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.]

A Walk Round Hay

 It's Market Day, the streets are buzzing, the sun is shining, and I went for a wander after my shopping was done.

The little purple shop next to Murder and Mayhem has closed down, but there are paint tins in there and it looks as if someone new is going to move in very soon.

Meanwhile, Haywain Antiques, close to Kilverts, has closed down.  It's quite a large space, with lots of good windows, so it'll be interesting to see who takes it on. 

Mac has given the bus shelter on the Hereford side of the road a new coat of green paint, which makes it look much better, and the sedum roof has appeared on the new bus shelter at the top of the car park.

I would have photos, but my new laptop is not talking to my old camera at the moment.  I'm sure I'll be able to work something out, though.

Stuff Is Happening

 Well, I thought I'd be back to normal this week, but Stuff Is Happening.  On the surface I am serene like a swan, while paddling furiously under the water!  So I'm somewhat distracted just now, and it will be a little while before I can make anything public.

 Meanwhile, I'm loving my new laptop, which does all the things my old laptop did, but wizzier and with a few things in different positions.

And I'm pleased to see that Wye Fret, the guitar shop, is doing well enough that they need bigger premises, so they're moving next door to the current shop on Castle Street, into what used to be Number Two.

Also, I popped into Oil and Oak on Castle Street a few days ago, to find that the room upstairs has been transformed into a Pagan sanctuary.  It's got a Pagan altar, and a Wheel of the Year on the wall, and some very good artwork from The Moon and the Furrow.  Sadly, I came to it rather late, and the exhibition is being taken down this week to make way for a new one.

There's a new exhibition at the Chair, too - when I passed by this evening they were having their opening reception, which seemed very well attended.  I didn't have time to find out who the artist is.

New Laptop

 I've spent the afternoon with Tim Pugh, who was setting up my brand new laptop for me, and transferring everything over from the old one.  I was sad to see it go, but I had hammered the keyboard into a state of chronic disrepair, and the Windows upgrade coming soon meant that the version on the old laptop would no longer be supported, so it was time to take the plunge with a new machine.

A few things are in different places, but I'm figuring it out.

Wellbeing Forum

 Well, I'm physically and mentally back in Hay now, and this morning was market day.  I was getting all my usual treats - grapes for tomorrow morning when I watch Star Trek with a friend (we're just about to start season 2 of Star Trek Deep Space Nine), delicious cakes (pear and red berry) from Bernie, bread from Alex Gooch.

There were leaflets about the Well Being Assembly at the Swan on the Primrose Farm stall and the stall next to it, which was for a fasting retreat in Craswell.  The lady at that stall said she wanted to meet the locals in Hay, and the best way to do that was to come to the market - but Craswell is a bit too close to Hay for anyone living here to want to go there for a holiday!

I also saw Mike, the organiser of the Well Being Assembly, going round with leaflets (I already have my ticket).  He's at the nervous stage of wondering whether anyone will turn up, though the previous two Assemblies were packed out.

Help make Mike less nervous by booking a free ticket now!   

https://hayresilience.org/ is the website to go to.  The Assembly takes place on Saturday 10th May at the Swan from 1.30pm (to start at 2pm) until 5pm, and the tickets are free.  (Tickets are needed in case there are more people interested in going than there are seats in the function room).

Physically in Hay, Virtually in Belfast!

 I've had a comment worrying about me because I haven't been posting very much recently.

The reason is that I normally go to EasterCon, the big science fiction convention which is held over the Easter weekend.  This year, however, it is being held in Belfast, which I felt was a bit too far to go, so I bought a supporting membership which entitles me to watch the discussion panels and lectures, and take part in conversations on the Discord server over the weekend.

I'm posting this in the half hour break between a panel about religion in fantasy and one about Arthurian myth.

So my body is in Hay, but my mind is in Belfast!  (It's a very good convention so far - I'm just sorry I can't have the complete experience of chatting to people in the bar as well as attending the events).

Normal service will be resumed sometime next week.

New Bus Stop

 I was told that a new bus stop had appeared at the top of the car park, so this morning I went along and had a look:

 At first I thought they had forgotten the roof, but apparently the roof is coming later - it's going to be a green roof, with plants, hence all the slogans in English and Welsh on the bus shelter about reducing CO2 and being greener.

It's smaller than the old shelter, but it faces the road this time, and it does have a little bench (there is a more comfortable bench nearby, but it's not under shelter).

And hopefully, when the new bus timetable is finalised, there will be up to date information about the bus times at the bus stop too.

This side of the road is the responsibility of Powys County Council.  The other side of the road is the responsibility of the Town Council, who repaired the bench recently.

One good idea that came up while discussing the bus shelters was that they should be marked with the destination.  Some visitors get confused and don't know which side of the road to stand for Hereford or Brecon.

Well Being Assembly

 This is the third of the meetings to discuss the Hay Community Resilience Initiative.  Previous meetings have been focussed on local food and local energy production - now it's the turn of Mental Health.

The keynote speaker at the meeting will be the Deputy Commissioner for Future Generations for Wales, Marie Broussau-Navarro.

Part of the discussion will be about defining what we mean by mental health and well-being, and then trying to work out what we can do as a community to improve people's mental health and well being.

Questions that the Assembly will be asking include how we, as a community, can catch people suffering from anxiety or mild depression before they need medical help, and how can we build a supportive community?

Tickets are free, but limited by the size of the room at the Swan, and the meeting will be held on Saturday 10th May from 2pm to 5pm.

The Food Assembly was held last year, and the ideas put forward then have evolved - now the Hay group is working closely with Bwyd Powys Food, which is developing a South Powys Food Loop, inspired by a scheme that is already running in the South East of England.  So Hay would have a Hub linked to that Loop of local food producers, to get the food to local consumers.

Craft Centre Toilets

 When I went up to use the cash machine yesterday, I was pleased to see that the public toilets in the Craft Centre have re-opened.

I hope they don't get vandalised this time.

Pulp Fiction Exhibition

 I went up to the Buttermarket this morning to see the new Cabinet of Curiosities exhibition, which is all about paper, from the making of paper in a traditional French mill to the many uses of paper.  There was a lovely little paper theatre, for example, and some weaving of linen and paper by a local student.

Below are the Malian writing boards, part of the collection of the Cabinet of Curiosities.

Below that is an installation called Needle in a Haystack, inspired by a work by Nigel Kerry (no books were harmed in the making of this artwork - the books were actually borrowed from Hay Cinema Bookshop).

 

 The last picture is some information about the pollution problems that paper use causes.  Other information posters were placed around the exhibition.  For instance, 2.5 billion paper coffee cups are used in Britain every year, and only 1 in 400 is recycled, and 42% of the global wood harvest is used to make paper, the majority of which is used for packaging - and with the growth of companies like Amazon, packaging is big business these days.

Meanwhile in the Moulin du Verger near Angouleme, a master papermaker still makes high quality paper out of rags in the traditional way - there was a short film, in French, about the process.

 The exhibition is also on tomorrow, and is free.

Hay Castle Open Show

 https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIQwSlIt9af/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 I've never tried to do this before - but this is the Hay Castle Trust video of the Open Show that they posted on Instagram (hope it works!)

Small Business Saturday

 

The Rohan clothes shop has moved across the road into bigger premises.

The people who ran the Isis cafe retired, and Rohan needed more space - they've been working very hard to get it ready, and the new shop opened today.

How The Light Gets In

 I don't usually take much notice of the Festival At The Other End of Town, partly because of their pricing strategy - during Hay Festival week I need to be able to go in and out of the venue, to maybe see one event and then cover a shift at work, and How The Light Gets In does it by selling a ticket for the weekend that allows access to the events, or with day tickets, which range from £38 to £88 for different days.

However, the brochures were available at the Co-op, so I've been having a look, and they do have some very good guests.  Rowan Williams (previous Archbishop of Canterbury) will be there, as well as Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, Malcolm Rifkind, Yanis Varoufakis, historian David Starkey, veteran performer Tom Robinson and many more, including the Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe Michelle Terry, mathematician Timothy Nguyen, philosophers, scientists and economists.

Plus music, the funfair, and interesting food on site.

How the Light Gets in will be running from 23rd to 26th May, which is also the first weekend of Hay Festival.

Events at the Castle

 There's a lot going on at the Castle at the moment.

I completely missed the Weekend of Mistakes (too busy thinking about my holidays), and by the time I'd thought of buying a ticket for the Hay Music harp recital they'd sold out - but April is a busy month too. 

For the whole of this month there's an art and sculpture show in the gallery at the top of the castle.  I went up this morning, and there is some exceptionally good work there - landscapes, portraits, paintings in oils, pastels, fabric and mixed media, an exploding glitterball (!), glass, porcelain, wood and more.  I think my favourite picture was the Hay-on-Wye Rapid Transit Network by Jasper Fforde, a London Underground style map with all sorts of local places of interest as the stations, and several different routes, including the April Ashley Line and the Eugene Fisk Loop.  Other artist names I recognised were Sally Matthews (a sleeping cat) and Barbara Shaw (the fabric pictures).

Another new venture is the composting hub, which opens this month.  According to the Hereford Times, Hay Regenerative Soils CIC will run the site along with Hay Castle and Brecon Beacons Local Nature Partnership.  They will be transforming food waste from the Castle and local community into good quality compost, reducing the local carbon footprint, keeping food waste out of landfill and providing compost to members.  They are also offering workshops on soil health - a seven week course has already started on Soil Food Web Essentials.  It's on Tuesday evenings from 5.30pm to 7pm and it's free.

The hub will provide a weekly food waste drop off point for individuals and small households, and a pick up service for local businesses and events.

 

New Post Box Topper

 

Postman Pat and his black and white cat adorning the post box this time.  Childrens books and the Post Office all in one!

It wasn't as easy to get to the post box as usual, because Welsh Water are doing works around the Blue Boar corner again, and closed off the road and some of the pavement.  There's been quite a bit of complaining on the Hay Community Facebook page, but I'd rather have scheduled maintenance than a catastrophic burst pipe at some random time.

Pulp Fiction Posters

 There's always a way to get a picture if you really want to!

Pulp Fiction

 I tried to copy the poster across, but the computer won't let me do it.

However, the Cabinet of Curiosities and Botany and Other Stories are putting an exhibition on in the Buttermarket on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th April.  It will celebrate paper in all its forms (especially books) and the links between paper and the natural world.  The title is Pulp Fiction.

The exhibition is free, and there will also be an opportunity to become a Friend of Botany and Other Stories, to find out the plans for 2025, and for young people to join the Budding Botanical Artists Club.