Holidays

 I will be away for a week or so - which means I will miss the Cider Festival this weekend, and the Hay Music Festival on the theme of Exiles and Emigres.

In the meantime, here's a picture of Hay Castle from 2015:

 

Mass at St Mary's

 Normally I'm at work on Sundays, so it's very rare that I get the opportunity to go to a proper Sunday service.  This week, though, I'm getting ready to go on holiday, and there is someone at work who can cover the front desk, so I had the time to do it.

It's even better now that I can cut through on the little public footpath behind the Almshouses and come out right at the church.

Poor Father David was only assisting at Mass this morning, because his arm is in a sling, and for some things the presiding priest needs two hands.  He did preach, though, on the Gospel reading about Jesus warning people not to take the place of honour when they were invited to dinner parties, and to throw banquets for the poor instead.  He did say that he's not on co-codamol any more, though - so he's not as high as a kite, and he is getting better!

I didn't know all the hymns, but hymns are generally designed to be easy for the congregation to pick up, so that was all right, and I was able to belt out Tell Out, My Soul as the last hymn.

After the service, I was asked to mention the next concert at St Mary's.  Rhapsody in Blue is a concert by Mike Hatchard, assisted by Susanna Warren and Jeremy Young, and there will be jazz, and Chopin, Ravel, and Flanders and Swann.  Tickets are £15 from WegotTickets or on the door.  OAPs are £12, and it starts at 7.30pm.

Also, on Saturday 6th September, there will be coffee in the church from 10.30am, followed by the monthly organ recital at 11am, with Barrie Magill. 

A little later I met Simon the Poet in town, and he asked me if I'd like to sign up for the Parish magazine, Way-on-High - so he took my address and £10 on the spot and will add me to the list.

It means I'll have advance warning of things like Parish trips - for instance, yesterday there was a trip up to Capel-y-ffin for the annual Father Ignatius Memorial Pilgrimage.  They start at Llanthony Abbey, and go from there to Capel-y-ffin, finishing off at the ruined monastery church.  One of the banners in St Mary's Church is of Our Lady of Capel-y-ffin - a schoolboy had a vision up there in 1880.

And next year there will be the Parish pilgrimage to Walsingham - I visited Walsingham when I lived in Norwich many years ago, and it is a place with a very special atmosphere, so I'd love to go back. 

 

Electrifying Rose Hips

 I was invited to a private party at the Cabinet of Curiosities a couple of nights ago - a thank you from Francoise and Pierre to all the people who had helped them, before the renovation work starts.

They asked people to bring their own glass, and had local cider, Weobley Ash apple juice and Lucky 7 beer available (but no wine). 

They'd also subtly changed the displays throughout the house, as they do every time they open to the public.  I'm sure there were more of the dressed little mannequins around the house - those wooden models that artists use to get poses right when they're drawing.  I noticed a little fisherman this time.  They're made by an artist called Maizie Healy (I think I have the name right - I wasn't taking notes!).

My favourite this time, though, was a large 19th century book which was open on a page of experiments.

I don't know what the book was - it would have been rude to move it to see the cover - but the author was describing an experiment where he electrified rose hips with "electrical fluid" (with the help of his servant!) to see if they would grow better than a control group of rose hips that had just been steeped in water.  And he was successful! 

Film Crew

 There's a film crew in Castle Street - they seem to have nearly finished now, but I don't walk past that way as often now, so I missed them starting off.

Apparently, there's a design show on TV, and they're doing a makeover of Oil and Oak and the guitar shop Wye Fret.  I must say, the guitar shop looks very comfortable inside now, with leather sofas in the middle of the shop.  It's harder to see inside Oil and Oak!

They should be on TV sometime next summer. 

Beautiful Bus Stop

 First there was the new bus stop, and now the area around it is looking even more welcoming to visitors.

Two of the wooden planters that were scattered around town a few years ago have been relocated to either end of the bench (also recently refurbished by Mac).  They've got new plants in them, too, thanks to Francoise and Pierre, who will be keeping an eye on them.

Francoise is also keeping an eye on the timetable situation, and if one doesn't appear very shortly after 1st September, when the bus companies change, she will be chasing them up!

 

Vintage Car

 

A rather gorgeous Bristol car, made in 1947, and first registered in Stoke on Trent according to the Chiltern Vehicle Preservation Group list.

Secret Japanese Wine Bar

 I went to Belmont House for their Secret Garden weekend around lunchtime on Saturday, and it was already busy.  Tables had been laid out around the garden, and the serving tables were at the top, the food table under the kitchen window so that food could just be passed down, and the wine table just round the corner.

I had the vegetarian gyoza (little dumplings).  They also had pork gyoza, a burger, chicken bits and a couple of other things - all of which looked quite interesting.  The wine was from Black Mountain Winery, and I had Shouting at Weather, a sparkling white wine.

I found a bench to one side of the garden.  I remember this garden when it was an allotment, but now it's been transformed with curved flower beds, and many of the plants have literary associations.  Gareth, who does the bookshop for Hay Festival, helped them with the planting.  I was sitting on the camomile lawn (from the book by Mary Wesley), and that's how I found out that I have camomile growing in my garden - some of the wildflower seeds that I sowed earlier in the year came up after all!  

There were several roses ("Roses are easy to find," I was told) - for instance Jane Austen and Lady of Shalott, and other plants included Bertrand Russell, Tom Thumb, Gabriel Oak from Tess of the D'Urbervilles - there were about forty plants in all, with little slate labels.

So, good food and wine, beautiful garden, and a view across the Wye Valley - I hope they do it again some time. 

Percussion with Hay Music

 It's going to be a busy Saturday for Hay Music at the end of August.

In the morning, from 11am at the Globe, is Shake, Rattle and Bash, a workshop for children from eight upwards.  It costs £7.50 for an hour's session, and they will be making music to accompany the story Chico's Big Day Out.

Then in the afternoon, from 2pm, there's the adult session, Samba for Grown-ups, which will last 90 minutes and cost £10.  You can learn all about the different instruments used in samba bands, and they might even have a second workshop if there is enough interest.

And in the evening, also at the Globe at 8pm, is Travels with my Marimba.  Tickets are £10 or £5 for the under-25s.

In this talk, Chris Brannick and his friend Jackie Mann, who were running the daytime sessions, will be recounting tales and anecdotes from around the world, with a selection of percussion instruments from around the world.  In a career that has spanned 30 years and working for the BBC Proms among other things, there'll be a lot to talk about.

 

Secret Japanese Wine Bar

 The Secret Wine Bar will be open at Belmont House from 12 noon to 8pm on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th August.  The wine will be natural, organic, and local, and there will be Japanese tapas to try.

 

Bus Timetable

 Thank you to the lovely lady who sent me a copy of the new X44 timetable!

The first bus from Hay to Hereford should go at 07.37, and at two hourly intervals after that throughout the day. 

Wye Pilgrimage

 I realised that I hadn't put my photos on the blog yet, of the procession of Our Lady of the Wye on Friday.

After a short Mass at St Mary's Church, the statue was carried through the town to the canoe landing stage, where it was lashed to two canoes (which were already lashed together) for the trip down to Whitney as the first stage of the pilgrimage.

Here's Father Richard, who had the original idea for the pilgrimage.

 

And there they are, about to set off down river.  The banner says "Save The Wye".

The river is very low, after a summer with very little rain. 

Vintage Car

 

Isn't she a beauty?

The number plate began BO, which means the car was originally registered in Cardiff, according to the Chiltern Vehicle Preservation Group, which keeps a database of vintage numberplates.

As I was passing, a man and his little boy had stopped to look at it.  "This is the oldest car in Hay!" he said. 

Fundraiser for Gaza

 There will be a fundraising event for Gaza in Hereford at the Left Bank Village on Friday 22nd August, starting from 5.30pm.

I won't be able to go, because there are no evening buses to come home, but it sounds as if it will be a good night, with Palestinian food, a film and speaker, and music.  The film is Censoring Palestine, which deals with the way the genocide is being reported on in the UK.  The musical performance is called Peace is the Song, and it has been put together by local pro-Palestinian poets, rappers and musicians.  There will also be a creche/craft workshop (some of the images in the film are not suitable for under-15s) where you can make a bird or a friendship bracelet.

All proceeds will go to Medical Aid for Palestinians. 

Booking is essential, and can be done through the Left Bank Village website. 

