Fairtrade Fair

 It's the annual Fairtrade Fair at the Buttermarket today, with silver jewellery from Timbuktu, a stall with information about the Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees, food and olive oil from Zaytoun, and embroidery from Bethlehem, Love Zimbabwe with tablecloths and metal sculptures, pottery, Christmas decorations, and more.

I bought two slate coasters, featuring a turtle which reminded me of Discworld and a tree that looked as if it had come straight out of Lord of the Rings (the lady who made them had never heard of Discworld!)

Also in the middle of town this week, there's a pop up Christmas shop at The Chair.  Five different vendors are sharing the space, and when I went in yesterday some jolly Ukrainian folk music was playing - to go with the gorgeous embroidered clothing from  Ukraine at the back of the shop. 

Fairtrade Fair and the Come Back Choir

 Saturday 20th December is going to be busy.  The annual Fairtrade Fair will be on at the Buttermarket.  Among the usual offerings will be some Zeytoun goods from Palestinian suppliers - who need all the help they can get at the moment.

Then, in the afternoon at the Globe - I think they start at 2.30pm - the Come Back Choir are giving a free concert.  These are members of the Village Quire who decided they still wanted to sing some of that wonderful repertoire when the Village Quire was wound up, with a few new members in the mix. 

Fairtrade Fair

 I'd forgotten it was Fairtrade Fortnight until I went up into town yesterday and saw the Fairtrade Fair in the Buttermarket.

Love Zimbabwe was there, and I treated myself to a new tablecloth.  I have several round ones from her  - this one is rectangular and printed with what I think are secretary birds.

Also there was the Tuareg silver jewellery from Timbuktu, the Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees, Tools for Self Reliance, and a couple of other stalls.  I also treated myself to some Zaytoun olive oil from the West Bank - while I still can.

Winter Festival Weekend

 The lights were switched on very successfully last night - the square was packed full of people, there were two traction engines with trailers (and Santa) and a fire engine, and the edges of the square were lined with food stalls and stalls with local beers and ciders.  In the Buttermarket, the school was raising money with tombolas, and there was a bucket collection for the Christmas Lights.  There were choirs on the Castle steps, and George the Town Cryer was up there too.

I don't watch TV, but I understand that this year's celebrity, Hamza, was on Strictly Come Dancing.  He seemed happy to be doing the honours.

Several shops around town opened late, too, from Oil and Oak at the end of Castle Street (which was blocked to traffic for the evening) to the Childrens Literature Laboratory by the Buttermarket, so I had plenty of opportunity to do a bit of Christmas shopping, too.

And today, the Fairtrade Fayre is in the Buttermarket, with usual stalls Love Zimbabwe and Tools for Self Reliance, Zaytoun selling Palestinian olive oil and nuts and other foods, jewellery from Timbuktu, cakes from Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees, and more.

Tomorrow, Hay2Timbuktu are running fund raising events at the Globe.  Tickets are available from the Poetry Bookshop.

There's Welcome to Wild Town! a poetry show for kids with AF Harrold; The Star Whale, and interactive poetry and painting adventure with Nicola Davies and Petr Horacek (I'm sorry - I can't do the accents on his name); and Jackie Morris and Cathy Fisher will be in conversation with Nicola Davies about the making of the picture book The Panda's Child.

Snow, but the Coffee Morning went ahead

 It snowed steadily all of yesterday, so Hay was pretty well blanketed this morning.  

Only a few hardy souls turned up for the Thursday market, and several shops and cafes were either closed or closing early.

However, the Fairtrade coffee morning went ahead as planned at Eighteen Rabbit.

I overslept, so by the time I got to the shop, Jenepher had finished her presentation, and was chatting to people.  There was a video to watch on a laptop, though, and the coffee was very nice indeed - I bought a packet.  There was also cake.

Fairtrade and History on Thursday

 It's Fairtrade Fortnight at the moment, and I was chatting with Chris on the Fairtrade stall on the market last Thursday.

This coming Thursday, there will be a coffee morning at Eighteen Rabbit from 10am to 1pm.  Their special guest is Jenipher, from Uganda, who has been organising farmers in Uganda (mostly women) to produce coffee which they now market under their own brand.  It's available at Eighteen Rabbit, and she will be talking about how they make it and offering samples.  The event is free, but donations of £1 minimum are requested.

Then in the evening, Cusop History Group is meeting at Cusop Village Hall.  Tony Usher is giving a talk on Roman Roads to Railways - how the transport networks shaped the fortunes of Herefordshire.  It starts at 7pm, and costs £3 for members, £5 for non-members, and includes wine.

