Turning on the Christmas Lights

There was a huge crowd in the town square last night for the turning on of the Christmas Lights.
Inside the marquee there were stalls selling food and drink - Brecon Beacons beer, fancy gin, the Fudge Shop, Welsh honey, fancy cakes and chocolates - as well as local groups. Hay School was selling Christmas wreaths in red and green, made by the children, and Christmas tree decorations. One stall was doing "guess the number of wine corks in the bottle" to win some wine. There were raffle tickets for a hamper. The Fairtrade group were there, with their new banner, to remind people that Hay is a Fairtrade town. Hay2Timbuktu had pictures of what they've been doing to help the high schools in Timbuktu.
Outside the marquee there were food stalls selling a vast variety of take away food - Indian, goat curry, Parsnip-ship's organic and vegetarian food, Welsh pizzas, mulled wine, and more.
The Community Choir sang carols, beautifully, introduced by George the Town Cryer. A procession holding big white lanterns, stuffed with fairy lights, arrived and mingled with the crowd - there had been a lantern making workshop at the library earlier in the afternoon.
I still wasn't feeling 100% so I slipped away before the countdown to the lights going on started - but it's the biggest crowd I've seen yet.

Witchcraft talk at the Winter Festival

This is one of the pictures Thomas Waters used to illustrate his talk on the history of witchcraft this afternoon. It's a curse doll with a note that was found in the wall of a house in Hereford, and is now in the possession of the Hereford Museum. I copied it from the Eat Sleep Live Herefordshire Facebook page. The writer of the note really didn't like someone called Mary Ann Ward!
It was a fascinating talk, with examples right around the world and up to the present day, though there were several stories from Victorian England. One of the conclusions Thomas Waters has drawn from his fifteen years of research for his book Cursed Britain is that, although some cunning men and witches were undoubtedly charlatans, others performed a valuable service to their clients not unlike counsellors and therapists today.
As in previous years, the tent in the Cattle Market has an annexe with bar, snacks and a few stalls, including the Festival Bookshop where I treated myself to the Mike Pitts book Digging for Britain. There were also some girls from Fairfield School, in uniform with Extinction Rebellion badges. They'd set up a tree, and were inviting people to write their wishes for the future on luggage labels, and tie them to the tree.

Outside the tent there's a big mobile burger bar set up, selling burgers with local Hereford beef, which I've heard good things about, though I didn't try any today.
And in the centre of town, the tents are going up for tonight's switching on of the Christmas Lights, tomorrow's Food Festival and the fair on Sunday.

The Aliens have Landed!

This is probably the most bizarre of the Christmas decorations around town - outside the Old Electric Shop.

Goodbye, Alistair Shaw

It was a shock to look at Facebook this morning and find that Alistair Shaw has died.
I've been watching him putting up the Christmas lights all over town in the last week or so.
When I looked at his Facebook page, the last post he put on it was the Four Candles/Fork Handles sketch from the Two Ronnies.
His family say he suffered a heart attack.
I've known Alistair for a long time - he always seemed a little larger than life, a showman with a circus background. He was one of the characters that make Hay special.
He will be missed.

Small Business Saturday

Kooko, which appears to be selling Christmas themed goods and furniture at the moment.
This picture was taken before they painted the quotation from Shakespeare on the wall: "I like this place, and willingly could waste my time in it."

Feeling Ill

I am in isolation at the moment, so I don't spread my 'orrible germs to anyone else.
Which is a pity, because I was quite looking forward to the XR meeting at Cusop Village Hall tonight at 7pm, and I don't think I'll manage to get to the Shantymen concert on Sunday either.

The Aeronauts

Some films need to be seen on the big screen.
I'd been looking forward to The Aeronauts, starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones as Victorian scientist James Glaisher and balloonist Amelia Wren who attempt to break the height record for balloon flights while taking scientific readings.
I went to Brook Street Cinema on Monday evening - it was almost like a private showing, as only six people had bought tickets for the 7.30pm show.
The special effects were very good (after all, they couldn't really have been flying over Victorian London!) and it wasn't just two people in a balloon basket. I did like the portrayal of James Glaisher's father, the clock and watch mender, who had a telescope out the back of his shop and was only just holding on to reality. He was played by Tom Courtney. It was also nice to see James' friend being played by an Indian actor, Himesh Patel, and some black and brown faces in the crowd scenes (there were black and brown people living in London in 1862, after all). Also some glorious crinoline dresses!
I was inspired to do some research after seeing the film - the balloon flight in the film was actually made with a male colleague, and Amelia Wren was fictional, but based on some real lady balloonists of the time.

The trailer was for Last Christmas - I was quite excited to spot Michelle Yeoh in that, running a Christmas shop. I last saw her as the evil Emperor of the parallel universe Terran Empire in Star Trek: Discovery! That's coming soon, and also coming soon are Gaugin from the National Gallery, The Good Liar starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellan, Knives Out and a Les Miserables Concert.