Great Night at the Basky

 Wednesday night is music night at the Basky, and this Wednesday some of the guests at the hotel joined in (or I presume they were guests - they were just visiting the area, anyway).

Marek is from the Czech Republic, and he was singing in Czech, explaining: "This one is about bad weather - this one is about the Czech Robin Hood...."  There were two violins in the mix last night - regular Tom and a visiting lady, and Marek actually had the music scores for them to accompany him on one of his songs!

The visiting lady said she would only join in with harmonies at first, but was persuaded to do a solo spot as well.  Another lady, who usually performs at the Globe, sang one of her own songs and did a couple of duets with Rob.

Ellie contributed to the multi-lingual nature of the evening by singing a song in Africaans.

Another visitor borrowed a guitar (Bob keeps a spare one at the Basky just in case) - he sang one song that he usually sang at his local rugby club (so it was a bit rude!).

There was the usual mix of classic songs - the Elderly Brothers did a couple of numbers (that's Bob, who runs the evening and  Pete in a duet).

I sang some folky stuff (and one SF song).

Bob and Ellie sang one of Dale's favourite songs that is not Elvis - I Shot Your Dog, which is a farmer apologising to his neighbour for shooting his dog by mistake!  

And the evening ended with Dale and Joe dancing to one of Joe's favourite songs, I'm The King of the Swingers. 

Next week, it will be completely different! 

Local Taxis

 While I was researching other ways to leave Hay if the buses weren't running, I decided to ring round the local taxi firms.  As it was the evening, I wasn't really expecting any answers.  I think it's useful to share what I did find out, though.

Booktown Taxis had an answerphone message to say that they are not taking any bookings because the driver is undergoing cancer treatment at the moment (get well soon, Mike!).

For A2B Taxis I just got the "this number has not been recognised" message.

Haytaxibus - the phone rang, but no-one answered.

Julie's Cabs had an answerphone.  I did leave a message, but no-one has got back to me yet.

Conclusion: it's quite difficult to get a taxi in Hay! 

New Bus Services

 I am not a happy bunny.

I booked a holiday, some time ago, in the belief that I would be able to get the early bus from Hay to Hereford to catch a train.  

Then I started hearing rumours about the change in the bus company that runs the present T14 route, so I thought I'd better check that the timetable hadn't changed.

Turns out that the new operator has cut the early bus altogether, and the first bus into Hereford on the day I want to travel leaves Hay an hour later than my train.  I had to look this up on the Traveline website, which doesn't actually give the number of the bus.

I saw somewhere else on Facebook that Sargeant's bus company are taking over the Hay to Hereford route, and that the bus will be the X44 - but there's nothing at all on their website to suggest this. 

So, I'm presuming that there is no early bus because it won't be a college day, but that doesn't help me catch my train!

[updated]  I got in touch with Sargeants, and they got back to me this morning to say that there would be an X15 school bus leaving from Hay at 7.40am - which should get me to my train! 

Yellow Submarine in the Car Park

 

Lots of Beatles memorabilia on the back window ledge, and pastel Daleks round the front!

Voyage of Our Lady of the Wye

 The statue of Our Lady of the Wye is making its way downriver again, partly as a pilgrimage and partly as a protest against the pollution of the River Wye.

Proceedings begin on Friday August 15th, with a church service at St. Mary's at 10am, followed by a procession through the town to the launch point near Hay Bridge.

On the first day, the pilgrimage will get to Whitney-on-Wye.

On the second day, they get as far as Moccas, to be greeted by Gregorian chant by the monks of Belmont Abbey (with wine and canapes).

The third day sees a Patronal Mass at St. Mary's at 11am, and Evensong at 6pm with Bishop Frome and the Amici choir.

On Monday 18th, the statue sets off from Bredwardine Bridge, to arrive at Hereford Cathedral in time for Evensong at 5.30pm, followed by a party at Old Chapel.

And on the final day, they go from Hereford Cathedral to Hoarwithy, where there will be Evensong at 6.30pm with the Ross Parish Church Choir. 

Dragonflies and Damselflies

 Stu Roberts gave a fascinating talk at the Enchanted Hour at the Library yesterday afternoon.

He talked about the differences between dragonflies and damselflies (dragonflies hold their wings out when at rest; damselflies fold their wings along their backs), and he talked about their life cycle.

Dragonflies spend most of their lives as nymphs, which crawl about in the mud at the bottom of ponds.  They can spend up to four years, getting bigger and bigger, until one day they crawl up a reed, and their body splits open at the back so that the adult dragonfly can emerge.  Stu brought some of these cases along to show us, gathered from his own pond.

Dragonflies will live for a whole summer, but damselflies only live for about a week - and August is the best time to see them, along the banks of the Wye and on the Warren.  Mary Anne suggested that he might like to lead a walk in the next week or so, to see if we could find any, and quite a few people were interested, so that might be happening soon.

There will be no Enchanted Hour in September, but in October there will be four talks, one on each Friday afternoon, on the subject of conservation.  Stu will be giving one of those talks. 

New Post Box Topper

 

Tropical fish this time on top of our post box!

More About the Bench Dedication Ceremony

 I was at work when I saw a chap who looked vaguely familiar, browsing the Second World War area.  He was wearing an Arnhem polo shirt.  To be honest, lots of customers at work look vaguely familiar, but in this case he recognised me, and reminded me that we'd had an interesting discussion previously about the composer Butterworth, who was killed in the First World War.  For a while, his Banks of Green Willow was one of my favourite pieces of music.

This time, he told me that he had been involved in the bench dedication ceremony on Sunday - he had provided large photos of the SOE women on one of the benches for a display, under cover in the Craft Centre, and some other stuff.  He also told me that Violette Szabo's daughter (who was five years old when Violette was killed) was at the ceremony.  The Violette Szabo museum is not far from Hay, in Herefordshire, at Wormelow.  This chap was also involved in helping there, and was going on from his book buying trip to do some work on the garden there. 

 https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16KdcomPUs/

Here's a link to the compilation of photos of the event that was put up on Facebook. 

Enchanted Hour with Dragons

 

Well, dragonflies, anyway!

New Bus Shelter

 

Here's the new bus shelter on the Hereford side of the road (thanks to Francoise for the photo).

It's more basic than the one at the top of the carpark, but adequate.

Sadly, there is no timetable in the holder on the bus stop yet.  I checked this evening. 

Pride at the Globe

 Pride was a bit scaled down from previous years - no procession through Hay to the Castle this year - but the atmosphere at the Globe was lovely.

I went in the early afternoon to sit in the garden, where there were a few stalls selling crafts, a lady making flower garlands, the Hay Comics stall, and someone advertising their regular meet-ups at the Jam Factory and Hereford Beer House in Hereford.  They're starting one in Leominster, too.

There was a tent set up as a stage, too, where Boo La Croux opened proceedings with a couple of songs.  I also enjoyed the chap dressed as one of the Blues Brothers, who sang The Devil Went Down to Georgia, and Rawhide with a real whip!

Then there was Hari the performance poet, who changed onstage from his baggy male clothing to reveal a sparkly black minidress underneath, and also dyed his hair pink live on stage!  All while reciting his poetry.

Meanwhile, I'd met the adorable Radar Reggie Fluffybum Big Ears, a friendly brown dog who ended up sitting next to me on the couch - until he decided that chasing an unripe pair from one of the nearby trees was more interesting. 

Festivities went on late into the night - they moved indoors at some point. 

The £5 entrance fee was being donated to the LGBT+ charities Stonewall and MindOut mental health service. 

Unveiling the Benches

 Several benches, with a military theme, have been installed around the Craft Centre for some time, but tomorrow is the official unveiling ceremony for them, at noon.

The first one to be installed commemorates the Falklands War, and is near the bus stop.

Then there is one inside the Craft Centre courtyard, with a Second World War theme.  I was told, by one of the volunteers at St Michael's Hospice shop, that all the things depicted on the bench have a connection to Hay - so there are the Land Girls, and the bridge at Arnhem, a bomber and a ship.

At the top of the car park looking out towards Cusop Dingle, the third bench commemorates the women of the SOE, including local heroine Violette Szabo.

 

The Golden Age of Melody

 I only found out about this concert at lunchtime, when I met someone on the way back from shopping who said he was going.

Janice Day and Martin Litton are a fabulous duo, and I love the 1920s and 30s style songs.

