Cusop Pride

Seen on my walk up the Dingle today.

 

Pride at the Globe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hay Pride

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

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

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

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

 

Damp Pride

 The weather wasn't brilliant, but people still seemed to have a good time!

It was a busy day in Hay, with the Saturday Market in the square, and the Craft and Well-Being Fair in the garden of the Globe, as well as Hay Pride at the Castle.

I had a quick look round the Well-Being Fair while I was waiting for the Pride parade to start.  There were three Tarot readers there - the going rate seems to be £30 for 30 minutes.  There were some people with therapy beds, too, and I had a good chat with one of the craftspeople.  She had some rather sweet stick mermaids, with woven tails, and called herself The Hag Under the Hill Spirit Dolls.  Billie Charity was there as the official photographer, and Amelie Williams as the official artist - she designed the new tote bags and tshirt logo.

I am actually in this picture, in a red coat off to the right hand side, just behind the samba band (picture taken by Malk Williams and shared on Facebook).

I think the Pride parade was even bigger than last year, and because the Saturday market was filling the square, the parade continued down Castle Street and round to the other Castle entrance on Oxford Road.  There was a samba band leading the procession, and the dancers in the enormous Welsh hats were back.

At the Castle, the taiko drummers were on the stage, and there was a flash mob dancing to songs like Queen's I Want to Break Free.  Boo La Croux sang Come to the Cabaret, and there was a short speech from the other two organisers of the event.  They pointed out that Pride is always political, and pledged their support for our trans brothers and sisters, and also for the people suffering in Palestine.  

Hay Pride couldn't have happened without grant funding, but they have also been fund raising, and said that the money they raised will go to future Hay Prides, but also to a Palestinian children's charity.

There were stalls on the Castle lawn, split about 50/50 between merchandise and health and charities.  The lady at the HIV stall, Fast Track Cymru, reckoned they had the best free swag - I got a nice bright red tote bag from them.  They were also providing information for sexual health, including home testing kits for sexually transmitted diseases, and a leaflet on trans and non-binary sexual health from the Terance Higgins Trust.  They can be found at www.fasttrack.wales

I met a couple of people from Squirrel Friends, too - they provide support for trans people, and can be found at squirrelfriends.org.uk  I have no idea what squirrels have to do with it!

PAVO were also there, and West Mercia Women's Aid, which supports people affected by domestic abuse.  They can be found at www.westmerciawomensaid.org

There was also a leaflet from Fighting with Pride, a charity for LGBT+ military veterans.  Their website is at www.fightingwithpride.org.uk

Then there was the fun stuff - Otherworldz, Gay-on-Wye and Lauren's comic stall were there selling a variety of rainbow themed stuff and books and comics.  Hay Pride was selling tshirts and tote bags, and I went a bit mad at the badge stall.  Inside the Castle there were more stalls with crafts and stickers and so on.

Later there was a dog show and there were also food stalls.

In the evening there was a cabaret at the Globe.

It was all great fun, and I met lots of friends there!  And everyone admired my rainbow coloured long cap, that I knitted myself.

April Ashley Exhibition

 Hay Castle has a new exhibition in their art gallery, celebrating the life of April Ashley.  She lived in Hay for several years during the 1980s and was a friend of Richard Booth.

She was also a campaigner for trans rights in her later life.

Apparently, when she left Hendre in Bear Street, where she had been living, she left a lot of stuff behind - some of that, including fabulous clothing and a pink wardrobe, forms part of the exhibition.  There's also a giant mirror in the shape of her face, and a timeline of her life, including a TV clip talking about the gender reassignment surgery she had - I think she was only the ninth patient of the surgeon she went to.

Outside the main gallery there are also some photos of Boo La Croux, the local Herefordshire drag queen who organises Hereford and Hay Pride celebrations (otherwise known as farmer Dean Goodwin-Evans), taken by local photographer Billie Charity.

There are also some LGBT+ themed books for sale - I picked up a copy of A Little Gay History of Wales, which looks interesting.

Hay Pride Events

 Hay Pride are holding a couple of events over the coming weeks.

Queer Rural Connections and Queering the Wye are holding a free screen printing workshop with the Yard Print Studio at the Globe from 4pm to 7pm on Thursday 22nd February and from 4pm to 7pm on Monday 26th February.  Everyone is welcome, from complete beginners to seasoned artists, but booking is essential - contact @queeringthewye for further details.

Hay Pride and other Events

 Today was Hay Pride day at the Castle and the Globe, but before that started, runners were gathering at the Clock Tower for the Offa's Dyke run.  There was a chap with a PA system at the back of his car organising everyone, and he said that the run had originally taken place between 1977 and 2001, and re-started in 2015.  

 

They set off for the bridge at 11am, and shortly after that I went up to the Globe, where the Pride parade was gathering.

The big hats belong to the three Welsh Lady dancers - one of them is standing by the table with the black blouse and multicoloured skirt.  The hats went down right over their heads, with eye holes.  There were also the Taiko drummers, and a samba band.  I'd seen the Taiko drummers earlier, doing a warm up session on the steps of the Castle:

The parade went through the back streets of Hay, onto Lion Street and then up to the square.  There were lots of people in brightly coloured clothing, including a lady who I think is the vicar at Cusop Church, wearing her dog collar and a rainbow coloured tutu!  Lots of people had hand made signs, including some in Welsh, and about half way along the route some tall banners were passed around, from the River Wye Festival - they were tall enough to get slightly tangled up in the Hay Festival bunting, but no damage was done!

