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!

Wake for Geoffrey Meadon

 I was sorry to hear that Geoffrey Meadon died a few days ago.  He was well known around Hay, most recently zipping up into the centre of town on his mobility scooter from the alms houses where he lived.  

I first knew him when he lived in the flat over Hay Deli (now Eighteen Parrot - the Deli moved into larger premises across the road).  This was the same flat that was occupied by a police marksman during the infamous dentists' siege about thirty years ago - the dentists' surgery was across the road back then.  

Before I came to Hay he was involved in running the Performing Arts Bookshop, and of course he had dealings with Richard Booth during the early days of Hay as a Book Town.

I only heard that the wake was happening about an hour before it started, so I went down to Kilverts with a couple of colleagues straight from work.  I slipped away before they started showing the slide show/film of Geoffrey's life, though.  A good crowd had gathered, and there was a spread of sandwiches and other nibbles in the back room.

Tea Dance at Kilverts

 Here we are in the garden at Kilverts, enjoying the Ashby Little Big Band sound.  There was also singing from Jayne Darling and a chap who crooned Don't Fence Me In in the style of Bing Crosby - and Winston Churchill made a speech during the intermission.

Plastic Free Hay Meeting - the year ahead.

We gathered in the downstairs dining room of Kilverts - and had to pull the table away from the open fire before some of us roasted!
One of the members of the group has been trying to find out where the recycling collected by Powys County Council goes to, without much success.
Another has joined Extinction Rebellion, a movement which has similar but broader aims than just concentrating on plastic waste, and will keep the group posted about what they get up to. The Hereford group is very active, and a new group is starting up in Brecon.

So far the group have been visiting local retailers to talk to them about reducing the use of plastic. They've also been talking to Andy Fryer of Hay Festival. However, shops like Spar can't do much because they get their products from a central supplier. It's the suppliers that need to be contacted and persuaded to change. However, one success story is the sale of milk in glass bottles at Londis, who have more control over what they stock. The group has stickers to give out to show that shops are reducing their use of plastic.
They also mentioned the new paper bags and wrappings at the butchers on Broad Street, and the feeling was that Geraldine Gibbons will be doing something similar when she moves her shop across the road into the new premises.
It was noted that the chemists sells bottled water from a fridge, which is not good as far as plastic waste is concerned - but they are also stocking things like bamboo toothbrushes, which is a positive sign.
Meanwhile Addymans are phasing out plastic bags in their three bookshops.

There was a discussion of compostable bags, with a query about how compostable they really are - one lady has been fishing bits of supposedly compostable bag out of her compost heap since all they seem to have done is break up into smaller pieces, which is a problem. Other bags are advertised as "degradable", but what does this really mean? The corn starch bags were felt to be a good idea, but the idea of any substitute for plastic bags to be given out in shops was felt to be a retrograde step, when there had been so much effort put into persuading the shopping public to bring their own bags.
Research was obviously needed into the bags, but the group were warned not to go to the manufacturers for advice, but to companies involved in waste, such as Cymru Waste (possibly WRAP Cymru? which is what came up when I Googled).

Members were also concerned that the free school milk that is given out at Hay School comes in little plastic bottles which are then thrown away. Again, this is a problem that the school cannot necessarily solve as it comes from the County Council, who arrange the contract for a group of schools, and the suppliers.

Actions for the future for the group include going round all the cafes in Hay to see if they can reduce their plastic use - and later, maybe a pub crawl!
In the coming year the group also want to organise at least one event with a speaker - the Globe have offered to assist here, and it might be possible to put together a workshop on cutting down plastics. Another possibility is approaching Andy Fryer to ask him to talk about the recycling policy of Hay Festival.
One member said that the Welsh government website has an area showing what every County Council has done with their recycling for the previous five years. Actually, it seems to go back further than that, and can be found by Googling "Welsh government local authority municipal waste statistics".

Also being passed around the table was a copy of the 'i' for Friday, with headlines about waste being burned in incinerators because there are not enough facilities in the UK to recycle different materials. Also, the waste that used to be sent to China is no longer going there, as China will not accept it any more.