[Edited to add: the Cusop History talk has been postponed due to snow]

It's Starting to Look Like Christmas

 The cherry picker has been trundling round town, putting up the Christmas lights - the Great Switch On will be on Friday, November 25th, as part of the Winter Festival, and the celebrity switching on the lights this year is Sally Phillips.  I'm not familiar with her work, but she's been in the Bridget Jones films, Smack the Pony, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!

There will be several Christmas Fairs, too - the Fairtrade Christmas Fair is on Sunday 27th November, as part of the Winter Festival, with old favourites like Tools for Self Reliance and Love Zimbabwe as well as new stalls.

The Globe is hosting a Christmas Fair on Sunday 4th December, and Hay Markets are holding a Christmas Fair on Saturday 10th December.  The Hay Shantymen will be singing.

Fairtrade Summer Fair

 I've always supported Fairtrade Hay - I was one of the founding committee members, and I still occasionally update the Fairtrade Hay blog.  So when the local Stitch and Bitch group were asked if they would like to take part in the Summer Fair on Saturday, I volunteered to go along.

In the end, I was the only representative, and I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to fill a stall on my own.  However, the box of embroideries and paper art I took along was just about right for the space!

It was cold and wet for much of the day, but there were plenty of people coming through, so it was a pretty good day for the stall holders and the Fairtrade group.

Fairtrade Summer Fair

 Fairtrade Hay are holding a Summer Fair tomorrow in the Buttermarket from 10am to 4pm - lots of Fairtrade items, and local crafts.

Meanwhile, Hay School are holding a car boot sale on the same morning.

Pop-up Shops

Here they are in Castle Street, just in time for the Festival.
CR Books is returning to The King of Hay, and Rosa Azul is a Fairtrade shop.

Fairtrade Fortnight Postponed by Snow

On Thursday, the Fairtrade Hay team were intending to give out free teas at the market, but decided to cancel because of the snow - and tonight three shops were collaborating in a series of talks throughout the afternoon and early evening. The details can be found on the Fairtrade Hay blog and Facebook page - there's a link to their blog on the sidebar of this blog.
Now the talks will be taking place on March 8th instead.

This is what it looked like in town yesterday morning, with a mini snow plough trying to clear the Pavement:

Fairtrade Talk at Cusop Hall

The full write up is on the Hay Fairtrade blog (link on the side bar). The talk was given by Taysir Arabasi and Cathi Pawson from Zaytoun, which sells olive oil and other products from Palestine. The talk was called Palestine: Fairtrade as Resistance, and there was olive oil to taste and a variety of products to buy from the stall run by Ange Grunsell. She's the volunteer distributor for Zaytoun products in the Hay area, and can be reached at ARGrunsell@aol.com

It's really very good olive oil, and the farmers are well worth supporting. I even got some olive oil soap there.

Council Meeting - Fairtrade signs, Regional AM, Planning

Fairtrade Hay are organising signs to be put up in Hay, to publicise the fact that Hay is a Fairtrade Town. They are going to pay for the signs. The councillors wondered where the signs would be situated, and whether the National Parks and the Highways Department should be informed. They added that Hay is the gateway to Powys and the National Park, and this should be promoted - and maybe the County Council should spend a few quid on designing a suitable sign.
Meanwhile, there is the old, cast iron Hay sign, which needs to be sandblasted and painted. It's 4' x 6', and the suggestion was that it should be erected on the lawn in front of the Council Chambers.

The new regional Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, Eluned Morgan, has said she has an interest in public service delivery, and it was suggested that she should be invited to visit Hay. She has also said that she wants to strengthen the rural economy. (Rob Golesworthy protested that he hadn't voted for her - but I understand that the regional members are chosen from a list).

The plans for the new Hay School are changing - with more drainage needed in one part of the site, and the appearance of the walls to be changed from brick to render (or wattle and daub? Rob Golesworthy asked). None of the councillors were happy about the idea that they should look up the details on line - they wanted paper plans to be delivered to the Council.

Lamb House, which used to be the vets' surgery, has recently been refurbished, and now they have finished the building work on the main building the owners want to build a new house on the small car park across Wyeford Road from Lamb House. There was some concern that a fence along the boundary would narrow the lane which is used by vans towing canoe trailers, and some questions were asked about environmentally friendly features of the building, such as solar panels.

The next Council Meeting will take place on 7th November.

