detection.  This shop is only open by appointment, as they are quite remote and hard to find!

There is a dedication in the leaflet to Judith Gardner, of the Children's Bookshop, who died earlier this year.  The Children's Bookshop is still number 1 in the leaflet, and is being run by her son Colin.

Henallt House

 Also known as the Cabinet of Curiosities.

Botany And Other Stories have already put on exhibitions at Henallt House, which is just a little way along Oxford Road from the main car park.  The theme is nature in relation to all the key sectors of our lives.  The front page of the latest Cabbage Leaf has the quotation from Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations as the main title: "Everything everywhere all at once"

This does not refer to the award winning film starring Michelle Yeoh, but to the idea that, in order to tackle climate change, the effort that is needed has to be everything, everywhere, all at once.  The odd green project here and there is not enough any more.  Conspicuous consumption, inequality, corruption, violence and environmental deterioration are everywhere globally, and all interrelated.  We need to see the bigger picture.

And that's what the Cabinet of Curiosities is designed to do - each room in Henallt House has a different theme related to the overall idea, using botanical illustration, books, gardening, art, butterflies and flowers, soil, water, perfumes, information about food, patchwork and fashion dolls, and much more.

They are hoping to make this a more permanent thing, though some work needs to be done on the building first.

Shân Egerton Exhibition at the Castle

 This is a retrospective exhibition, as the artist died last year.  It's a free exhibition, and it spills out of the exhibition room onto boards in the area outside.

Some of the works are for sale, and others come from private collections, and there's an immense variety.  

Shân Egerton used oils and pastels in her work, and she travelled all over the world.  There are pictures of scenes in India, and Ethiopia and Ladakh, as well as local landscapes.  There are also several photo albums it is possible to leaf through, with pictures from all over the world taken over many years.

I spent quite a long time in the gallery, and I enjoyed it very much.

Water, Water Everywhere

 So, the scheduled water pipe replacement is inching its way along Broad Street at the bottom end of town - they're almost at the road to the bridge, which will cut off Hay from the rest of the world in that direction for a bit.  Traffic will have to come round via Glasbury to Hay, and one of the farmers on the other side of the bridge has offered their field as a car park so that people can park and walk across into town while the work is going on.

Meanwhile at the top of town, by the car park, there has been a burst pipe!  This has caused some disruption with the bus service, and at the moment the road is completly closed - the burst seems to have been fixed, but there's quite extensive resurfacing of the road going on.  They are hoping to have at least half the road open shortly. 

Cute Cushion

 

I saw this cute seal cushion outside the shop in Backfold.  I once worked with a woman who was obsessed with seals, so I sent her the picture and she agreed that, yes, she would still love something like this in her house!

Hay Writers' Circle Poetry Competition

 It's time for the Hay Writers' Circle Poetry Competition again.  It's open to all, and this year the poems should be on the theme of food.  

Poems should be original and unpublished, and a maximum of 40 lines.  Winning poems may be published on the Hay Writers' Circle website.  First prize is £100, with cash prizes for second and third place.

The judge this year is Susan Evans, an award winning artist and writer.  She writes poetry for stage and on the page, on themes including food and travel, and she can be found online at www.facebook.com/SusanEvansPoet

The closing date for the competition is 9th April, and full details of how to take part can be found at https://thehaywriters.wordpress.com

Concerts coming up

 Hay Music are going to be busy over the next couple of months.

The New London Chamber Ensemble will be playing in St Mary's Church on Friday 12th April at 7pm.  Tickets are £20, or £10 for under 25s.  There are also a few free tickets for under 25s on a first come, first served basis.

This is the first time the wind quintet has come to Hay, and they will be playing a mixture of Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel and Rachel Stott.

And on 10th May, the Tippett String Quartet will be playing.

Hay Music is also organising several concerts during Hay Festival.

On Saturday 25th May at 7.30pm at St Mary's Church, the Hay Chamber Choir will be performing The Dymock Poets Reimagined.  Tickets are £15 from the Festival ticket office.  

