Wildlife Art

 Oil and Oak often put on exhibitions in their upstairs room, and at the moment the space is filled with very detailed and realistic paintings of British wildlife by Lyndsay Reid.  I especially like the hares.

New Comic Shop

 

Congratulations to Lauren and Julian of Hay-on-Wye Comics, who have upgraded from the market stall and shelf in Broad Street Books to a shop of their own.  They're closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I haven't been able to look inside properly yet, but I know they have lots of interesting stock, and I'll be browsing as soon as I can.

New Exhibition at Lion Street Gallery

 I saw the announcement on Facebook, so I decided to check it out when I went shopping.

The exhibition at Lion Street Gallery is called Emotional Terrain, and is a group of works by Di Metcalfe.

I had the gallery to myself that morning, so i had plenty of time to linger over the landscapes.  The card that goes with the exhibition says: "Her work radiates energy and intensity" and it's true - you can feel the energy in the brushstrokes - or maybe she uses a pallet knife - there's a lot of texture to the paint.  Brent explained that she works on solid panels rather than canvas, because her vigorous style would make the  canvas stretch and go baggy   Most of the landscapes are places in Wales, with exuberant cloudscapes.  I liked them a lot.

Brent also displays work from a regular group of artists, and I like most of them - the interiors of historic houses by Matthew Wood, and the wildflowers standing out of a blurred background by Dylan Lloyd, and at the moment there are some green semi-abstract woodland glades and pools by Sandra Graham that I also liked very much.  The paintings are expensive, but there's a scheme where you can pay installments over several months - which makes it a far more reasonable proposition.  And they are very fine works of art.

Yorkshire Building Society

 I was very disappointed to get an email this morning to say that the Hay branch of the Yorkshire Building Society will be closing down in August.

One of my main reasons for opening a savings account with them - when I was in a position to actually have savings! - was that I could walk into their office and talk to an actual human being, who knew me, and the whole business took about five minutes out of my day.

I understand that the next nearest physical branch is a choice between Abergavenny or Worcester - neither of which are exactly accessible for a visit from Hay.  So instead of walking in while I'm doing my shopping, this would mean a bus ride to Hereford and a train, and take all day.  Or a bus ride to Brecon and bus down to Abergavenny that way, which would also take most of a day.

Looks like I'm going to have to start thinking about moving my savings - I refuse to do online banking.  It's only more convenient for the bank or building society, not for me as a customer. 

Children's Concert

 My neighbour was sitting in her garden this morning when two children leaned over the wall.

"We're in a concert at the church this evening.  You've got to come!"

So we walked down to the church together.  Just in front of us, a kid with a violin case was charging full pelt down the hill, obviously thinking he was going to be late.

As we sat down, the two kids who had invited my neighbour looked back from their seats with thumbs up.  "You came!" 

The first half of the concert was performed by the professional pianist Jelena Makarova and soprano - the children were being introduced to a wide variety of music featuring rivers and the sea, starting with Benjamin Britten's arrangement of the folk song O, Waly, Waly, the Mermaid's Song by Haydn, a setting of a piece for choir done specially for Jessica Summers to sing with the piano by Colin Riley, called Never Coming Back, and At the River arranged by Aaron Copeland - one of those hymns that turns  up in old Westerns.

Then it was the children's turn.  Francesca Kay the poet had worked with Class 5 in four groups, each of which produced a very different river-themed poem, which composer Robert Peate set to music, including a very serious young drummer, a girl on the xylophone, various cymbals and percussion instruments, and two violinists - and the choir.  They all looked as if they were enjoying themselves, and thoroughly deserved the applause after each song, and at the end.  The poet said that she'd love to just go back to the school and write poetry with the kids until they told her to go away!

It was hugely enjoyable, and lots of people were leaving donations for further Outreach events in the future as they left. 

Symphony Orchestra in Hay

 It's not often Hay gets an entire symphony orchestra*, but Hay Music has organised a concert with the Hereford Symphony Orchestra this Saturday at 3pm (doors open at 2.30pm) in St Mary's Church.  