Also, I don't think I'd ever seen Martin play a grand piano before - he's always been on keyboards at other concerts I've been too - and the difference was astonishing.  He's a brilliant player.  His first solo performance of the evening was The Sheikh of Araby, which was inspired by the film The Sheikh, starring Rudolf Valentino.  I've seen that film, and Valentino really did have that star quality.  Whenever he was on screen, you just couldn't take your eyes off him.  I was slightly disappointed that Janice didn't sing the lyrics to the song, though - which include the lines: "At night when you're asleep, Into your tent I'll creep"!

Some of the songs were romantic and lyrical, and some were comic.  For instance, in the same year one song writer wrote a song that was voted the most ridiculous ever, and As Time Goes By, which was later used in the film Casablanca.  Janice sang the one about playing the rumba on the tuba down in Cuba.

She also sang Three Little Fishes, which I learned when they sang it on Playschool.  It was also a song that Frankie Howerd sang, making much of the nonsense words in the chorus: "Boop boop dittem dattem wattem chu - and they swam and they swam right over the dam."

And also Mad Dogs and Englishmen. 

Other songs I knew all the words to were Sing For Your Supper and, as part of the singalong audience participation, Dream A Little Dream of Me - though I learned them from the Mamas and the Papas arrangements.

Janice also sang in French - the signature tune of Josephine Baker, a Black American who became a star in France, and was known for dancing in a skirt made of bananas (and not much else).  By contrast, Janice was looking very glamorous in a sparkly purple dress, with a subtle costume change during the interval.  

 They also had violin accompaniment from Steve Jones for a couple of the numbers.

There was, of course, rapturous applause - and their encore was Putting on the Ritz. 

 Martin will be playing as part of a quartet in the Hay Music Festival later in the year, and he and Janice are planning a concert of songs written in 1934 (which was a very good year, apparently).

Their website is www.vintagebythewye.com 

 

Three Inch Fools at the Castle

 It's the tenth anniversary of the Three Inch Fools theatre company, and they are celebrating with two grand tours, with two troupes, each performing their own show.  Altogether, they're visiting 112 different venues around the UK.

On Friday 8th August, they'll be performing on the lawn of Hay Castle, at 7pm.  The audience is invited to bring a picnic, and suitable outdoor clothing - but not umbrellas, so that they don't obscure the view of the stage for other people.  The play is - not exactly Shakespeare, more Shakespeare-adjacent.  It's called The Most Perilous Comedie of Elizabeth I, in which Queen Elizabeth herself takes to the stage, with lots of backstage plotting - rival playwrights, devious dramatics.... it sounds like a lot of fun.

Tickets are £20, and only seem to be available online. 

Birthday Cards

 The new girl at work has a birthday coming up - her first as a real bookseller - and I wanted to get her a book-themed birthday card.

Should be easy in Hay, shouldn't it?

Well, it used to be.  There was a very good card supplier that did cards with spines of old books, or amusing book covers, and Broad Street Book Centre used to carry them.  When I got there, though, they only had a couple left, and the rest were landscapes and nature pictures.

So I went to Booths - I think they may have had the same supplier at one time - but they only had one, a portrait of a woman reading a book.  Lots of variety of other stuff (they've got some cute Moomin cards, for instance) and several of Hay and Booth Books, but not what I had in mind.  I bought a bookmark in the shape of a pile of books, just in case I couldn't find a card anywhere else.

Bartrums had a few general cards.  North Books had nature designs.

Then, at Oil and Oak, I struck paydirt.  A card with a photo of shelves of books.  They said they often have cards with books on them, and they always sell out quickly.

There are a couple of other places to buy cards in Hay - the Craft Centre, for instance - but I stopped there. 

Hay Pride

 Hay Pride will take place at the Globe on Saturday 2nd August.

(I think I mistakenly said it was 5th July earlier - but that was last year's date).

There will be stalls during the day, and entertainment in the evening.  Tickets are £5 for a wristband that lets you in to everything from DJs to drag artists from noon to midnight.

The event is fundraising for Stonewall and MindOut, an LGBTQ+ mental health charity. 

 

Sink Hole

 I went into Hereford this morning, to find there was a diversion around Commercial Street, where a sink hole had opened up!  Commercial Street is the one leading from the ring road to the railway station.

It wasn't too bad, though - the bus just took the next turn in that direction (Kyrle Road, I think), down by the hospital, and there wasn't much of a delay.

I met a friend on the bus, and she had a good look at the road works.  She said that it looked like one of the trenches that had been opened up for utility pipes was the problem - the fill of the trench had been washed away, or something similar.  It wasn't anything like as big as the sink hole that opened up in Norwich all those years ago and swallowed a double decker bus!

On the way back into town, it was sad to see the mural on the side of The Commercial pub - the plaster of the wall has fallen off, taking most of the picture of Arthur's Stone with it.  However, good news is that the artist who painted the Hereford cow and calf on the side of the Herdsman pub has been painting another mural, of birds this time, on the side of the hospital.

Meanwhile, the cathedral is getting ready to host the Three Choirs Festival, and there are flower arrangements everywhere! 

Lunch at the Blue Boar

 My sister and her family were somewhere near Cardiff for a car rally, and they decided to come home via Hay to drop off some furniture for me for my new home.

So I am now the proud possessor of a blanket box and a quite remarkable table - it seems at first glance to be a long, narrow table, and then the top folds out, and out, and out until it's enormous!  It's too big for me to open it all the way up, but it is just right for the space in the kitchen which is long and narrow, and it looks so much tidier in there.

It was a little bit difficult to find parking for the motorhome with the trailer on the back for the rally car (they won a prize - I don't really understand the details, but they were very pleased), so we ended up in the coach parking area of the main car park.  The Blue Boar was the closest option for lunch, and they already knew from previous visits that you get big portions there.  They had another four hours' drive to get home, so they wanted something substantial to keep them going.

And they got it.  Father and son went for the cheeseburger, my sister had venison, and I had the spaghetti bolognese, and they were all very filling, and tasty.  So a good choice for a hearty meal before a long journey.

It was lovely to see them all again, and I'm very pleased with my new furniture. 

Classical Music and Berlin Cabaret from Hay Music

 The next Hay Music concert is on Friday 25th July, at 7pm at St. Mary's Church, and it sounds fascinating!

Lotte Betts-Dean is the mezzo soprano who will be singing with the Marsyas Trio and friends.  They've performed in Hay before.

It's a varied programme, with Haydn and Debussy, Claude's Girl by Marika Hackman, and a piece by Schoenberg called Pierrot Lunaire.  This is described as a piece that changed musical history.  It was written in 1912, based on the Berlin cabaret, and is a cycle of 21 songs about the bizarre world of the clown-like Pierrot.

Tickets are £20, or £10 for the under-25s. 

Summer Show

 I didn't say anything about the Summer Show, because I can never go - I'm always working on a Sunday - but I did feel sorry for them today.  After all that fine, hot weather, today the heavens opened, and we had a thunderstorm!

Touring the Local Ancient Monuments

 We set off from outside the Library yesterday afternoon for our Enchanted Hour tour.

In the end, there were only two cars - several people gave their apologies, including poor Mary Anne, who organised everything!  She had a delivery to attend to, and wasn't able to change the date.

That made it easy for parking at all the sites we visited, and John Price kindly brought along some extra information about the Roman fort - pictures of the donkey mill that was found there (and is now in St Fagans), along with pictures of a similar mill in Pompeii!  The Romans really did keep things the same right across the Empire!  It's called a donkey mill because a donkey was harnessed to a beam to turn the grinding stone round and round.

Seeing so many local motte and bailey castles in quick succession really put them into context for me.  They weren't just little outposts - they were substantial buildings in the landscape, and they all had very good views of the surrounding countryside.  

We got a special treat at Motte House in Llanigon - we were allowed to climb to the top of the mound!

 I'm in the middle - thanks to Jackie Andrews for all the photos.

In the background, wearing a hat, is the owner of Motte House, Liam Madden, who told us all about the castle, and the way it controlled a trade route from the Black Mountains down to a ford of the River Wye, where it was paired with another castle at Llowes, in much the same way as Hay and Clyro castles are paired together.

