Catch a Glimpse of Hay

Hay Before the Bookshops or The Beeman’s Family, written by Bridget Ashton presents a childhood memory of 1950s Hay-on-Wye before it became the bustling home of bookshops we so fondly know today.

Born in August 1944, her father a pacifist beekeeper and her mother a poet and writer, it’s only natural that Bridget would grow to become a writer herself. The family moved to Number 3, Market Street, Hay-on- Wye in 1950 and left in 1955. Bridget’s writing of these five years gives a snapshot of Hay through her own childhood memories and real hand-written accounts from her mother’s diaries. Family photographs are peppered through the pages, showing the buildings and roads we know so well standing in times gone by.

One of my favourite parts of reading this book was being enveloped in the tales and looking at the photographs; trying to guess where in the town these great childhood adventures took place, and what is there now... as I’m sure many of you will be trying to place the photographs in this article.

Sixty years on, some parts of town life are completely unrecognisable; the brand new NHS, ration books, steam trains. But in other ways Hay has remained completely the same, with the recognisable clocktower and butter market, the close-knit community and even the same childhood playground games (I remember playing many of them myself!).

It is an interesting read and it gives a detailed snapshot into the life of our town six decades ago.You can pick up the book from Green Ink Booksellers,The Castle Bookshop, Addyman’s Books and Annexe and Richard Booth’s Bookshop.

You’ll be able to meet Bridget in person. She will be in the Green Ink Booksellers at 5.30pm on the 20th September where she will be discussing old- fashioned Hay cooking. Go and tell her what your mother, or your grandmother, cooked in days gone by. Bring your favourite recipes!

If you’re busy on that date, you’ll still have a chance to meet Bridget at Painscastle Village Hall on the 22nd September at 6.30pm where she will be presenting A Child’s Year in Painscastle in 1949. Go and meet the author who lived there three-quarters of a century ago.

This book would make such a lovely present for any friends who remember those days and can relate to these stories, and for those of us who want to catch a glimpse of Hay in days gone by.

Review by Carrianne Lloyd-Ralph