The concert features settings of works by the Dymock poets by seven contemporary composers.

On Sunday 26th May at 1pm, at St Mary's Church, Clare Hammond will be playing piano.  Tickets are £18 from the Festival ticket office.

The programme starts with Clara Schumann and Beethoven, followed by Samy Moussa, Mozart and Cecile Chaminade.

On Saturday 1st June, The Fidelio Trio will be performing in St Mary's Church at 1pm.  Tickets are £18 from the Festival ticket office.

HOWLS AGM at the Library

 I would have advertised the date of this meeting on the blog - but there was a mix-up with emails.  I knew that the AGM was coming up, but I hadn't got the email telling me the date.  

Then I met Janet, the Chair of HOWLS (Hay-on-Wye Library Supporters) in the Deli on Thursday morning, and she told me it was that evening.

The first thing to report is that there is such a lot happening in the Library now. Siân Platten, from Powys Library Services, gave a run down of all the different clubs and activities that go on in the Library.

Storytime is very popular, especially with small children.  This involves singing, and the Library has some instruments they can hand out, but they need more, and instruments that are more suitable for small hands (and robust!).  This would be things like shaker eggs and other percussion instruments.  HOWLS has some money in the bank account, and it was agreed that someone would look into buying new instruments.  The other thing that would make Storytime better would be finger or glove puppets, and that's being looked into, too.

Lego Club is also popular, mostly for unstructured play, and there is a small Craft Group for adults that they are hoping will grow - that's on Monday evenings.  

Before all the disruptions of lockdown, the Library had a session called Enchanted Hour, which usually had a speaker, often a local author.  They are hoping to revisit the format - but have no budget to pay speakers.  They would also like to expand the format from local authors talking about their work to green issues, which overlaps nicely with the work the Library CIC is doing in promoting local resilience.  

The CIC was responsible for organising the Citizens' Assembly at the Swan in January, discussing local food production, and the results of that meeting are being collated now.  At the meeting, survey forms were filled in to give an idea of what skills people could offer, and it is hoped that those people will be able to get together and carry the project forward.  A film of the meeting is being edited too, which is the sort of thing that could be shown at Enchanted Hour.  

There will be a Climate Week in June, and Mike Eccles, who has been working very hard on all this, is hoping to be able to plan an event to discuss local energy production for Hay.

The Library also runs a Library of Things - the loan of ipads has been very popular, especially for children who need to do homework online, or people doing online courses.  Where the loans have been long term, the county's digital librarian, Tilly, has been able to obtain some reconditioned laptops to be given to those families that need them.

The Library of Things also loans out balance bikes for children who are starting to learn to cycle.

They have a range of bags to borrow, containing sports equipment, games and activities to promote development for children (with information to help parents to use them), and memory boxes for people with dementia.  These are picnic hampers containing objects on a theme, like Gardening, or On the Beach - some of the local residential homes have expressed an interest in them.  They also loan out blood pressure monitors.

Then there are collections of books that can be loaned out on various subjects - for people with dementia and their carers and families, or for people with particular health problems or mental health problems.  There is also a collection on cancer support from Macmillan Cancer Care, and one for children on bereavement.

There is a popular Welsh conversation group.  At the moment the people taking part are mostly fluent Welsh speakers, so there is some thought being taken to start another group for beginners in Welsh.

Some families spend time in the library after school, and the school is keen to work on projects with the Library.

From all of this, it is clear that the Library is not just a place for borrowing books - it is a vital community resource.  The comment at the meeting was "We need a bigger library!"

It will only be possible to keep the library we have if the contract between the CIC and Powys County Council remains in force.  A five year contract was signed, and it has some time to run, but negotiations for a new contract have to start eighteen months before the old one ends.  This would ensure the continuation of provision of library staff, and the present opening hours.  The CIC has contracted to provide £5,000 a year to pay towards the upkeep of the library, which costs about £25,000 a year to run.  If they can't pay that, then the contract is broken.  Around the country, councils are having to make hard decisions about funding, which usually means cutting funding to the arts and services like libraries, so it's very important that we protect Hay Library.

