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.
Sunday, 8 July 2018
Saturday, 7 July 2018
Hebron to Hebron Challenge
I met two ladies in purple in Hay the other day, with the words "hebron2hebron challenge" on their t-shirts. They told me that they had come from Hebron House in Norwich, and they were heading for Hebron in Wales. They had five days to do it, by any means possible, and with no money.
They're doing it to raise funds for Hebron House, which is an all female, 10 bed, alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre.
They started off with a tractor ride out of Norwich, and they had just got to Hay after getting a lift from Worcester. They were invited onto local radio to talk about the challenge, and someone phoned in to offer them a lift - and the Baskerville Arms in Clyro had offered them beds for the night. So they were spending the rest of the day looking around Hay.
There's a story about them in the Eastern Daily Press, the local newspaper for the Norwich area.
They're doing it to raise funds for Hebron House, which is an all female, 10 bed, alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre.
They started off with a tractor ride out of Norwich, and they had just got to Hay after getting a lift from Worcester. They were invited onto local radio to talk about the challenge, and someone phoned in to offer them a lift - and the Baskerville Arms in Clyro had offered them beds for the night. So they were spending the rest of the day looking around Hay.
There's a story about them in the Eastern Daily Press, the local newspaper for the Norwich area.
Friday, 6 July 2018
Latest News on Barclays Bank
This is 'hot off the press' - I've just seen the post on Gareth Ratcliffe's Facebook page.
He and Kirsty Williams AM and Councillor James Prothero met with representatives of the bank to discuss the proposed closure in September.
It's still going to close.
However, the bank has agreed to keep the cash machine in Hay - as long as there is a local business that will agree to having it. The machine takes up 2m x 2m of space. If that can be done, they will continue to run it as a Barclays ATM which will be free to use. They have also agreed to keep the present ATM up and running until the new one is ready.
They have also agreed in principle to having a presence at the Post Office one day a week, to support customers who will be using the Post Office for their banking - but this has yet to be agreed with the Post Office.
On 19th July, the bank will be running training sessions for customers, to help them change to online and telephone banking.
Any customers who do all their banking at the Hay branch should have been contacted by now so that staff can help them to find alternative banking arrangements. Anyone who hasn't been contacted yet should contact the branch.
He and Kirsty Williams AM and Councillor James Prothero met with representatives of the bank to discuss the proposed closure in September.
It's still going to close.
However, the bank has agreed to keep the cash machine in Hay - as long as there is a local business that will agree to having it. The machine takes up 2m x 2m of space. If that can be done, they will continue to run it as a Barclays ATM which will be free to use. They have also agreed to keep the present ATM up and running until the new one is ready.
They have also agreed in principle to having a presence at the Post Office one day a week, to support customers who will be using the Post Office for their banking - but this has yet to be agreed with the Post Office.
On 19th July, the bank will be running training sessions for customers, to help them change to online and telephone banking.
Any customers who do all their banking at the Hay branch should have been contacted by now so that staff can help them to find alternative banking arrangements. Anyone who hasn't been contacted yet should contact the branch.
Thursday, 5 July 2018
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.
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.
Wednesday, 4 July 2018
Red Kite over Hay
As I was walking home for lunch, a red kite was flying low over Broad Street, towards Clifford. It's always exciting to see, and they're getting more common in the area.
Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Open Garden
Ty Glyn is a historic house in Cusop Dingle, and they are opening their garden, and having a fete, on Saturday 7th July, from 11am to 3.30pm.
Ty Glyn is the house with the Victorian post box in the wall outside, originally built in the 1850s, with extensions in the 1880s, according to the information given to Cusop History Group by the current owners. The garden runs down to the Dulas Brook, which the house once used to power a hydro scheme which made it the second home in the area to have electric power. I think the first might have been Brynmelin, further up the Dingle, which has its own mill.
Sunday, 1 July 2018
What is that noise?
HSSSSS!!!
It could be heard across half of Hay.
The cause was easy to track down though, by the haze of dust in the air and the sand blasting van outside the shop and house in Castle Street that had the fire last year. Today is the day they've been dealing with some of the smoke damage.
It could be heard across half of Hay.
The cause was easy to track down though, by the haze of dust in the air and the sand blasting van outside the shop and house in Castle Street that had the fire last year. Today is the day they've been dealing with some of the smoke damage.
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