Liam only bought his house by chance - he isn't from this area - and when he moved here he was delighted to find that the little area around his house has such a rich history.  There's the castle, of course, and John Price found the information (from Llanigon Place Names by WET Morgan in 1918), that William Thomas, who was tutor to King Edward IV, lived there.  Is that where the name Llanthomas came from?  Or was it derived from something earlier, as Liam suggests in his Wikipedia article?  (type Llanthomas Castle Mound to find it).  There was a pre-Conquest settlement called Trefynys.

Again, this was a substantial castle - the bailey extended into the next field - and was well defended, with the Digedi Brook on one side.

And then there are all the Kilvert connections - the walled garden of Llanthomas is just across the road - and we had a good chat about St Eigon (daughter of Caractacus, or 6th century monk?).

Then we headed up to Hay Bluff, via Penywyrlod Farm (there was nowhere safe to park to get to the tomb, sadly).  This is another place with a fascinating history, as a local centre for Non-conformist worship in the 17th century, when the owner was William Watkin, who had been an officer in the Parliamentary forces during the Civil War.

And here we are in the middle of the stone circle at the foot of Hay Bluff:

 We found quite a few of the stones!

We finished off at Twyn y Beddau - no scramble bikes this time, but two ponies standing on the mound.

 It was great fun, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves!  Some of the people on the tour grew up around this area, and had played as children on some of the sites, but they were commenting that they hadn't realised just how much interesting history there is in this area.

John was also filming during the tour - he puts the films up on YouTube, but they can only be viewed if he shares the link with you.  This one, of course, is still in the process of being edited. 

Book Fair

 Lots of interesting stalls, on two floors of the Castle.

There was even a good collection of classic SF, which I never expect to see at antiquarian book fairs.  There was a good selection of classic crime (green Penguins!) and children's books too.

I treated myself to a rather nice folio edition of Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff - upgrading from my old paperback copy (this is a story I keep going back to).

There was also one stall with a collection of books from the library of John Kenyon.  He was related to the archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, and his special interest was Welsh castles - there were a lot of good books on the subject on the stall.  It's always interesting to see other people's collections. 

On the way out, I cut through the old stables, where there's a shop selling posh hats and other accessories.  In the yard on the other side there's a new art gallery, full of beautifully detailed pictures of animals, bones and the Moon, amongst other things.  I have wall space in my new home, but I think putting picture hooks up in 200 year old stone walls is probably not a good idea, so I contented myself with a small greetings card of the moon on a gold background, and framed it when I got home with a background of stars from an old Space calendar.  The artist is Rosie McLay. 

Book Dealers' Party

 It was a perfect evening in the garden of the Cinema Bookshop.  Not so many people came as last year, but that was probably because Gay-on-Wye were holding an event at more or less the same time.  Some people went to both!

I think we probably had the superior nibbles, though - with an Asian theme.  I've never been a fan of tofu, but the little squares with decorative bits on top, served on a little bamboo spoon, were delicious, as was the spicy aubergine - and everybody loved the little Scotch eggs!

The conversation was fascinating, too - I ended up talking about the history of marmalade with a Portuguese lady who lives in London.  And I solved the mystery of the cat who visits my garden, when I had a chat with his owner, who is a close neighbour (and also a bookseller).  Bob used to visit the previous ladies at the almshouses, so I'm very happy to carry on the tradition.  

Trip to Hereford

 A hot and sticky bus ride into Hereford today, made infinitely more bearable by interesting conversation with a friend I met at the bus stop.  I never realised she had such an interesting life!

I was trying new things today, so I went into the Asian supermarket near the Cathedral.  I had no idea what half the names on the packets were, but I came away with some Horse Gram (brown lentils), ginger and soy sauce, and I will return with a list after I've done some research!

As it was so hot, I went into the Eden coffee shop by the Old House to try their frappe - I used to drink frappes all the time (there should be an accent over the e - frapp-ay) when I was in Greece.  This was not much like the Greek ones I remember, but I'll certainly go back and try other things on their menu.

The town centre was full of interesting food stalls, with food from all over the world, though I don't know if they were doing much trade in the heat.  I was too hot to try anything.

On the way back, the bus was held up for a while for some sort of carnival parade from Peterchurch school.  There were a lot of children dressed as monkeys, for some reason! 

Trial Run for Ancient Monuments Tour

 I went up to Hay Bluff this morning, by a roundabout route, with Mary Anne.  We were checking out the route that the Enchanted Hour Tour is going to take around the local sites of historical interest.  

Mainly, we were checking that the route was easy to follow, so we didn't get lost, and that there was enough parking at each place we wanted to stop.

So we're doing two loops, one round Clyro and one round Llanigon.

For Clyro, we're stopping at the Roman fort at Boatside Farm, and Cwrt Ifan Gwynne (which was a Welsh castle).  We overshot the entrance to Cwrt Ifan Gwynne, which is also a Radnorshire Wildlife Trust site featuring dormice - distances that seemed quite long when I was walking are a lot shorter in a car! 

From there we go into Clyro and up the main road just past the petrol station.  Right next to the house there, in the field, is a Bronze Age barrow.  Then we head back to Hay, stopping at Clyro Castle on the way. 

On the other side of Hay we're going up the side road to Llanigon that leads up to Llanthomas Farm, for the site of Llanigon Castle (now a bungalow).   I was amazed at how many new houses have been built there since I last went that way!

Then we head up the lane next to Old Forge Garage to Penywyrlod.   Sadly, it wasn't possible to find a place to park near the Neolithic tomb, but there's plenty of space on the road at the old farmhouse, which also has a fascinating history.

And from there it's a straight run up to Hay Bluff car park, for a game of Hunt the Stone Circle (it's really quite easy to miss!).  Back when it was built, it was an important local monument - the family tombs down in the valley all have a view up to the stone circle, and what probably happened was that small rituals happened at the tombs, but several times a year people would hike up the mountain for more elaborate rituals at the circle.

On the way back down to Hay, there's also Twyn y Beddau, another Bronze Age tomb.  This one's even got a noticeboard to read.  It also has rocks on the top to stop the scramble bikes from riding over it - but that didn't stop one young man when we were there.  "Oi!" I yelled at him, "that's a 4,000 year old tomb!"

"Uh, sorry," he mumbled, as he rode away.

If anyone wants to go on the tour, it starts from Hay Library at 2pm on Friday 18th July - tickets available from the library.  No-one so far really wanted to go in a minibus, so it's going to be a fleet of cars (hence the checking to make sure we could all park at each site!).

Mary Anne asked me to give a quick overview of the different periods of history and prehistory for this area, so here goes:

For our purposes, we start with the Neolithic, the New Stone Age.  There would have been earlier people in the area, but they left very little trace that  we can see today.  The Neolithic people lived in extended family groups, each with their own family tomb, and centred around Hay Bluff, where they built their stone circle.  This would be around 5,000 years ago.

Then came the Bronze Age, and a change in burial practices.  Tombs got smaller, with only a small number of burials (I don't know where everyone else was buried).  Often the tombs are in places that overlook the tribal lands of the group that built them.  This would be about 4,000 years ago.

The Iron Age tribe in the area is the first one that we know the name of - the Silures.  They were the ones who attacked the Roman fort at Boatside Farm and drove the Romans out of their tribal territory.  Iron started to be used around 800BC.  The Romans arrived in Britain in 43AD, and built the fort at Boatside around 60AD.

The traditional date for the Romans leaving Britain is 410AD, and by this time the Silures were becoming Welsh.  The Normans arrived in 1066AD, and very quickly moved across the country, building castles everywhere, especially in disputed territory like the Welsh Marches.  This is also the time that the medieval monasteries were an important part of the landscape - right up until Henry VIII closed them down.  Disputes about religion are part of the history of Penywyrlod Farm, which was an important local centre for Puritans to meet and worship together, to the disapproval of the Church of England.

 So that's a very basic timeline, but it at least gives an idea of the periods that the ancient monuments belong to.

 

Tin Zoo

 I never thought I'd be one of those people who fill their gardens with little statues and knick-knacks, but I couldn't resist this.

I saw the collection of bats on the Tin Zoo stall on the Saturday market some time ago, and thought they were wonderful, but at the time, I had nowhere to put one.  I'm not entirely sure where he'll go in my garden yet, but here he is in his temporary roost, while I think of a better place for him.

 

Tin Zoo get their stock from artists in Africa, who source their materials from scrapyards.  Since they started in 1998, they've supported artists who have been able to build homes, pay for medical care and send their children to school.  They are regulars on the Saturday markets in Hay.