The group also want to go to visit the waste facility in Worcester where waste from the Herefordshire side of the border goes. As Hay is on the border, the members have to be aware of the different strategies of two different County Councils. One member said that, when a visit was organised, they should go in a minibus rather than their own cars, because of carbon emissions, and someone suggested hiring the Dial-a-Ride bus for the outing.

Other groups that Plastic Free Hay felt they should keep in touch with include Plastic Free Powys, and there is a Greenpeace campaign about plastic. On Saturday 2nd February, from 10am to about 4pm, Greenpeace (and a lady from Plastic Free Hay) will be outside Tesco in Hereford with a shopping trolley for shoppers to put any un-necessary plastic wrapping into, and at the end of the day this can be photographed, and later returned to Tesco with an appeal for them to reduce the amount of plastic they are selling. Tesco was chosen for this because it opens onto a public footpath. If the protest was happening in a supermarket car park, they could be made to move on, as that would be private property.
They were also encouraged to get in touch with the Woodland Group, who have all the equipment for litter picking, for another future activity.

There was a brief discussion about washing up sponges, which cannot be recycled, and I mentioned Greenbrands cleaning products, which is one company that sells scourers made out of luffas (loofahs?) and pan scrapers made out of pieces of coconut husk - which can just be put in the compost when they come to the end of their life (www.greenbrands.co.uk).
Another thought for the future was to have an A-frame blackboard in the market, with a different plastic reducing idea every week chalked up.
Finally it was noted that the green waste bins will be disappearing from Hay Car Park soon, to be replaced by a scheme where householders have to buy bags to put their garden waste in, to be collected at the kerbside.

Plastic Free Hay Meeting

The group will be meeting at Kilverts on Monday 14th January at 7.30pm. This is to set goals for the coming year - new ideas and new recruits are welcome!
I will probably be going along to take notes.

Stitch and Bitch Christmas Lunch

We chose Kilverts this year, and we were not disappointed.
Ten of us came to sit in the lounge just down the steps from the bar. It was lovely to see Ros again, who had come all the way from Llanidloes, where she seems to be enjoying life.
It wasn't busy, so we more or less had the place to ourselves. During one lull in the proceedings, one of the ladies said there were so many interesting conversations going on round the table she was trying to listen to them all!
Did Neanderthals interbreed with Homo Sapiens?
Any suggestions for the next choice for a book club? One of the members doesn't like fantasy, so not Terry Pratchett! There were a few good suggestions including local author Horatio Clare.
What about books for the children of some of the ladies there, one of whom had just read Terry Pratchett's non-Discworld book Nation?
One lady was looking forward to a holiday in Guatemala and the Yucatan peninsular - another was suggesting Mayan pyramids to visit.
How would the world be different if whaling hadn't happened in the 19th century? (Probably in a better state as far as climate change is concerned, interestingly).
There were also discussions about health, and the state of the nation, and car crashes people have walked away from....
The food was delicious (I almost started someone else's turkey, having forgotten I'd ordered pheasant), and they were able to cater for one lady who needed gluten free food with no bother.
And we all saved the little gold ribbons from the Christmas crackers!

Black and Tan

While mum was still here, we decided to go back to Kilverts to see if they had any more of those delicious steak pies.
They had just changed the menu, and the pie was now chicken and leek, which was almost as nice.
Mum's partner doesn't drink much any more, but that night he fancied a Murphy's, which they don't serve - so he asked for a Black and Tan instead.
The young man behind the bar had never heard of it, but when it was described to him he filled a pint glass, half with Guinness and half of Bass bitter.
Kevin was pleased with the taste, but headed off to the table where we were sitting muttering: "Fancy not knowing what a Black and Tan is!"
I pointed out that it's a very old fashioned drink (Kevin is nearly 70 after all). Probably he was the first person to ask for that drink in Kilverts this century!

Going out for Meals

I've been going round to Belmont House for evening meals - the landlady gets on well with my mum and her partner, and has allowed them the use of the kitchen in the cottage where they're staying, beside the main house. That's worked very well, apart from the evening when the sausages (Hay Specials from Gibbons) set off the smoke alarm!