Fairtrade Hay Find out about Shared Interest

Last night, I went to Tomatitos, as Fairtrade Hay were meeting there to listen to a speaker about Shared Interest, which gives loans to Fairtrade organisations. Fairtrade Hay have been investing in Shared Interest for some time now, and it was fascinating to find out more about the organisation and the sort of loans they give.
The full report is on the Fairtrade Hay blog, which has a link on the sidebar.

The True Cost of Fashion

Last night I was at the Globe for the Fairtrade Hay film and fashion show - a look behind the scenes at the fashion industry and all the harm it causes, followed by a look at the alternative, Fairtrade fashion from companies that pay decent wages, provide childcare and medical checks, and consider the wider impact on the environment of the materials they use.
For a full account, go to the Fairtrade Hay blog - the link is on the sidebar.

Saturday in the Buttermarket

It was community groups in the Buttermarket on Saturday.
Fairtrade Hay was there, selling Fairtrade olive oil and chocolate and fruit juice and so on, from the Wholefood shop, and some of the Egyptian patchwork they had left. I got a spectacle case, done in what I think is called a Flying Geese pattern - there were laptop cases made out of old men's ties, too, which looked rather good.
The Timbuktu people were there, too, with interesting facts about Timbuktu, and showing some of the things that have been achieved through the twinning with Hay.

And the History Group were there, with pictures of Old Hay, including groups of soldiers. Several local books were on sale, including the recent publication about the soldiers of the First World War, and others about the pubs and Major Armstrong. I bought a ticket for one of the talks which will be taking place over the History Weekend, featuring the Agincourt celebrations. A chap from Leeds Armoury, Bob Woosnam-Savage, is coming to the Castle to talk about the "vasty fields of ... Ireland" - the making of Olivier's Henry V, after the screening of Olivier's Henry V at the Bookshop Cinema on the Friday evening - that'll be on the 11th September, at 8pm in the Castle, with things happening in the Castle grounds all day on the Saturday, a parade round town, including horses from Cavalry of Heroes, who will also be staging a knightly swordfight. There will be morris dancers, and the Village Quire singing a variety of songs, including the Agincourt Carol.
I'll be there in medieval costume doing spinning and weaving and talking about arrows on the Saturday - it should be a fun day. Professor Anne Curry, renowned expert on Agincourt, will be giving a talk in the Castle on the Saturday evening and the Sunday evening, and there will be a calligraphy workshop, and all sorts of other things going on, like woodturning, and a workshop for making shields, swords and tabards.
Hay Theatre Company will be putting on their own version of Henry V in the Castle grounds, and there will be theatre workshops for 7 - 11 year olds and "senior youth".
All that and a pop-up museum, too!
Tickets are available from www.hayhistorygroup.co.uk

Events this Weekend

Adele Nozedar will be at the Felin Fach Griffin, on the way to Brecon, this weekend. She's doing a talk on Saturday evening at 7pm about her book The Garden Forager. Proceeds from the evening will go to a charity in Nepal.
Adele has been busy this week, because she's at the Royal Welsh Show as well.

And also on Saturday evening, between 5pm and 7pm, Eighteen Rabbit are celebrating their move from the shop in the Castle outbuildings to the shop on Lion Street which was recently Lion Antiques. They've got a lot more space to display everything now, and two big windows. So glasses of wine will be available there.

Fairtrade Event at Tomatitos

Over on the Fairtrade Hay blog, I've written a report of the film and speakers who were at Tomatitos on Monday night. It was a great night, and I learned a lot about Malawi and Nicaragua. There have been serious floods in Malawi this year, and £109.60 was raised for the flood relief fund. This will be doubled to 219.20 by Shared Interest, the Fairtrade loans organisation.

Tomorrow night at Fairfields, Clifford, (up from the school, opposite Green Lane Farm) there will be soup and bread from 12 noon to 2.30pm, and Palestinian olive oil tasting. There will also be a collection for the Lady of Grace Convent, who help families in Bethlehem. I use Zaytoun Palestinian olive oil when I can, and it's very nice indeed.

See the side bar for the link to the Fairtrade Hay blog.

Fairtrade Evening

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight, there's an event at Tomatitos on Monday which looks interesting, and one of the speakers has come all the way from Malawi!

The Tea Ladies are Back!

Fairtrade Fortnight is coming up - so next Thursday, the Tea Ladies are back! They will be dispensing free Fairtrade tea from their tea trolley around the Thursday market.
This was great fun last time (I'm in this picture, as Cissy, together with a well-known bookseller and members of the Fairtrade team).
So here's a good chance to find out just how good Fairtrade teas are!