 

Kilvert's Portrait

 I was sitting in the bar of Kilvert's earlier today, waiting for my washing in the launderette, and I noticed the portrait of Freddie they have over the fireplace.  Freddie was, of course, the Kilvert dog, who died a couple of years ago.  It's a very good likeness, but the red light in the background does make him look a little bit demonic!

Book Fair

 On Saturday 12th July, there will be a PBFA Book Fair at the Castle.  This is becoming an annual event in the PBFA calendar - they organise book fairs all over the country.  Also, as is becoming traditional, Hay Cinema Bookshop is hosting a  party for the book dealers on the evening before the Fair.

Entry is free, and the books will mainly be antiquarian and collectable. 

[Edited to add: on the same day, at Tomatitos, there will be a pop up kitchen.  Tomatitos are no longer serving food themselves, but they are hosting other food businesses.  This one is Keralan Karavan from Cardiff, serving Raj Burgers, chicken curry, spicy rolls and fries] 

Welsh Art at the Castle

 The latest exhibition at Hay Castle (free to enter, once you have your ticket to go upstairs) is a collection of art by Welsh artists.  I had a good chat with the lady who was volunteering to look after the exhibition, and she said that this was a private collection of art from a retired art gallery owner from Cardiff, so all the work there was his own personal taste.

He has very varied taste - from traditional portraits and landscapes to abstracts, and by a wide variety of artists.  Some are famous, like Gwen John and Augustus John, and Sir Kyffin Williams, and some were artists I hadn't heard of, like Harry Holland, who painted the portrait of the black girl which is on the posters for the exhibition, and Jack Jones, whose picture reminded me of Lowry.

I did enjoy seeing the paintings up close, and since this is a private collection, who knows when they'll be available for public viewing again. 

Meanwhile, downstairs the Quilting group was meeting.  They meet most Saturdays from 11am to 1pm, and they're making quilts for refugees.  I think this grew out of the big quilt that was made with the help of refugees, who provided decorated squares for a big quilt, which was later exhibited to raise money for the refugee charity. 

The Bevan Family

 I knew already that Archdeacon Bevan had been Vicar of Hay for 56 years during the 19th century, and that he had lived at Hay Castle with his family when I went to the Enchanted Hour talk at the Library, but I learned a lot about the rest of his family.

John Price has done a huge amount of research into the rest of the family, combing through newspaper articles and diary entries, including the diary of Edward Lear, who wrote a poem for one of the daughters of the family.  (In fact, the talk over-ran the time slot, there was so much to pack in!)

Archdeacon Bevan was involved in just about everything that went on in Hay over that 56 years, and he had some remarkable children.  One of them rose to become Bishop of Swansea and Brecon.  His daughter Mary Louisa (later Mrs Dawson) wrote several books and pamphlets about local history, some of which John had brought along to show us.

Then there was Willy.  William Armine Bevan was a successful businessman - he even owned shares in a gold mine!  He organised shows at Olympia in Kensington, and had a keen interest in music.  He knew several leaders of military bands.  He moved in the same circles as people like Noel Coward.  He also enjoyed yachting, from the Weymouth Yacht Club (where his brother the Bishop died unexpectedly while visiting him). Almost nothing is known about him - this was all pieced together from snippets, but a full biography of him would make fascinating reading! 

It was a very interesting talk, and it would probably be possible to do a full talk about each of the Archdeacon's children, who all seemed to have lived full and interesting lives. 

 

Nourished Earth

 All of the new plants that I've put into my new garden have flourished - except for one.  I bought a fuchsia bush in Hereford, and first all the flowers fell off, and quite quickly it turned into a desiccated stick.

So I needed a replacement - not another fuchsia this time.

I stopped by the big plant stall on the market, but nothing seemed quite right for the space, and then I saw a few elderflower bushes at a stall closer to the Clock Tower.

This was the plant nursery and worm farm Nourished Earth, which was set up this year near Painscastle.  They sell worm tea (don't try to drink it!), biochar, and soft fruit bushes (there's a family connection with growing blackcurrants for Ribena!).  As well as the market stall, they have a website at www.nourishedearth.co.uk

[Edited to add:  I mistakenly said that they sell peat-free compost.  They don't, but they know someone who does!  Hay Regenerative Soils at https://haywegotworms.bigcartel.com/ who also take kitchen waste to turn into compost as a subscription service]

 

They're also making connections in local communities.  For instance, they were selling some tomato plants for a charity called #BeMoreFrank, which was set up to provide help for families in Herefordshire and surrounding counties who have a child suffering from cancer. It was set up by the family of Frank, who sadly died of cancer at the age of 13.  The family would have appreciated help with things like travel to Birmingham Children's Hospital, parking fees, hotels and so on, so when Frank died they decided to do something to provide that help to other families in a similar situation.  They can be found at www.bemorefrank.org

They're also involved with On The Verge in Talgarth, a group that is encouraging anyone with even a tiny plot of ground to get involved to increase biodiversity and create wildlife habitats. They can be found at www.ontheverge.wales

I had a fascinating chat with the chap on the stall, and I came home with one of the elderflower bushes - which still looks healthy so far! 

The Return of the Baskervilles

 Last night at the Baskie had a bit of an Australian theme, as an Australian couple were in the audience - and one of them was called John Baskerville!  He was having a holiday there because he was related to the Baskervilles who built the Hall.

There was also plenty of the Beatles, and the usual mix of vintage pop, folk, songs written by the performer, kazoo solos, and more. 

Enchanted Hour

 John Price will be the speaker at the Enchanted Hour at the Library on Friday 27th June at 2pm.

He'll be talking about the Bevan family at Hay Castle, with unpublished diary extracts from Kilvert, Mary Bevan, and Edward Lear, with connections to Queen Victoria and Rossini, the story of Painscastle and Glasbury, Kipling, Noel Coward, Christopher Dawson,  Hay Church, the town clock, parish hall and cemetery lych gate.

That's a lot to pack into an hour's talk!

Teas and coffees available, and the talks are free.  

Vintage Clothes on Castle Street

 

I thought this was going to be a pop-up shop for the Festival, but it seems to be attached to the guitar shop next door - 1970s jeans and shirts and so on.

Hay Community Resilience Initiative - the Story so Far

 There have now been three Community Assemblies at the Swan Hotel to discuss the three aspects of the plan for Hay.

For the Food initiative, the plan is for Hay to become self-sufficient in locally grown food by 2030.  The priorities are to find a place that can serve as a Food Hub, to share information about food availability, and increase demand for local produce. There is also a need to make it easier to access land on which to grow food, support for growers and supporting food production in community gardens and public spaces.  The Hay group is now working with Bwyd Powys Food, as part of the South Powys Food Loop, and the plan is to develop a Hay Online Real Food Supermarket.  This will be where farmers and growers can sell their produce direct to a membership group of householders in Hay.

The Energy initiative has the ambitious target of becoming self-sufficient in energy by 2035, starting with mapping areas that could be used for energy production and engaging with stakeholders in the wider community, as well as schools locally.  The Hay Resilience Team was recently invited to be part of the Community Energy Wales conference at the Centre for Alternative Technology, and met groups from all over Wales who are doing similar things.

The Wellbeing initiative focused on the need for a Community Hub, training in first aid and listening skills, and making sure that activities and resources take into account accessibility, poverty and inclusion, to combat loneliness in the community.  The team are working on finding a space to house the Food Hub, Online Supermarket, drop-in centre for mental health and offices for the businesses involved in the project.

Obviously there is a lot of work to do, and the vast majority of it will have to be done by volunteers.  One group that has been giving a lot of behind the scenes help is the Powys Facilitators Team, run by Cllr Sian Cox.  A lot of help has also been given by PAVO.  If anyone wants to get involved, there is a link labelled Hay Resilience on the sidebar.

Eventually the Initiative will be self-funding, but until then grant funding is needed, and it takes time and expertise to apply for grants.  So this is a major focus of the team at the moment. 

The Light of Day

 I was going to go to the Hay Music concert at the Castle - until I bumped into Tom from Gay-on-Wye, who reminded me that they were also having an event that evening.  

I felt a bit guilty about stopping him to talk, because he was carrying two heavy boxes, and he dropped one of them and broke two bottles of wine that were intended for the evening's event!