We've also been out to eat. It's difficult to find an Indian restaurant in the part of Cyprus where mum lives, so she was keen to go to Red Indigo, as long as she stuck to the fairly mild curries. She enjoyed it very much, and I now have a loyalty card - collect four stamps for meals at the restaurant (not takeaways) and the fifth meal, for two people, is half price.
We've also eaten at the Blue Boar (though mum wasn't terribly impressed with the selection of sweets, so she didn't indulge).

The best meal so far, though, was when the Young Man came to visit, and we decided to try out the new regime at Kilverts.
When we went in, the couple from La Fosse were there, having a meal. When mum first came to Hay, about ten years ago now, that's where she stayed, so we went over to say hello. They were eating the steak pie, and it looked so lovely that we all decided to have one.
It was gorgeous! The gravy was so delicious that we asked for spoons to finish it off. It also came with a selection of vegetables, and new potatoes. I'll certainly take visitors to eat there again.

Kilvert's Opening and Three Tuns Wedding

Kilvert's is now under new management, and they celebrated by having a big party in the garden. I went along early on, just for a while. There was a band setting up, which I was told later was pretty good, mainly doing covers of well known songs, and they were followed by a young band who my informant thought was really good.
Unhappily, there have been a fair few complaints about the late night noise on the Community Facebook page - especially as the opening party was followed, the next night, by someone's 21st birthday bash.

Meanwhile, over at the Three Tuns, there will be no food on Sunday 9th September, because the couple there are getting married!

Plastic Free Hay

There's a new group in town, working to cut out non-essential plastic use.
They'll be meeting at Kilverts on Wednesday 11th July, at 7.30pm.

They also have leaflets around town with a few ideas about how people can reduce their plastic use, such as carrying a refillable water bottle, bringing your own shopping bag (preferably one made from natural materials), refusing take-away cups, cutlery and straws unless they are compostable, and avoiding heavily packaged goods in shops.
Some local shops have already signed up to this, and stickers are going up in shop windows.
They also have a Facebook page called Plastic Free Hay.

Busy Enjoying Myself

It's too hot to do anything serious, and the first week of the month tends to fill up with interesting things to do.
So on Monday I was round at a friend's house for a poetry evening. We each brought three or four poems on the theme of the Sea (next month's theme is Dogs), and read them in turn. Brian had just picked up a book at random, by someone called Mitchell - and it turned out to have several really good poems about the sea, including a lovely one about the Great Orme at Llandudno. I took along the book I got at one of the events at the Poetry Bookshop, about endangered marine species - they liked the one about the basking shark and the man who fell in love with it. The book is Words the Turtle Taught Me by Susan Richardson. I also found a couple of poems in the local magazine Quirk, both by people I know, one about mermaids diving for pearls of wisdom and the other about dolphin mythology.

On Wednesday I was at Baskerville Hall, commemorating the sad death of Peter Firmin (one of the creators of Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine, Pogle's Wood, the Clangers and Noggin the Nog) by reciting the introduction to Noggin the Nog. There were comic songs (Earwig O, the man in the elephant's bottom), poems and a vaguely American theme to the evening since it was the 4th of July, with "I'm as corny as Kansas in August" and even the Star Spangled Banner. I sang Streets of Laredo.
We were in Moriarty's Bar, which can get a bit over warm in summer weather, but there's a festival of some sort going on at the Hall at the weekend, and they were setting something up in the ballroom. There was a bit of a party going on around the porch (where people could smoke) when we came out, and two of the younger singers and guitarists (just back from University) almost missed their turn to sing because they were out there enjoying the ambience.