Tickets are £20, under-25s £10.  They will be playing Rossini's An Italian Girl in Algiers, Wagner's Siegfried Idyll and Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony.

And it's a busy week for music lovers, because Songs of the River will be performed, also at St Mary's, on Thursday 26th March at 6pm.  This is a project put together by the musicians and children of Hay School - composer Robert Peate, poet Francesca Kay, soprano Jessica Summers and pianist Jelena Makarova.  This concert is free with a retiring collection in support of Hay Music's Outreach Programme. 

*in fact, this is the first  time! 

M is for Mushroom

 Or F is for Forest.

The Parish Hall was packed for a showing of The Life of the Forest: Fungi, a Polish documentary by Tomasz Ogrodowczyk, with English narration, and fantastic photography of all sorts of fungi in a Polish forest.  The film covered how essential fungi are to the health of the forest, forming a symbiotic relationship with the trees, the various types of fungi, invasive species (there's one from North America which has become naturalised in the coastal forests, for example, which is collected for food by Polish mushroom pickers).  They also talked about forest management and logging, and regeneration of the forests.

After the film, the panel were introduced.  There's no stage in the Parish Hall, so they had to stand so that everyone could see them.  They were Alex Armstrong, a PhD researcher from the University of Birmingham, Martha Crockatt, a PhD researcher from the University of Oxford, Jenny Dickers, now retired, but her career was in land management, and Ray Woods, botanist, mycologist, and expert in lichen.  The moderator of the panel was Matthew Pryor, a journalist.

The discussion soon moved beyond fungi to all sorts of questions about woodland management, policy making at central government level, nitrogen pollution affecting the growth of fungi, orange lichen on oak trees indicating pollution - and being used by a limestone quarry to see how effective their dust suppression programme was (the smaller the area affected by the lichen, the better they were doing).

Jenny implored us all to think about what sort of woodland we wanted to see, because there are lots of different ideas for the uses of woodland that don't necessarily work well together.  She comes from a farming family, as well as working in conservation, and there was a good discussion about trying to understand how farmers think, so they don't get defensive about new ideas coming in, while at the same time acknowledging that farmers are being pulled in several different directions at once, with some policies aimed at increasing food production, others at conservation and pollution reduction, and those policies often contradict each other.  So they tend to be suspicious of researchers like Alex coming in when actually the researchers could help them.

There's the very prescriptive way the policies are applied, too, without taking account of local conditions, and (for instance) planting hedgerows with hawthorn far too thickly so that no undergrowth can grow - which would be beneficial for insects, birds and so on.  They also talked about policies that led to nitrogen reduction (a good thing) could lead to unintended consequences which were not so good for the health of the forests - it's a very complex problem, and a complex ecosystem.  More research needs to be done on the impact of chicken farms, too, and the use of ammonia scrubbers to take the ammonia emissions out of the atmosphere - but then, what do the farmers do with the ammonia in the scrubbers?  Is it taken away, or is it just moved around the farm?

There's the question, too, of which species of trees to plant to cope with climate change.  Roy Woods said that one scheme in Wales is planting hornbeam - he's not a fan, and would prefer other trees to be planted instead.  He also mentioned the importance of planting trees in upland areas to prevent floods further downstream. 

Also available, on each seat, were copies of the latest Cabbage Leaf, which is all about forests and fungi, with illustrations of local fungi painted by  Françoise Verger, and collected for her by Chris Bradshaw, who has been monitoring local fungi for about five years now.  He asked why it should be that some areas he surveyed had almost no fungi, while other seemingly identical areas had a rich variety.  Roy Woods suggested that it was the difference between valleys that ran east/west, compared to valleys that ran north/south.  Winds bringing nitrogen pollution from the east run up against the edges of woodland in the east/west running valleys and the trees have more nitrogen than they need, while the wind skips over the valleys running north/south.

So a fascinating evening, with a lot of food for thought.

