Knighton Town Council

Civic Centre

Magnolias flower in spring and so does the foyer of the civic centre, which has been given a fresh coat of magnolia paint by councillor Petra Ford to make it look smarter and more welcoming. Who says councillors don’t get stuck in?!

Cenotaph

The paving slabs around the cenotaph have, for some time, started to lift and become uneven due to the roots of a nearby tree. A contractor has been booked to start work making the ground safer and more level as it could present a trip hazard if left as it is. The work will be carried out soon.

Beautiful Knighton

The council has bought 32 self watering hanging baskets to bring colour and beauty to the town this summer. Also purchased were sturdy wooden planters which have been planted with bee and butterfly friendly flowers and these are situated in The Narrows.

The planters were made by members of the Men’s Shed along with bird, bat and owl boxes and bug hotels, which are in place near the community centre.

Some of the boxes have been donated to the woodland tots group which will also receive some nature signs. These projects were funded by a grant from Powys County Council which has also enabled the creation of a stumpery and bog garden at the civic centre.

Coronation Benches

Councillor Petra Ford has suggested that two commemorative benches could be installed, possibly replacing a broken one at the cenotaph and placing the other at the museum. The benches could either be bought or perhaps built by the ever creative members of the Men’s Shed. Plaques could be attached and the cost of these, according to councillors Holly Adams-Evans and Sally Ross would be £199 each.

Money for Music

A grant of £500 has been awarded to Knighton Town Silver Band for their musical contributions to town events, including the King’s coronation celebration. They make an event even more special and are an asset to the town. Players of all ages and abilities are welcomed whether learning, improving or experienced and there is a training band as well as the principal band.

Flying the Flag(s)

Knighton Tourism Group has received £135 for 30 flags that will adorn Broad Street for the summer. The flags will consist of 10 each of St David’s flag, the Welsh Dragon and Owain Glyndwr’s flag.

Community Bank

Last November Red Kite Savings and Loans Credit Union merged with Smart Money Cymru to create a community banking service, which operates at the civic centre every Friday from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. Smart Money Cymru is a not for profit financial cooperative which is owned and led by its members.

Show your Support

If you’re looking for new glad-rags and a few bargains while supporting a good cause, come to the fashion show and popup shop at St Edward’s church hall on 10 June. Doors and bar open at 6.30pm and the show will start at 7pm. The event is organised by Knighton & District Rotary Club to raise funds for charity. You’ll find a range of well known brands available for at least 50% off the retail price. Tickets, costing £5, can be bought by phoning Chris Price on 01544 267898 or emailing chrisprice48@gmail.com

We must also mention that the new president of the Rotary Club, Angela Ellis, has raised £1,062 for the Rotary in GB and Ireland Turkey / Syria Disasters Emergency Fund. During the month of March Angela walked or ran at lest two miles every day, come rain or shine, achieving a total of 80 miles. And she did the final bit dressed as a cupcake. Fortunately nothing ate her on the way.

Ward Change

A ward at Knighton Hospital will be temporarily repurposed as an interim support facility for those who no longer need to be in hospital but who are not quite ready to go home. The four reablement rooms will hold beds managed by the team at Cottage View Residential Care Home, with support from nurses and allied health professionals.

Panpwnton Ward has been redecorated and in places recarpeted, with extra furniture brought in. David Farnsworth, Powys Teaching Health Board’s assistant director of community services, assured the council that the changes were temporary and can be reversed and that the board is mindful that the site remains a community hospital – continuing to provide out -patient services, therapies and a midwife led birth centre amongst other services.

Please get in touch if your organisation is within a 10-mile radius of Kington and is for the benefit of people in the local area. We will add you to a small waiting list who will be offered any vacancies as they arise.