Dale, from Clocktower Books, was interviewing the authors of a new book called The Light of Day, which is a biography/memoir of a man called Roger Butler.  In the early days of campaigning for the legalisation of homosexuality, Roger was an ordinary man who took an extraordinary step.  He sent a letter, with two other men, to the papers, signed with his own name, while homosexuality was illegal.  They were risking prison.

It was important that he was an ordinary man - an estate agent from Lewisham - rather than a celebrity, to make the point that gay men were just ordinary people living ordinary lives, and not some weird creatures on the edge of society.

Decriminalisation of homosexuality came in 1967, but by this time Roger had new challenges to face, as he lost his sight.

Much later Christopher Stephens, one of the authors of the book, met Roger - he was one of the students who went to read to him at his home in Oxford.  They became friends, and Roger left his papers to Christopher when he died.  

When Christopher started to go through them to try to make a book out of them, he enlisted the help of Louise Radnofsky, who had also been a student at a different college in Oxford.  

Louise had flown in from Washington DC early that morning and come straight up to Hay with Christopher - she's now a reporter for the Wall Street Journal.  Christopher is an academic whose last book was on 4thC church history - so this was a bit of a departure for him.

It was a fascinating evening, and of course I bought the book. 

Midsummer Hay Music

 This is a bit late, because I didn't notice the dates!

But there is still time to book for the latest Hay Music events which are tonight, June 20th and tomorrow.

The Ferio Saxophone Quartet will be at the Castle tonight at 7.30pm, playing music from films, TV and stage.  Tickets are £17.50.

And tomorrow they will be playing at a more formal concert at St Mary's Church, with classical music from Bach to Bernstein. Tickets are £20.

All the details, including ticket concessions, are available on the Hay Music website. 

Bluegrass

 Wednesday night was the usual acoustic session at the Baskie, with the added pleasure of musicians who were attending the Bluegrass Festival there this weekend.  It was like being dipped in a warm bath of sound from guitars, banjo, fiddle, double bass and ukelele.  Lots of new songs to listen to, and it gave me an excuse to dig out Billy, Don't Be A Hero, which everyone knew.

There was also a musical tribute to George Cooper, who used to be a regular at the Baskie, and who sadly died this week.  Bob played one of his favourite pieces - Pinball Wizard! 

New Community Centre?

 Could it finally happen this time?

The latest plans for a community centre are for a facility on Forest Road, with room for sports activities, and the Youth Club, Dial-a-Ride office, allotments, business units (to be rented out to provide income to run the centre) and a bike track.  According to the Herald, Powys County Councillors have agreed to release the pot of money they've been sitting on for years to fund design work, surveys, planning applications, and any other work that needs doing on the project.  

The story in the Herald is a few months old, but the story also appeared in the Brecon and Radnor Express, and they have already started building the allotment beds, which don't need planning permission.

Tracy Stedman commented on a previous blog post (about the Well Being Assembly) that the architect and project planning consultant have been appointed, and all the statutory surveys are scheduled, so it's looking very hopeful.

One of the main things that came out of the Health and Well Being Assembly recently was the need for a community centre, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

New Bus Stop?

 It seems that action is being taken at the bus stops on Oxford Road again.  New timetable boards have been put up, with up to date timetables.  According to my sources (!) the engineer who put up the boards said that Powys County Council will be replacing the bus stop on the Hereford side of the road with a new bus stop similar to the one they have put in at the top of the car park.

So I shall be keeping a look out, so I can take a photo of the new bus stop when it arrives! 

Old Railway Line Garden Centre

 It's a long time since I've been to the Old Railway Line Garden Centre, and it's grown quite substantially.

It's a quick and easy journey on the bus.  From Hay, the bus drops you just across the road.  Coming back, the bus stop is a hundred yards or so towards Brecon, outside the Landrover dealership.

I met one of my new neighbours going into Brecon on the way there, and we had a fascinating chat.

I only had about an hour until the bus came the other way, so I grabbed a trolley and proceeded to fill it up to my carrying capacity.  Next time I will know that I could be more leisurely - I didn't spend much time exploring the indoor shopping area, which seemed to have everything a gardener could need.

The chap at the till managed to fit all the pots in the carrier bag I'd brought with me, and I was back in Hay by mid-day.  

Then I spent the afternoon planting out my purchases.  The lupin and delphinium and oregano are starting to develop a blue and purple theme.

Later I sat out in my deckchair reading.  A blackbird hopped past me, across the upper flower bed, quite unafraid, and ate every ripe wild strawberry off the plant there, keeping eye contact with me the entire time. 

Artist at the Chair

 I've started going to the launderette again, now I've moved into a place with no washing machine (there's a space for one, but it's not high on my list of priorities).

So while the washing was on, I headed towards Shepherds for a coffee - and never quite made it.  There's a new exhibition at the little gallery and I went in to see that instead.  

Nicky Litchfield paints animals - mostly dog portraits, but other things as well, and with a quirky sense of humour.  She's come all the way from the Ribble Valley in Lancashire for this, and she's fallen in love with Hay.  She was working on a charcoal sketch of a standard poodle when I went in, a new local commission, so the exhibition has been helpful to her.  She was quite excited because she'd just met Barbara Erskine, so I was able to tell her all about Lady of Hay, the book that launched Barbara's career. 

She can be found at www.nickylitchfield.com 

More Crime Fiction

 

Addymans has expanded their crime fiction into the next shop, now called Christie & Doyle.

Meal at Red Indigo

 The Cinema Bookshop did well over the Festival, so last night was a celebration meal to thank the staff for all their hard work.

We went to Red Indigo last year, and decided to go back this year, to sit on the balcony at the back in the evening sun, which was very pleasant.

I had the chat for starters, followed by a jalfryzi, with coriander naan bread, and the portion was too big for me to finish.  Our new part timer took a doggie bag home.  One person ordered the sizzling tandoori, to comments of: "Do you think that's hot enough?" 

Good service (thanks, Eklim!), good food, and pleasant conversation - a very good evening all round. 

Saturday Market Plant Stall

 The Saturday Market happens once a month across the summer months.  There are high quality crafts, organic veg, interesting food - and this time there was a plant stall.  I didn't take much notice of the other side of the stall, which was herbal remedies of some sort - I zeroed in on the plants.  After all, I have a big flowerbed to fill now, and the plants on offer were exactly what I was looking for.  I asked them for a box to carry my purchases away, and I filled it - perennial sweet peas, feverfew, thyme, and peppermint.  The peppermint has gone in a box next to the kitchen door - I don't want it to take over the garden!

I got them home and planted out in nice time before the heavens opened, which signalled the end of the market day!  It was great that it had held off until 2pm, though. 

Walking Holidays

 I went into Hereford on Friday, and also waiting for the bus was a lady who I'd seen on Wednesday evening at Baskerville Hall, in the audience for the acoustic music session.  Turns out that she's an Italian-American lady on a walking holiday, and the two younger ladies she was sitting with are also on a walking holiday - they're doing Land's End to John O'Groats, going around 18 miles a day, while she's heading south at a more leisurely 7 or 8 miles a day.  The ladies going north have a support vehicle - one of their husbands is driving a camper van so they have somewhere to stay every night.

The Italian-American woman was worried about what President Trump is doing, especially with ICE rounding up immigrants, but she said that, if the worst came to the worst, she still had family in Italy, so it wouldn't be so bad to leave the US. 

Affordable Housing

 As a follow up to yesterday's post, I saw in the Brecon and Radnor Express that there is a new plan to build affordable housing on the site where the old community centre was knocked down.

Powys County Council originally owned the site, which they sold to Wales and West Housing - who were going to redevelop it into affordable housing.  However it seems that Wales and West no longer own the site.  The new owners are Pegasus Developments and Hesyn housing association, and they also want to build affordable housing there.  Just to clarify - this is the site behind Garibaldi Terrace, near the bottom of Oxford Road on the bend.  

A consultation is underway, before planning permission is applied for, by the planning agents LRM.  They say this will include details on access, landscaping, drainage and so on.  There will also be an opportunity to comment when the National Parks Authority receive the planning application.

The consultation ends on June 20th, so there's still time to make comments.  The website is:

https://lrm-planning.com/consultation/former-community-centre-off-oxford-road-hay-on-wye/

 

Protests for Palestine

 

There was a little band of people protesting against the genocide in Gaza over Hay Festival, on the Festival site and also in town, around the Castle steps.