Mike Eccles has been working very hard to get local people or businesses to support the Library by means of standing orders - anything from £500 a year down to £50 a year, and about £3,000 is being raised by this method.  Hay Festival used to provide a grant to the Library, but over the last few years the management team has changed, and the consequences of lockdown have meant that they have had to rethink their financial priorities.  Other big employers in Hay are the Pill Factory, Huws Grey, and Hay and Brecon Farmers.  The Pill Factory chooses a different charity to support every year, so cannot be a source of continuous funding for the library.

So the Library desperately needs new supporters, and Mike had a stack of standing order forms with him.

To find out more about the different activities at the Library, or to pick up a standing order form (or to borrow a book!) visit the Library:

Monday 10.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 6pm

Thursday 10.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 6pm

Friday 1.30pm to 6pm

Saturday 10am to 12.30pm

And visit the Powys County Council website and StoriPowys for information about all the services the Library provides.

Local Events at Hay Festival

 Booking opens to the public on Friday 15th March at noon - tickets are already available to the Friends of the Festival - and there are a lot of local events this year, many of them walking events.

Local authors Jasper Fforde and Owen Sheers will be speaking - this year Owen Sheers is talking about a childrens' book.

Local photographer Billie Charity will be talking to farmer and drag queen Boo La Croux (who organises Hay Pride) and farmer Ben Andrews, who is involved in Agrespect, a farming organisation for LGBTQ+ issues.

Mary Morgan will be talking about local monuments and memorials.

The man who wrote the new Muffin the Mule book, which has been on sale in just about every shop in Hay, is giving three talks.

Father Richard will be playing the organ accompaniment to A Cottage on Dartmoor in St Mary's church - I saw him do this a few years ago, and it was brilliant.  It was the last silent film to be made in Britain, and has scenes showing the changeover from silent films to talkies - as well as a jealous barber and unrequited love!

Hay Writers Circle are doing an event too.

And then there's music - the Hay Shantymen will be singing, and so will the Hereford College of Arts Vocal Ensemble, the Hereford Chamber Choir and the Hay Community Choir.  The Hereford College of Arts Theatre Students are performing twice - I rather like the sound of their version of Midsummer Night's Dream - or Four Weddings and a Fairy!

Angela, who wrote a book about Wild Swimming in the Wye, will be leading swimming sessions from the Warren - though tickets are on the pricey side at £30 each.  There will also be an illustration workshop with the theme of Save the River Wye.  Since the talks last year, nothing much has changesd as far as pollution of the River Wye is concerned, sadly.

Tom True will be giving a guided tour of Hay Castle.

There's also a chance to visit Snodhill Castle, as one of the organised trips out - it's a lovely castle hidden away in the Golden Valley.

There are also Farm Walks at Trevithel Court, Maesllwch, and Llwynberried.

And there are Wayfaring Walks - the one visiting local ancient trees is already sold out, but there is also Enjoying the National Park, The National Park and its Five Missions, and a walk with a National Park Warden.

Or there's Mountain Biking in the Wye Valley.

Meanwhile there are all the big names that one might expect at Hay Festival - Lenny Henry, Rowan Williams, Judi Dench, Robert Macfarlane, Tom Holland, Rory Stewart, George Monbiot, Stephen Fry, Miriam Margolyes, Nish Kumar - and lots more. 

I'm quite excited about Robin Wall Kimmerer, who wrote the wonderful book Braiding Sweetgrass, talking about plants and combining indigenous knowledge (she's a Native American) and scientific knowledge.  I'm also looking forward to Maggie Pocock-Aderin, who I saw at a Winter Festival - she'll be talking about the constellations of the night sky.

