May Hay Forum

 Only seventeen people turned up this month, but it was a particularly nice evening for sitting in gardens.

Those of us who were there were able to meet Father David, the new vicar of St Mary's, who seems like a lovely chap, and will probably fit in very well in Hay.  He's worked for various charities and the NHS, and a local authority before he became ordained, and his partner Father Neil is also a priest in Herefordshire.  They also have two beagles.  He was asked if he was musical, and he said he was, but he wasn't a trained musician.

Then Rev. Simon from Abbey Dore gave a fascinating talk about pilgrimages.  Priests are encouraged to go on retreat regularly, but he found that it wasn't quite enough to just go to a retreat house and sit quietly and read for a week.  So he started to research pilgrimages.  He thought the Camino de Santiago de Compostella would be too busy - thousands of people walk or cycle the Camino every year (and two of them came to talk about it at a previous Hay Forum).  So he found a route dedicated to St Francis of Assissi in Italy, which was obscure enough that it didn't even have an English guidebook at the time.  There's also a southern route dedicated to the Archangel Michael, and he's walking them a bit at a time.  You get a sort of passport that is stamped in every place you stay, and that entitles you to stay at small rooms attached to churches along the way.

Having got the taste for pilgrimages, he started to develop a local route around the Golden Valley, linking the churches and holy wells there (and remembering the local pubs and shops where snacks could be bought, which helps the local economy).  One of the first groups to try the route was a young women's choir from the United States, who sang in every church, and along the way.  These are organised, guided pilgrimages, run through a national charity, so you can't just set off - you have to book and pay for the accommodation and guide.  The route is circular, starting and ending at Hereford Cathedral (where pilgrims can now stay the night), so pilgrims can arrive and leave by train.

Then he went off on sabbatical to research other pilgrim routes to see how they did it - in Orkney and Ireland.  Orkney is a bit more difficult to get around on foot, because there aren't as many places where pilgrims can stay the night - the Saint being honoured here is Magnus, and one of the stops on the pilgrimage trail is St Magnus' Cathedral in Kirkwall.

In Ireland, he came across a lot of stone crosses, and went up Croagh Patrick, dedicated to St Patrick.  Many people climb the mountain barefoot, and when he went, he found that many of the barefoot pilgrims were from the Traveller community.

In the absence of Father Richard, music for the forum was recorded - the lady who organises the Forum wanted to honour Michael Flatley, the non-traditional Irish dancer who created Riverdance, so we finished with some music from Lord of the Dance.

Father Richard will be back at 9pm on Friday 31st May to play the organ for A Cottage on Dartmoor, as part of the Hay Festival, and he will be doing an organ recital on Saturday June 1st and the next Hay Forum will be at 6.30pm on Saturday 8th June.  The cost is £5 on the door.