The next event will be G is for Garden, on 9th May - more information nearer the time.  One of the panelists then will be John Crellin, whose book on the flora of Brecknockshire will be out on 9th April.  Layla Robinson's new book is also out, about creating things with dried flowers (she was in the audience, and her book was on display at the back).

Bookshop451

 

Welcome to the newest bookshop in Hay - open to the public for the first time today, but open for drinks for other booksellers and friends last night.  It's a specialist SF and Fantasy bookshop, and the name is rather cleverly taken from Ray Bradbury's classic Fahrenheit 451, which is the temperature at which books burn, hence the flames on the window.  They're not sure if they're going to keep the flames - after all, they want to display their books in the window as well.  They also have an early edition of Fahrenheit 451 in a case at the cash desk.

I had a great time at the party, and several fascinating discussions.  For instance I found out that one chap I've known for years used to go to a bookshop in London that I also went to - one of the first specialist SF bookshops, Dark They Were And Golden Eyed, also a quotation from Ray Bradbury.  It was a sad day when that bookshop closed down.

I was very impressed with the quality of their stock - and so was Derek Addyman, who left the shop with a pile of books in his arms.  Later, Anne Brichto was also piling up the Gollancz yellow jacket SF. 

Forest

 Botany and other Stories are holding an event at the Parish Hall on Saturday 21st March, from 7pm to 9pm.  It's under the umbrella of The Travelling Cabinet of Curiosities (since Henallt House, the permanent Cabinet of Curiosities, is having major renovation work done at the moment).

They are showing a film called Forest, a documentary about trees and the living system that connects them, followed by a Q and A session.  Entry is free. 

Hay Festival

 The Hay Festival programme is out online now, and I've been looking through it.

The printed catalogue usually takes a bit longer to come out, and they're trying to cut down on the quantities for sustainability - it uses a lot of paper.

The first thing I noticed is that I've never seen so many Doctor Who actors on the programme before!

Christopher Eccleston (9th Doctor) will be reading A Kestrel for a Knave for BBC radio, along with Alex Kingston (River Song) who is reading Frankenstein, Sacha Dhawan (the Master) reading 1984, and Reece Shearsmith (several Dr Who roles plus William Shakespeare and Furfur the demon in Good Omens) reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Meanwhile Russell Tovey (War Between the Land and Sea) is talking about contemporary art for kids.

Juno Dawson, who has written for Doctor Who, will be in conversation with local drag queen Boo La Croux. 

Local personalities include Barbara Erskine talking about Lady of Hay, the book that started her successful career, and Derek Addyman and Anne Brichto are being interviewed about the history of Hay as a Book Town.  Catrin Nye, the daughter of my neighbour when I lived in Broad Street, is interviewing Claudia Hammond.  And the Hay Shantymen will be singing on the Festival site.  The Beefy Boys are doing some cooking events, too, and Lucky Seven Brewery will be providing the drinks for another foodie event with Wild by Nature and their charcuterie. 

The big names for the Festival this year are all women: Gisèle Pelicot, Malala Yousafzai, and Nazarin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.  

There are also local walks, tours of Hay Castle, children's authors like Cressida Cowell, archaeology with Alice Roberts, astronomy with Sheila Kanani, the MUBI cinema showing films ranging from Buster Keaton's The General to Bright Young Things to Orlando with Tilda Swanton, Natalie Haynes talking about Jason of the Argonauts and Medea, historians like Anthony Beevor and James Holland, and lots more.

Some of the events are already sold out. 

 

Improving Home and Garden

 It happened so gradually that I didn't notice, until my hands were almost under my chin to type!  My old office chair (which was being thrown out when I got it over ten years ago), was sinking slowly in the West - and the mechanism to make the seat higher again no longer works.

So it had to go.

I had an idea of what I wanted to replace it - not a modern office chair, but something vintage, and wooden.

I tried Fleur de Lys - I can usually get something good there - but they had no swivel chairs in stock at the moment.

So I tried the basement of Bain and Murrin - and there it was, right at the bottom of the stairs.  The perfect chair.  They even delivered for me.