7th June Bryngwyn Riding for the Disabled

14th June Kinnerton Village Hall & Church

21st June Kington Community Choir

28th June Gladestry Village Hall

12th July Almeley Church

19th July Music st St Mary’s, Kington

26th July Marches Makers Festival

2nd August Huntington Church & Village Hall

9th August Kington Museum

16th August New Radnor WI

23rd August Kington Youth Club

30th August Kington Am Dram & Op (KADOS)

6th Sept Kington First Responders

Citizen’s Advice Outreach in Kington

Do you need advice but can't get to Hereford? We can see you in Bromyard, Leominster, Kington or Ross-on-wye.

Just contact us to make an appointment: by text on 0786 00 77 311, call on 0344 826 9685 (Monday - Friday (not Thursdays) between 10am and 3pm) or email advice@citaherefordshire.org.uk with your full name and message. More details can be found here: https://www.herefordshirecab.org.uk/outreaches/

Our advice is Free, Confidential, Impartial and Independent.

Eardisland

The Dovecote Trust owns and administers Eardisland's Georgian Dovecote Local Heritage Centre. The Dovecote is open every day of the year, with free admission. The ground floor space is shared by the village shop and local Parish and Tourist Information, whilst the first floor houses a small museum of local history.

The Trust is also responsible for England's oldest AA box in a garden setting and the free public car park in the village centre.

Eardisland Bowling Club has existed for 80 years and has been based at its current home for the last 30 years. Noted for its friendliness, the club is open to male and females of all ages, with complete novices most welcome. Woods can be provided but players must wear flat-soled shoes. Full membership allows the member to use the green at any time, subject to booked matches. The club plays a series of friendly matches throughout the season, both home and away, as well as meeting every Tuesday evening. You are welcome to park your vehicle at the nearby Village Hall car park.

Meetings: 6.30pm Tuesdays, from the end of April to the end of September. Venue: The Bowling Green, Church Road, Eardisland. Adjacent to the recreation ground. Contact Doug Tantrum 01544 387972 or dougtantrum@hotmail.com

Village Hall. All hirings for Main Hall and Committee Room include use of the well equipped kitchen for preparation of drinks and snacks (on a shared basis if both rooms are booked separately). Village Hall Booking Secretary Sarah Heron 07480 000272 or villagehall@eardisland.org.uk

The Eardisland Community Shop is run for the benefit of the community, staffed and managed totally by volunteers from within the local community. Opening Hours: April to September - Monday to Saturday 8am to 5pm. Sundays and Bank

Holidays 10am to 2pm. Product Range: we focus on food, our priority being local produce, with a range of bread, cakes, biscuits, vegetables, dairy products, preserves, ice creams, chutneys, honey, sausages, pies, bacon, eggs and more. All delivered fresh, some daily, from within a few miles of the shop. At weekends we sell bread made by a local artisan baker. Newspapers are available each day. We have a small range of toiletries, medicines and household products. We do not sell alcohol or tobacco products. Orders can be placed for collection

Contact Details 01544 388984 or eardislandshop@gmail.com

We are still seeking volunteers. It is not a requirement to commit to the same slot week after week, or do more than an hour or to find a replacement if you have to cancel. Just call in the shop, put your name on the rota and if you need to cancel phone the shop.

Farming in the Wye

Free guide to the Farming Rules for Water

Herefordshire Rural Hub has partnered with the Environment Agency to create a quick guide about the requirements of the Farming Rules for Water. EA inspections during 2022 found significant non-compliance against the requirements to undertake nutrient management planning; do soil testing; tailor applications to suit soil and crop nutrient needs. The guide aims to increase understanding of the requirements and how to comply with them. It will be available from local advisers and at events so keep your eyes peeled to get your hands on one!

Knighton & Presteigne Food Bank

Are you experiencing difficulties buying enough food for you and your family, due to a sudden crisis – redundancy, loss of or delay in receiving benefits? If so you can be referred to the Knighton & Presteigne Foodbank for help by social services, your family doctor or health visitor, Jobcentre Plus, mental health services or your church minister among others. Referral agencies and organisations can find relevant information on our Information / referrals page: www.knightonfoodbank.co.uk

If you qualify for a food parcel you or the service or agency supporting you can make a telephone referral by contacting Helen Anderson, the Knighton & Presteigne Foodbank manager, on 07731 524 058 or by email to helen@knightonfoodbank.co.uk You will then be given an appointment to collect a food parcel from the Knighton & Presteigne Foodbank at the Baptist Church on Norton Street in Knighton. If you need food urgently but are not in touch with any of the referral agencies we may still be able to help.

