Talgarth Big Eats

 This is, obviously, in Talgarth, but the Hay Community Resilience Initiative is involved.

Talgarth Big Eats host meals where the community comes together to prepare, cook, and eat nutritious local food, to help participants learn how to cook healthy food, meet their neighbours and community members, and spend meaningful time together sharing good food. This is the first of hopefully many Big Eats, which will take place in Hay, Talgarth and Brecon in the future. 

They're hoping to have other meals in Hay and Brecon in the future, and so the Hay group is getting involved, and putting a call out for volunteers to help on the day.

The event runs from 10am to 2pm on Saturday July 4th, and they need early volunteers from 8.30am, the rest of the volunteers from 9.30am, and a few people to help clear up after 2pm.  If anyone is interested but could only make part of the time, they would be welcome too.

Mainly it involves supervising participants as they prepare food for cooking (sharp knives and so forth), some washing up, and help with kids' activities.

The person to contact, for anyone interested, is Forrest the Volunteer co-ordinator, on  07763 757179 or email at forresterfolks@proton.me  There will be a briefing before the event, and plenty of snacks.

And anyone who can't volunteer but would still like to come along will be very welcome.  It's free, you get to meet local people, support the local community, and enjoy a healthy free meal!

This is based on Hereford Big Eats, and the purpose behind it is to encourage nutritional justice - the idea that access to healthy, nutritional food shouldn't be limited by affordability or perceived entitlement, while at the same time strengthening the local community and creating opportunities for food sharing and celebration. 

Job Opportunity at the Food Hub

 Cultivate is the host of Bwyd Powys Food, the sustainable food partnership for Wales.  

Their vision is "Good food for Powys!  Where local, sustainable and healthy food supports local communities, its people and the environment."

They are based in Newtown, but are offering the opportunity of a job that involves remote working, so you don't have to live in Newtown to apply for it.

What they want is someone to help to develop a Food Hub in Hay, as part of the wider Powys Food Loops, from the planning stages right through to implementation.  It would suit someone who wants to enhance their business skills, learn more about sustainable food systems, and obtain real-life experience of implementing solutions to climate change.  The title of the post is Local Food Systems Officer and the closing date for applications is 2nd November.  More details can be found at  https://findajob.dwp.gov.uk/details/17264917?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-10-17&utm_campaign=+Job+Alert+-+Local+Food+Systems+Officer+for+Hay+

(sorry that's a bit of a long url, but I can't do direct links). 

Funding for the Resilience Project

 Good news from the Hay Community Resilience Initiative - they've been granted the funding they applied for!  The National Lottery Community Fund has given enough money for the project to employ a professional to work on it, rather than relying on the hard work of the volunteers who have carried it forward this far.  And with this funding in place, there are other pots of funding that they can apply for, which are more specific to the three Pillars of the initiative (Food, Energy and Mental Well-Being).

They will also be recruiting a bigger team very soon, and are almost at the point of registering HayReliance.org as a Not For Profit Organisation.

They have been working with Cultivate (Bwyd Powys Food), the Black Mountains College and Our Food 1200 to develop a local food chain, and Bwyd Powys are recruiting a Supply Chain Development Officer.  One day a week, this person will be working with HayResilience to develop the Food Hub in Hay.

They are also applying for funding to work with the Centre for Alternative Technology and Dr Caroline Verfuerth of Cardiff University's Business School to research the demand for local food in the area, so that they can develop a marketing strategy and encourage people to change their shopping habits and shop for local produce.  The Food Hub wants to make it as easy as possible for people to buy from them.

So there are lots of practical things happening about local food.  Local Community Energy and mental health are more complex problems, and are still at the early stages of research, but they are hoping to be able to share more about their progress soon. 

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.