And tonight we were sitting overlooking the garden at Kilverts, with the window wide open to catch the breeze, for Stitch and Bitch. We were having such a good time that one of the ladies said we should be live blogging the conversation - and then everyone looked at me!
I successfully de-cluttered a triangular weaving frame with the instruction booklet and all the necessary bits to a lady who thought she'd like to try it. I bought it at Wonderwool a couple of years ago, and didn't really get on with it.
Emanation has kefir on the go, and often has a surplus to get rid of, so she managed to pass some on to another lady in the group. Someone else has been given 6 fleeces, and wanted to know what to do with them, so Tracy and I talked her through the process of cleaning the fleece (very carefully so as not to felt it!) and Tracy gave advice on natural dyeing. She's going to start washing the fleeces this week, and will come round to borrow my carders and a hand spindle so she can try hand spinning soon.
We also talked about the Trump Baby balloon which will be flying over London next week - and some of the awful things happening in the US now; assisted dying; and a community arts project that may or may not get off the ground locally. And one lady brought an enormous ball of pink yarn along which promptly got nicknamed "the uterus".
The Wadsworth 6X went down a treat.

A Pub Without a Till

I went to Stitch and Bitch at Kilvert's last Thursday, and we had an interesting chat with the lady who has come out of retirement to run it again, after Hay Tap, and then the management buyout of Hay Tap, failed. She had to come back from Spain to pick up the pieces.
And the till behind the bar had just been taken away by the company it had been leased from, because Hay Tap hadn't paid the bill - so now they're operating without a till. Which rather begs the question - what happened to the till that Kilvert's used to have before Hay Tap took over, which they owned?

Kilverts Update

The original owners of Kilvert's Hotel have come out of retirement, as the manager of the Brecon and Hay Taps has decided the new company to run the two pubs won't be able to make it work after all. The pub is still open, with the same staff at the moment, but there's a story in the Brecon and Radnor Express this week about one couple who had booked rooms for the Festival, and paid a deposit, and now don't know what's going to happen about their deposit money.
Meanwhile the ladies of Stitch and Bitch had their usual session in the side bar this evening, and so far it looks as though the group will be able to continue meeting there.

Changes at Kilverts

On the surface, hardly anything has changed, but behind the scenes things have changed a lot.
I usually do my washing at the launderette on a Friday afternoon, and spend the time that the washer is working to have a half in a nearby pub. Often, this is Kilverts, and that's where I went yesterday.
I noticed that there was no Brecon Brewery beer on offer at the pumps. Since this is the Hay Tap for Brecon Brewery, I thought that was odd, and asked about it.
It seems that, since 1st April, Kilverts has not been the Tap for Brecon Brewery. I don't know the details of what happened, but Brecon Brewery is still brewing beer, and the manager of both Brecon and Hay Taps has taken over the pubs, with a friend. They want to retain all the staff, so nobody loses their job, and to keep the pubs as unchanged as possible under the new ownership.
So the good news is that they will still be serving the same menu with the hearty pies.
However, they haven't worked out yet what they can do about the orange loyalty cards. At the moment it's not possible to use them, but they hope to get some sort of scheme going to honour the cards soon.
So I wish the new management every success in the future, and hope that Brecon Brewery continues to brew good beer.

Plastic Pollution - Meeting

Half way through my holiday, but there is something coming up that I think needs to come to wider attention.
There will be a meeting of The Waste-Free Initiative at Kilverts, on Saturday 24th March at 11am, to look at ways of reducing the use of plastics and other waste in everyday life (including food and other packaging).
Although we have the plastic recycling bin as part of the regular refuse collection, there's still quite a bit they won't take (like plastic film), and there's also the problem of reducing the unwanted plastic before it gets to the consumer, in the supply chain. That's why initiatives like the new waste free shop in Crickhowell are such a good idea.
In the local area, too, it's probably worth thinking about the use of plastics in agriculture.

Blizzard Conditions

Last night was the first Thursday of the month, as well as St David's Day, which is the normal meeting time for the Stitch and Bitch group. Several members on the email list had already said that they wouldn't be coming in because of the snow, but Kilverts is pretty much on my way home from work, so I thought I'd pass by there just to see if anyone else had turned up.
It was, of course, still snowing, as it had been snowing all day, and the path to the front door of Kilverts was pristine and untouched. The barman was standing just by the kitchen door, smoking, and he said he hadn't seen anyone yet.
Just as I was turning to go, another lady, Sharon from Blissland Pizzas, came up the road.
So it was just us two, with our chairs pulled close to the wood burner in the main bar, her with her quilting spread across her knees and me with my knitted squares, and we had a lovely time! As the evening went on, the bar got a bit busier, while outside the powdery snow whirled in the wind.