They were handing out leaflets recommending that people boycott Israeli produce such as avocados and citrus fruits, and also the companies which are supporting Israel - including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Costa Coffee, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Macdonalds, Nestle, Walkers crisps, Starbucks, various perfume companies like Estee Lauder, Chanel and Clinique, and various entertainment companies like Disney, Paramount and Fox.  Another company that supports Israel is Caterpillar, who supply armour plated bulldozers to the Israelis, who use them to demolish Palestinian homes and olive groves.

I also noticed this sign, taped to a signboard by the back gates of Hay Castle.  AirB&B is a problem in Hay, as I found when I was trying to move a couple of years ago.  I can see that each individual landlord is making a choice that makes sense for them financially, but when too many people do the same thing at the same time it becomes a problem for the wider society - in this case taking properties out of the pool of long term letting for local people.  

I hadn't realised that the AirB&B company had links to Israel (clicking on the picture should make it big enough to read).

Re-connected to the Hive Consciousness

 In other words, the engineer from BT came round this morning and connected my internet!

So now I can do all the things that my phone didn't have enough signal for during the Festival.

Also, I'm making much better headway with the utility companies now that I know that the almshouses have their very own postcode, different to the rest of Church Street!  Suddenly, I do exist, after all!

In other news there was a small, relaxed gathering at Baskerville Hall last night, as I went over for the first acoustic music evening I've been able to get to for a while.

 

Setting Up a New Home During the Festival

 It's been a manically busy week.

Of course, the shop has been very busy with Festival goers, but I've also been running round and emailing to get everything set up for my new home.

This is complicated by the fact that none of the utility companies seem to think it exists.

"Is this a new build?"

(No, it's 200 years old, and you supplied the previous resident)

"Can you send us a photo of your electricity meter?"

(Yes, but I'm not sure I got its best side)

"You must be a Powys resident to order recycling bins." 

(I am a Powys resident - you ought to be used to Hay having an HR3 postcode by now!)

So that's the difficult part of moving - the actual unpacking in a new home and seeing what I need to get has been far easier. 

One of the first things I noticed when I moved in was that there was nowhere convenient to hang my coats.  I have always wanted one of those round coat racks, which could stand by the front door.  Keeper's Pocket didn't have any when I asked, and nor did the two antique places on Backfold, or the Antique Centre by the Buttermarket.

Sally at Fleur-de-Lys had four, so I was able to pick out the perfect one.  It's even painted to match the colour scheme in the front room!  It fits all my coats, and has a rack round the bottom for umbrellas, sticks and - from my re-enactment days, my collection of swords!

One of the nice things I've noticed is that people passing by during the Festival often look up to read the sign over the almshouses, about Frances Harley setting up the charity for "poor, indigent women".  When Tim Pugh came to deliver my new TV screen, a couple were standing looking up.  The chap looked at me and asked: "Are you one of the poor, indigent women?"

I grinned.  "Yes, I am!"

The ladies in the other almshouses have lovely plant pots by their front doors, and I didn't want to be the odd one out.  Saturday was the Scouts' plant sale, so I went down and picked up a tall purple plant with variegated leaves, and a low growing white flower.  I have no idea what they're called, but they are very pretty.  There was a big pot, empty, in the back garden so I carried that through and potted them up with good black soil from under the plastic grass at the back.

The plastic grass has been taken away, leaving a big potential flower bed at the end of the garden.  I've already bought a honeysuckle to go up the back fence.  I've been offered other plants, too.

I went back to the plant sale to sample the Secret Wine Bar - Black Mountain Red this time - and noticed some carved wooden owls for sale.  I took one home with me, and he's now presiding over the patch of gravel near the house, where my new deckchair is going (given by a colleague at work).

On the way home with him, I passed the Wobbly Owl cider shop, and they had the Ebbw Vale Owl Sanctuary owls there for the day, so I had to go in and admire them! 

I've also had delicious tacos from the stall in the Castle Honesty Garden - and there are some of Sally Matthews' wolf sculptures lurking around the Castle grounds.

I'm hoping to get back to the Festival site to wander round the stalls later (no Oxfam book sale this year), after my new fridge is delivered this afternoon from the local A1 electric shop.

Watermills

 The second event I had a ticket for at the Festival was the talk on local watermills by Mary Morgan and Elizabeth Bingham. They've just written a new booklet about the watermills in the area, and visited as many of them as they could.  Considering that they are both in their 80s, they seem to have had a lot of fun scrambling around in ruins, but they also visited watermills that have been converted into family homes, often with the old mill machinery still in place, and even a few working watermills that have been restored.

One of the millers from Talgarth Mill was in the audience, and he said a few words about the mill during the question time at the end.  It's been very dry this year, so the mill can't get up enough speed to actually mill flour, but they can show the machinery working and demonstrate the different parts of the process.

Mary took us through the history of watermills world wide, and Elizabeth described the technology, and then they got onto the local mills.  Local in this case ranged as far afield as Ludlow (where one old mill is now a cafe) and Brecon's Priory Mill.  There was a brief mention, too, of the five or six mills along Cusop Dingle, one of which was a paper mill (it's still called Paper Mill Cottage).  Some mills have open days - National Mill Weekend was a couple of weeks ago, when mills around the country are open to visitors.

They also included a mill in the Golden Valley which is not a watermill - it's the only cider press in the country worked by a horse - whose name is Feathers.  They let visitors help, and bottle some very good cider.

Flour is surprisingly flammable when it's floating in suspension in the air, which happens a lot in mills - and this can cause explosions!  There was a quite dramatic video (Elizabeth had been persuaded out of doing a live demonstration in the tent!).  They also told the story of the biggest flour mill disaster in history, in Glasgow, where 18 people were killed! 

The booklet is being sold partly to raise money to save Boughrood Church roof, and they need £40,000, so I hope they sell lots!

Is A River Alive?

 I think the answer is definitely "Yes!", after listening to Robert Macfarlane talk yesterQday afternoon.  I'd bought the ticket before I'd had any idea I'd be moving house, and I wasn't going to waste it.

Rob Macfarlane was being interviewed by Horatio Clare, who is very good at interviewing - and it helps that they are already friends.  The new book - Is A River Alive? - is his most personal yet, and he spent five years travelling around the world to write it, featuring rivers in Ecuador,  Quebec and Chinnai in India (which used to be Madras, when it was famed for its rivers).  

He started off by introducing a third entity on stage - he had spent the morning at the Warren, and brought back a flask of Wye water.  He spoke quite a bit about the Wye, including the information that there is a new post in Herefordshire Council specifically to be the Voice of the Wye, so that the needs of the river are represented at an official level.  Given the sad state of the river (it's not so long ago that you could paddle without slipping on slimy green weed at the Warren), this is much needed.

He also talked about chalk streams, in the south of England where he lives, and the desperate state they are in.

But he also mentioned signs of hope - a river system in the Pacific North West of America which was dammed in the 1920s has recently had the last dam removed - and the salmon are already coming back to spawn there, in what was once one of the most important salmon rivers on that coast.

Eating Out

 I'd used up as much food as possible before I moved, so I wouldn't have to carry it across, so I found myself installed in the new place with half a loaf and a tin of rice pudding, and a lot of spices!

So I treated myself.

For a late lunch, after watching the ATK men work so hard all morning, I ambled down to Shepherd's and had a mushroom melt and coffee, which was just right.

And in the evening I went into Kilvert's and had their vegan chilli, washed down with a pint of Tiny Rebel IPA. It's one of the few times I've ever strayed away from the beers on the handpumps, but I used to drink Tiny Rebel when I went down to Cardiff for a day out, and it was nice to see it again.

This morning, I took my folding chair out into my new garden, and had a snack there.  It's lovely to be able to watch the robins and blackbirds, and hear the sound of the stream down below the gardens. 

And now the Festival has started, and I watched the coaches full of school children heading for the Festival site this morning.

Later, when I was taking the empty boxes back to work (it's great to work in a bookshop when you're moving - we have all the right sized boxes for removals!) I met a couple of the schoolgirls trying to fill in a questionnaire.  They were looking for the oldest book they could find in Hay, and had pencilled in 1992.

"We can do better than that!" I said, and took them up to the Francis Edwards department, where we have a book which I think is dated 1483 - an early example of a printed book.

They were last seen heading off to the gold post box, to tick that off their list of things to find.  There's a new post box topper of Gavin and Stacey on it!