At the square everyone fanned out around the central space so the drummers and samba players had plenty of room to perform, with the Welsh Ladies dancing.  Then the strains of the song from Cabaret, Willkommen, Bien venue, Welcome, came from the top of the Castle steps - I think the singer was Boo La Croux, and with that, everyone made their way up the steps onto the Castle green where all the stalls were laid out.  There was plenty to eat and drink, a stage for the entertainment, a table to register for the dog show, and stalls - Otherworlds had rainbow themed goods on display and the comic lady I met at Hay market a few weeks ago was there, with some Pride themed graphic novels alongside her usual stock.  There was also a book stall - I went a bit mad with the Juno Dawson titles.  I'd seen Her Majesty's Royal Coven at the Hay Festival Bookshop, and hesitated over it, but this time I got it and two of Juno Dawson's non-fiction titles, This Book is Gay and What's the T?  And I rounded off my little pile with the Complete works of Sappho, sadly fragmentary, but what survives is quite beautiful.

On a more serious note, PAVO were there, the volunteer body, along with the NHS giving information about gender medical care locally (and suicide prevention) and West Mercia Women's Aid.

There was a stall doing temporary tattoos and butterfly wings, too, and face painting.

Near the food trucks was a 3D art installation by Dan Lee, a triangular structure with a circular disc suspended from it, which he was encouraging people to add ribbons to.

And there was a stall for Queering the Wye Valley.  I had a lovely conversation with the lady at the stall.  It's a project connecting young people with nature, with a focus on environmentalism.  "Drag queens are all about glitter!" she laughed, "so we've got to find a way of doing it without being environmentally unfriendly!"  They have a podcast that I'm going to investigate shortly.

Meanwhile, Radnorshire Wildlife Trust had taken over the Globe for the afternoon for a clothes swap as part of Green Week, and I had some stuff I wanted to get rid of, so I slipped away from the Castle for a while.  I parted with a green suede jacket, a brown skirt, brown silk blouse, pink scarf and a couple of other bits, and came away with a brown loose jacket with embroidery round the collar, a red and black tie, a cotton skirt and a loose black cardigan.  As I was struggling into the skirt to make sure it fit, over my own skirt, a lady stopped and said: "I brought that in!" and we both cheered when I managed to get the zip up.  The black cardi had a small hole in the back, but I went straight off  to Country Supplies and found an embroidered patch - a red dragon on a black background, which I've stitched over the hole, so it looks pretty good.

All that, and the Mad Hatter's Craft Fair in the Buttermarket!  A busy day!

Hay Pride

 Hay Pride is back at Hay Castle on Saturday 17th June during the day (free), and at the Globe in the evening (tickets £15).

I'm quite looking forward to this - I missed it last year because I was working, but one of my colleagues at the bookshop had great fun entering the dog show with her little white dog.

On the same day, there's a clothes swap at the Globe, from 12.30 to 3pm, and I have a few things I want to take down there, too, and see what I can pick up in exchange.

Films Made in Hay and More Events

 The Royal British Legion Hub, in collaboration with Hay Castle, are hosting an event on Monday 6th March, at 11am, remembering all the film productions that have been made in Hay.  There have been quite a few of them - Dandelion Dead, a BBC series of Kilvert's Diary, and On the Black Hill.

I remember hiding round a corner while the cattle were driven up Broad Street for the title sequence of Dandelion Dead - the camera was up on a cherrypicker by the Clock Tower, and the modern phone box had been disguised as a market stall.  The Three Tuns had a big sign put up on the wall for the occasion, which Lucy wanted to keep, but I don't think the Council planning department were too thrilled by the idea, so it came down.

I was also hanging around the edges of Cusop Churchyard when they filmed the digging up of Mrs Armstrong's body.  In fact, we got quite friendly with the camera crew, and I gave them a couple of bottles of the dandelion wine I'd been making (I was experimenting with all sorts of rural lifestyle ideas at the time - so fruit wine, jam, drying herbs....  I wasn't actually very good at any of them, but at least that first batch of dandelion wine was drinkable!).

I wasn't around for the filming of On the Black Hill, but I can go around town and point out some of the places where scenes were filmed.

Also, at the Globe on Sunday 5th March, there will be a Seed Swap from 2pm.

And, while I'm looking at the events at the Globe, they are hosting a Pride Fundraiser this Sunday, the 26th February, from 5pm.  They will be having a discussion first, and then showing the film Pride from 7pm.

Hay Pride

 I couldn't go to the Pride event at Hay Castle on Sunday, because I was working, but I did wear my rainbow mask (bought from Golesworthy's) and all my Pride badges - rainbow, LGBT bought at Country Supplies, Ace flag, and Ace turtle - and one that said "Queer the Fiction: Write the Rainbow".  One lovely couple who had been at the castle admired the Queer the Fiction badge, and asked where I got it.

"WorldCon 2019 in Dublin," I said.

"Oh, you're just showing off now!" they laughed.

There was a big procession, with a Samba band, from the Globe to the Castle, and later there was Japanese Taiko drumming.  In the Castle grounds there were food stalls and market stalls, including one from Otherworldz at the Craft Centre, and there was music from local musicians throughout the day.  And a dog show, in which every dog was Best in Show.  There was also a panel on sexuality and gender in the education room of the Castle.  The day took a year to plan, and was organised by Graham Nolan and Helen Campbell, with compere Boo La Croux, local drag artist.

The Globe is continuing its support of the local queer community by offering a free monthly night for meeting, discussing various issues, and live music or discos.  

There will be another Pride event next year - I'm hoping to have the day off for that one!