 Meanwhile in the garden I was thinking that there were some spaces that needed to be filled up, so I went out to The Old Railway Line Garden Centre at Three Cocks on the bus.  I only had about an hour there before the bus back, so I needed to have a plan and not just wander round aimlessly.

I have loved magnolia bushes since I first saw one when I was eleven.  We were walking down to see a house my mum wanted to buy, and passed a garden when the bush was in full bloom, masses of cream flowers everywhere.  

As a teenager on holiday in Ireland, we went to Birr Castle.  The garden back then was still very much a family garden, and we met a lovely old lady pottering around with her gardening basket, who told us all about their wonderful magnolia bush.  We realised later that she was the Dowager Marchioness!

So I wanted a magnolia, and there were several to choose from. Initially I was going to go for a cream one, but there was a deep pink one called Emperor and since I had recently bought a plum tree called Czar, that was the one I went for.

[Edited to add: I have planted a monster!  When I read the label more carefully at home, I found it will grow to 5 metres high!] 

The weather was not pleasant, so I cut it rather fine in getting back to the bus stop.  In fact, as I trundled my trolley out of the garden centre, I could see the bus pulling into the layby, and had to make a dash for it.  Fortunately, the bus was five minutes early, so had to wait there, and I needn't have panicked!

Back in Hay, I had time to go up to the market - sadly depleted because of the weather.  The lovely plant lady was there, though - and she had a cream flowered magnolia.  Well, why shouldn't I have two magnolias?  This one is stellata, and doesn't grow very big. 

New Book of Poetry

 A lady called Tammy Allen recently joined the Hay Writers' Circle, and she's just had a book of poetry published.

The book is called Roots, and it's published by The Conrad Press.  Tammy is a Mental Health Counsellor from the Swansea Valley, and the poems deal with her experiences of loss, grief, healing and acceptance in the face of adversity.  Each poem is illustrated by Sion Rees.

Borderlines Film Festival

 The Borderlines Film Festival began on 6th March, and there are several films being shown in Hay.

I'm afraid I missed the first weekend of films - Booth's Bookshop Cinema was showing No Other Choice, a South Korean film about a man who goes for a job and decides to get rid of his rivals, Resurrection, a Chinese sort of time travel film spanning a century of Chinese history, and Nouvelle Vague, a French film re-imagining the making of Jean-Luc Godard's film A bout de souffle - the original film is also being shown in Ludlow and Hereford.

Coming up on Friday 13th is The Last Viking, a Danish crime comedy starring Mads Mikkelsen, and on Saturday 14th is The Stranger, a French adaptation of the Albert Camus novel.

All sorts of other films are showing across Herefordshire - it's a pity I can't get to Malvern or Hereford (well, I can get there - it's getting home that's the problem!) to see The Testament of Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers, a religious sect that started in Manchester.  There's also H is for Hawk, and Zootropolis 2, which shows something of the wide variety of films on offer.

There are also films about Palestine. All That's Left of You follows three generations of a Palestinian family from 1948 to the near present, one is set in 1936 when the Palestinians rose up against British rule, and The Voice of Hind Rajab, is about the little girl who was killed by Israeli forces in 2024, along with everyone else in the car with her, and the ambulance crew sent to rescue her. 

 

Hay Castle on TV

 Sky History at 9pm tonight - the programme is called Great British Castle Rescue, and Hay Castle features in the first episode.  As far as I can see, all the castles in the series were helped by National Lottery money, which is why Hay Castle has been letting visitors in for free if they have a lottery ticket this week (normally it's £7.50, but the ticket lasts for a year).

Flora of Brecknockshire

 Compiling a complete record of the flora of the local area has been literally a life time's work.

Mike Porter, the Recorder for the county for the British Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, started collecting information for the book soon after he got the job in 1968.  In 2013, John Crellin joined him as co-Recorder, and started to help him with the book in 2021.  Sadly, Mike died last year, but by then most of the main text was complete, and John Crellin brought it to publication.  