Moving House Update

 I've moved!

The men from ATK removals were brilliant, and they managed to get everything in one van.

So now I'm unpacking boxes.

I won't have internet access at the new house until 5th June, so I am coming back to the old flat to use the broadband here while I can.

It's going to look lovely when everything is put away!

Packing

 No time for posting for a few days - only packing....

Well-Being Assembly

 This was the third of the Citizen's Assemblies organised by Mike Eccles.

To open the proceedings, he gave us an update on what has been achieved so far.  

Hay is now part of the South Powys Food Loop.  Our part in that is to set up an online supermarket of local food, and to encourage local people to use it to buy their groceries as much as possible.

On the  energy front, three consultants are working with the group in Hay - one from CAT, one from a group in Leominster, and I didn't catch who the other one was.  Setting up our own energy company is complicated, so the target is to have it up and running by 2035.  So far they are at the stage of mapping suitable local energy generation sites and having talks with the landowners.

This Assembly was on Mental Well-Being, and apparently it's something that has never been tried before.  They are hoping that, if it is successful, a similar model can be rolled out across Wales, via the library services.

The slogan of the Assembly was "It's OK not to feel OK, but it's not OK to not talk about it."

The idea is that Hay as a community should be able to identify people who are struggling with anxiety or loneliness or low level depression, and give assistance before it gets bad enough to involve the NHS.  NHS services have seen serious cuts in recent years, so even if someone is ill enough to need medical help, they can be a long time on a waiting list before they get it. 

As part of the discussion process, they are trialing some new software to record and analyse the conversations on each table which is AI assisted.  My comment was that AI is Evil - but this seems to be one of the more ethical uses of the technology, as it is not being trained on copyright material stolen from the authors, but just looking at the conversations in the room.

So the question we were considering was: How can we catch people before they need medical help?  How can we create a supportive community?

Before we started the discussions, we were shown a short film from Cambridge, interviewing schoolchildren and mothers who were suffering from climate anxiety - the worry about how the climate is changing and how it will affect the children who are growing up now.  One lady being interviewed said that, if people aren't worried, there must be something wrong with them - there's a lot to be worried about!  Everyone involved seemed to think that doing something practical helped a lot, even if it's only something small and local.

Then we had a short speech from Marie Brousseau-Navarro, who is the Deputy Commissioner and Director for Health in the Future Generations Commission for Wales.  This body ensures that decisions taken in the Senedd take into account the consequences for people in the future - more long term thinking than is usually the case in politics.  They produce a report every five years assessing how well the Senedd is doing.  Mike met Marie at Hay Festival, and she was so interested in what he was doing that she wanted to come along and see the Assembly in action. 

On our table we had a mix of people who are long term residents of Hay, who know the history of what has been done before, and some newcomers, which was useful because we could compare notes on how easy it was to find out what was going on in Hay and how easy (or not) it was to access groups of fellow residents with similar interests.  There's a lot going on in Hay, and that's one way to help people who feel isolated, if there is an easy way of finding out where those groups are.

During the coffee break, the lady who was filming the event set up her camera in another room to do interviews with volunteers.  I went along because no-one else on the table felt brave enough to do it!

It was mildly terrifying, but I think I made sense, and the camera lady said I'd given her some useful content.

The last part of the process was for a person from each table to stand up and share what had come out of the discussions - each table had a note taker using post-it notes, and a moderator to keep the discussion on track and make sure everyone was heard.

Just about everyone agreed that what Hay needs is a central hub where people can go and meet and find out what's going on.  At the moment the Library has this role - but Hay used to have a proper community centre, and that's really what's needed again.  (there is a long, long history of Hay trying to get a new community centre which I will not repeat here).

Several tables also suggested that it would be a good idea to give some sort of training to people in the community so they could recognise people who were struggling and offer support.

One table suggested making Hay a Town of Well-Being, and our table suggested a group at the Thursday market called something like Happy in Hay that could share information and lend a friendly ear.  (the British Legion has a very good Tea and Chat session regularly, but not everyone wants to go into the British Legion).

There was some worry about the younger people growing up in the community, and the need for inter-generational activities was stressed, as well as the suggestion that there should be a Young People's Assembly so that they could decide for themselves what they needed.

There was also mention of the perennial problem in Hay of groups needing to collaborate more - and publicise the fact that they exist better.  The Hay Community Facebook page is a useful resource, but not everyone is on Facebook, and there needs to be a way of communicating without being online as well.

Finally, there was an emphasis on the benefits of nature - getting out walking, working with farmers to improve local biodiversity, and creating nature based projects.

When I went along to the Assembly, I wasn't sure what I'd be able to contribute, but it turned out to be a very useful session and I'm very glad I went.

Tanzanian Cuisine

 I needed to go into Hereford for the bank yesterday.

I normally go in the morning, and have a late lunch when I get back, but yesterday the removal man was coming round in the morning to see how much stuff I have to move, so I took the 11.50 bus.  The next bus back was 16.20, so I had quite a while to hang around.

The May Fair has moved on now, but there are signs of the terrible fire that engulfed a burger van the other day.  They did a brilliant job of clearing it up, though, and even had members of the Showman's Guild from Birmingham come down to help them.  A couple of nearby shops need new signs and paintwork.

My next job was to find the furniture warehouses/showrooms.  When my mum heard I was moving, she said brightly: "Oh, I'll buy you a sofa as a moving in present."  Which is incredibly generous of her, but I'm pretty sure there won't be room for a sofa, so I talked her down to a comfy chair.

90% of the chairs on offer seemed to be recliners, and I didn't really want a recliner.  But there was a very nice one at the oak and pine place behind the Green Dragon.

The only other furniture warehouse I could find was the one I got my bed from a few years ago, near the multistorey car park.  They had a bigger selection, again mostly recliners, but there is one very nice high backed armchair that looks perfect.  It even comes in 4 different colours.  So as soon as I'm settled in, I can go back and order it.

It was definitely time for a late lunch now.  There's a little food court in the Market, and I noticed a sign for Tanzanian cuisine.  I'm pretty sure I've never eaten Tanzanian food, so I got the lady at the stall to talk me through what the choices are.  I'm very sure that I've never come across ugali before - it's a slab of boiled maize.  The lady said it was pretty bland in itself; the flavour comes from the curry it's served with.  I chose the beef curry, and it was delicious.  Next time I need a meal in Hereford I'm going back to try some other things on her menu.

And from the other window on her stall, she sells hand made soaps.

Moving House

 I've signed all the paperwork, set up the standing order with the bank, and I'm just waiting for a date from ATK Removals, and I'll be leaving the little flat over the Old Electric Shop.

It's all happened very quickly - three weeks ago I had no intention of moving!  But now I have been offered one of the Harley almshouses, and it was too good an opportunity to miss.

(The charity has a very sensible rule about not discussing the almshouses online, so this is the only time I will mention anything about it).

Of course, this means that I now qualify as a little old lady, though one of my friends said that couldn't be right, because I'm too tall!

And one of my colleagues at work said: "They're a bit hobbit-y, aren't they?"

I think this can only be a good thing.  After all, Tolkien said that hobbit holes mean comfort.

It's Not All at the Co-op

 I don't know if anyone will remember the old advert "It's all at the Co-op Now!" but today I went down and I've never seen the shelves so empty.  No veg apart from a few turnips, and gaps all round the store.

Fortunately they still had everything I needed.  I've stocked up on some ready meals so I don't need to worry about cooking for a week or so.

The chap on the till said it was due to computer difficulties.

Exhibition at The Chair

 I've been running around doing Behind the Scenes Stuff (which is still ongoing), but I was impressed enough to stop and look at the new exhibition at the Chair gallery.

It's a comparison between clothes made from derivatives of oil ("clothes from the oil fields") versus clothes made from natural fibres ("clothes from the farmers' fields").  Superficially, the two outfits in the window look very similar - but when you look closer, and think about it, the natural fibres are renewable and sustainable and the clothes from the oil fields - aren't.

I'm not sure if I'll have time to pop in to chat to the exhibitors - I'm sure it will be very interesting. 

[Edited to add: I did have time to pop in today, and as well as the comparison between different sorts of clothing there were also some examples of visible mending, natural dyes from the lady who has the spinning wheel on the market, and a nurse's cape decorated with patchwork and crocheted squares.]