Today, it's still snowing (I think it stopped for a bit in the night) and drifting, and the police are warning that many roads are closed. On the Hay Community page on Facebook, several people are offering to run errands for anyone who can't get out of their houses.
I may get the Arctic gear out later and go and see if any shops have managed to open.... (I've just seen someone who works at the Co-op walking down that way, so I assume they'll be open at least!)

Music at Hay Tap

There are a variety of places to hear good music in Hay and the surrounding area - classical from Hay Music at Booths Bookshop, all sorts of things at the Globe including, last week, the Talgarth Male Voice Choir - I saw them walking up there in their smart green blazers. St Mary's Church also hosts music of various sorts, most recently being the Hereford Cathedral School Choir.
And now the Hay Tap at Kilverts is starting to host musical evenings as well. On Tuesday 26th September, The Big Easy swing band is coming from Leeds to play a variety of jazz tunes. Music starts at 8pm.

Stitch and Bitch on the Move Again

I've just come back from the first Stitch and Bitch meet up at Kilvert's, which went very well. We were given a quiet room (opposite the Ladies', with the door saying 'Residents Only'), with decent light and a big table, and we didn't have to get out on the dot of 8pm because the Point to Point group that had booked after us had decided to meet next week instead. The staff were welcoming, and of course the beer was good - I had a honey ale called The Fairy Isle, which was delicious, with a subtle flavour. And of course there was a lot of good conversation over the knitting (a majority of sock knitters this time).
It's sad, of course, that we can't meet at the Three Tuns any more, but I think we've found a congenial new home at Kilverts.
Stitch and Bitch meets on the first Thursday of every month, from 6pm to 8pm-ish, and sometimes in the middle of the month if enough people are interested in an extra meeting.

Something Missing at Kilverts

"What do you mean, there's no Bacardi?"
I was sitting outside Kilverts, still warm even as twilight fell (and the swifts were screaming overhead), and one of my friends had just discovered that the bar doesn't stock her favourite drink. I don't know what she ended up drinking (another friend went for vodka with Fentimans rose lemonade, so they do sell some spirits). As I always go for the real ale (Gold Beacons that evening) I hadn't noticed the lack of choice in spirits.
They don't sell Guinness either - Brian was sitting rather unhappily with a glass of Chocy-wocky, which is a bit of an acquired taste, and not much like Guinness at all. I ended up drinking that, and getting him some of the Gold Beacons (which is also not much like Guinness at all, being a pale beer).
What the Hay Tap does, it does very well - local ingredients for the food, local beers and ciders - but they do specialise. Where other pubs might want to offer the broadest range of drinks possible, Hay Tap at Kilverts have decided on their core range, and don't stray far beyond that.
So there's no Bacardi, and no Guinness - but the beer and cider they do stock are excellent (I have yet to try one of the pies there, but if they're anything like the ones at Brecon Tap, the first pub the brewery started, they will be delicious!).

Hay Tap Orange Card

To be honest, I'd almost forgotten about this.
When Brecon Tap announced that they were in discussions to take over the running of Kilvert's in Hay (and make it their Hay Tap) they did some crowdfunding. I wasn't able to take part when they did this to start Brecon Tap, but the thought of being able to walk up the road to partake of their amazing pies (and the excellent beer) made me look at my finances and decide I could afford to help them out this time.
And then I forgot about it until I saw a friend, who had also put money into the scheme.
The idea was that participants would get a card, with 50% of the amount they had donated on it, to use at the bar of both Hay and Brecon Tap. My friend is a great fan of loyalty cards, and had emailed them to ask when the card would be available, and I met her when she was going up to collect it from behind the bar. Bless her, she had also mentioned that I hadn't got a card yet either, so I went up with her.
So we now have the Orange Card, and since we were there, and didn't have to do much in the afternoon, we decided to use our cards straight away. She had a coffee, and I had a half of the guest ale, which I think was called Thor Ale? and was a collaboration between women brewers. Spicy, and quite strong, and very tasty.

There are so many places where it's possible to get really good beer in Hay!