There's a lot of diversity of habitats in the area, with mountains, moorlands, woodland, limestone pavements, and the largest lake in South Wales.  The book is hardback, with over 1100 distribution maps of the different species.  It's been illustrated by the wonderful local artist Meg Stevens - she did the most marvellous landscapes of the local area, often from a vantage point low down among the wildflowers.  I could never afford one of her paintings, but I do still have some of her greetings cards (which she kindly signed for me).

Not only does the book have the flora of the present day, but Mike Porter went back into the records as far as 1666, also incorporating the work of Victorian naturalists, especially Augustin Ley, vicar of Sellack in Herefordshire.

The book is available for pre-order now, at a discount price of £35, from Summerfield Books, www.summerfieldbooks.com  The publication date is 1st April, at which time the cover price of £40 will be charged, and there will be a press launch at the Bannau Brycheiniog Visitor Centre on 9th April.

The Brecknock Botany Group has a blog at https://floralimages.blogspot.com/ and it's well worth a visit or two. 

Cash Machine Back

 Someone said on Facebook that the cash machine in the craft centre is working again, so I checked this morning, and it is.  The toilets are still closed, however.

According to the Powys County Times, NoteMachine, the owners of the cash machine, had to order a new security door for the machine - and it took between six to eight weeks to be delivered! 

Telescope

 The Red Cross shop has had a space themed window for a while now - Star Wars jigsaws, books on astronomy and, as a focal point, a large telescope on a tripod.

Now that it's so easy for me to just step  outside my kitchen door and look up at the night sky, from a very dark garden, I've been getting into astronomy more.  So finally, I decided to take the plunge.

Even in the charity shop, it cost £80, but I looked it up online, and it's supposed to be a perfect telescope for a beginner.

Now all I need is a clear night!

 

More Archaeology in Hay

 Exciting news at the Castle mound in the old cattle market by the Swan - trial trenches are being opened up this week to search for evidence of the original Norman castle.  This is the castle that came before Matilda de Braose built the present Hay Castle.

Black Mountains Archaeology Ltd. have been hired by Powys County Council to do the dig, and it's professionals only - not like the Cusop Castle dig in June, which welcomes volunteers as a community dig.

I'm hoping to get there towards the end of the week to see what they've uncovered.

 

Quilting at the Castle

 The entrance hall to the Castle has been moved around a bit, so the reception desk is no longer by the stairs, but directly opposite the front door where it can be seen more easily.  However, this means that the quilting table was pushed into a corner - about half the table was in direct light from one of the windows, but the corner was a bit dark.

I wasn't sure what to expect, so I went along with no sewing materials at all.  The regular ladies quickly set me up with needle, thread, snips and a pile of material cut into hexagons that needed to be sewn to hexagon shaped pieces of paper.  When the quilts are finally assembled, the paper is taken out.

Another new lady was shown how to add hexagons onto a partly completed quilt.

Each quilt is quite small, and they are intended to be given to new refugees.

Conversation around the table was  interesting - one lady was about to go to Shanghai to see her son.  Another lady is a potter, and she showed us pictures of a Viking lamp she had made.  This is a small bowl with a central column, and you wind beeswax impregnated twine round the column to make the wick, then fill the bowl with wax, or olive oil, or whale blubber if you've got it!  Because it's a coiled wick, it makes a brighter light than a normal candle.

Another lady had pictures of the Red Dress.  It's an absolutely gorgeous silk dress, made from embroidered pieces from all over the world, and it took years to put together.  Many of the pieces were made by refugees.  It's now touring on exhibition - it was at Theatr Brycheiniog last September, and it's in Geneva on 10th March.  Later in the year it will be in Australia. 

There's now a new project for a Calico Dress made in a similar way.  Calico Dress Cymru has been made by a variety of different groups across Wales, in partnership with the Waterfront Museum in Swansea.  Other calico dresses are being developed around the world.

The quilting group meets every Saturday at 11am at the Castle, and I've already put a little box of supplies ready for next week. 

Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus