The nights are drawing in and what better way to spend a few hours of a drizzly October evening than sitting in the pub, to wit, at a Transition Town Hay meeting!  Please come along if you would like to chat about anything transition related or find out more about what's going on:

I thought it might be helpful to have a theme to focus on at the meeting...

A possible topic of discussion is the new 5p carrier bag charge which came into effect in Wales on 1st October.  The Regulations do not specify where the proceeds of the charge should go but it is expected that they should be passed on to charities or good causes in Wales, and in particular to environmental projects. I'd like to see if businesses in Hay would donate the charge to support a TTHay initiative.  How about using the cash to put on a free basketry workshop for local people so they no longer need plastic bags for shopping!  Or materials could be bought for the Hay Youth Club to create re-usable cotton bags or re-usable bicycle inner tube baskets!  In Wales we use 273 bags per household per year so this is a great opportunity to get people to think about and reduce their dependency on plastic and come up with creative alternatives to the carrier bag...

A quick round-up of other items which may be of interest:

The inaugural Hay Walking Festival went really well and it was great to see many locals as well as visitors on the walks.  Special thanks to Paul Graves, Ainsleigh Rice and Phoebe Boulanger for helping out with the transition-themed walk on Sunday.  The group had great fun finding out about insulation, solar and hydro energy schemes (and eating cake!) at Ty Glyn and learning about electric bikes before finishing off at Hayfields Garden with a very tasty garden stew cooked on site.  If you would like to be involved in next year's festival please do get in touch with the Hay Tourism Group (info@haywalkingfestival.co.uk).  If you're interested in volunteering at the garden, please get in touch with Phoebe (phoebeboulanger@hotmail.com)

One of the community e-bikes is currently available.  Remember these are free to use (though any donations gratefully received) so please get in touch with Drover Holidays if you would like to try one out for a few days, a week or a month. Helmet, panniers and a bit of instruction all included.  It's a shame for them not to be used!  If you're interested please email anna@droverholidays.co.uk, phone 01497 821134 or call in at the shop. 

Kind regards

Anna

TTHay Secretary