Father Richard's Retirement

 Father Richard Williams has been the priest in charge of St Mary's Church and St John's Chapel, Hay, St Eigon's in Llanigon and Capel-y-ffin since 2001, and he will be retiring just after Easter this year.  His last Mass will be on April 14th.

He isn't moving too far away - he will be living in Presteigne, which is close enough that he will be able to come back to perform organ recitals, and accompany the silent films shown during Hay Festival.  He was responsible for acquiring the magnificent organ in St Mary's and he's done a lot to promote good music in Hay.

The church wardens, church council and members of the congregation would like to mark this special occasion by opening a fund for donations to give Fr Richard a gift to remember his time here.  

The Church Treasurer will accept cash, or cheques made payable to St Mary's Church, with "Fr Richard Gift" written on the back.  Cash or cheques can also be given to the churchwardens of the three parishes, Terry Watson or Stuart Pritchard in Hay, Jan Watkins in Llanigon and Toby Buckler at Capel-y-Ffin.

More information at info@stmaryschurchhayonwye.co.uk

Authors at North Books

 Jules at North Books is hosting a book launch on Friday 22nd March from 10am.  The author is Alan Heeks, and his book is Natural Happiness.  He's a local author, and there will be coffee and cake.

Then on Good Friday, 29th March, Mike Parker will be holding a book signing.  He has written On the Red Hill and On the Wide Border.  If anyone would like a book signed, but can't get to the shop on the day, contact Jules and she will organise it for you.  

The paperback edition of On the Wide Border has just come out, and there will also be a display of black and white prints of photographs that appear in the book around the shop.  Plus also coffee and cakes, because Fridays are the days they have a morning cafe session.

The Friday cafe session has also had an upgrade, courtesy of Tom Owen of Gay-on-Wye, who has made them a cabinet on wheels.

Hobbycraft in Hereford

 I always seem to choose the most vile weather to travel into Hereford!

On Friday, I went into Bartrum's for some coloured paper for an art project I was in the middle of, and I happened to mention that I didn't know where to get frames from now that Wilko's has closed down.

"What about Hobbycraft?" the lady behind the counter suggested.

I had no idea there was a Hobbycraft in Hereford - and when she described where it was, I realised that it was because I'd never walked out that far from the city centre.  It's in a big area of out-of-town stores near the racecourse.  But it was walkable.

So on Saturday, I waited for the bus in the rain, and by the time we'd got to Dorstone, it was thick snow - very pretty, but slushy on the roads, and then the big puddles started to appear, and once we got past Peterchurch it was heavy rain again.  I had an umbrella with me, but by this time I was starting to think I really didn't want to walk all that way.  I was getting off the bus at the railway station anyway, so I did something I would never normally do - I got a taxi.

It was worth every penny (£5.30).

I got exactly the frames I needed in Hobbycraft, and made a few mental notes of what else they stock for the future.

I did walk back into the city centre - and treated myself to a half of Rev. James bitter in the Lichfield Vaults.  They now have their own tshirt, with the slogan Wish You Were Beer, and a parody of the famous Pink Floyd album cover with the white light hitting a triangle and becoming the whole visible spectrum - only in this case the light is hitting a pint glass.

It was still raining on the way back, with most of the usual puddles along the Golden Valley full of water, but the snow had stopped.  I got chatting to a lovely chap from Pontypridd, who was intending to go out early on Sunday morning up to Storey Arms to climb the hill to see the sunrise. 

Patriotic Post Box Topper

 

                                                        Dragon, Leek and Daffodils!

Grand Opening of the new Red Cross Shop

 I took this picture from the old Red Cross shop, looking towards the new Red Cross shop.  The old Red Cross shop will continue to sell clothes, while the new shop will sell books in the unit closest to the door, and home furnishings and knicknacks in the further unit.  There's also a rack for LPs in the further unit.

This corner has been empty for quite a while, so it's nice to see it occupied again.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus

 

Happy St David's Day to all book hoarding dragons!  This picture is by Devin Elle Kurtz.