Donations

As always we are very grateful for any donations you can give us. Please contact Helen before making your donation, to check our current needs. Our current drop-off points are: The Co-op in Knighton; Norton Street Baptist Church in Knighton; Spar in Presteigne. If you need us to collect a food donation please ring Helen on 07731 524 058 and she will make suitable arrangements for a safe collection. Items can of course be left on your doorstep or previously agreed location. www.knightonfoodbank.co.uk

Knighton & Presteigne Foodbank now operates its Outreach Service in Presteigne, from Presteigne Youth Centre on Hereford Street. The service offers emergency food parcels and is open each Friday between 1.30pm and 3pm. For more information on how to apply for a food parcel, contact Helen on 07731 524 058.

We would welcome:

Children’s cereals, peanut butter, chocolate spread, jam

Meatballs, hot-dogs, tinned stewing steak, corned beef

Tinned sweetcorn, tinned potatoes

Beans, pasta, pasta sauces

Tinned fruit, tinned custard and rice pudding Soup (not tomato or oxtail)

The Walking Dog of Kington is Here

Fly is an entity in his own right but also represents the collective spirit of hounds, of whom many have haunted local traditional tales, interleaving magic with hearsay and documented history. Stories of ghostly black dogs abound in the region –usually portents of doom – and particularly feature in the legends that cling to Black Vaughan.

The famous collection of folk tales which form The Mabinogion, many of which were included in The Red Book of Hergest, speak of the Cwn Annwn, a pack of spectral hounds from the underworld, with their shining white coats, red ears and fearsome howls.

The Red Book was held at Hergest Court on the outskirts of Kington, home to the Vaughan family. When the legendary incumbent, Black Vaughan, was captured and beheaded in the civil war of the 1460s, the ghost of his headless body could find no rest. Instead, it manifested in various guises to torment and frighten the neighbourhood: as a man, a fly, a black bull or a black dog.

Finally 12 priests came to St Mary’s church to undertake an exorcism, which resulted in his spirit, reduced to the size of a fly, being imprisoned in a snuffbox and buried beneath a rock at the bottom of a lake, said by some to be the dewpond on Tarrymoor. Reference to this strand of the story is represented on the sculpture by the snuffbox talisman on Fly’s collar. The Hound of the Baskervilles

It's told that Black Vaughan had a hound with a room of his own at Hergest Court. This dog’s ghost is said to have roamed the district, the sight of him being an omen of doom to members of the family. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was related to the Vaughans, stayed at the Court, where he no doubt heard the legend.

Both Doyle and the Vaughans were related by marriage to the Baskervilles of nearby Clyro Court and it seems likely that the tale was originally set in Herefordshire but that he was per- suaded to change the location to Cornwall. These legends continue to terrify and inspire and provided a foundation for this sculpture. However, in Fly the darker connotations are left behind. In this incarnation he is a bright, enthusiastic spectre of a dog, keen to roam, with the contour lines of his form reflecting the landscape of the region.

If a little lost or unnerved when walking the woods and hills in the gloaming, walkers may be glad of Fly’s company should they encounter a spirit hound on their travels.

Realisation of the work is the culmination of an enormous coordinated community effort. It has involved more people than can be acknowledged here, though every single contribution deserves thanks. I hope everyone will take pleasure in the presence of Fly.

Sculptor Rachel Ricketts.

With very special thanks to:

Annie Gamble and the Marches Makers Committee, without whom the project would not have come to fruition; Alan Dixon, Arrow Plant and Dave Ray for their time and expertise with the installation work; Dean Benbow, architect, for dealing with the planning permission; The Gore Quarry for donation and transportation of the stone; Kington Chamber of Trade and Kington Town Council for their support; Martin Peek for planting the seed of the idea; Wayne Summers for design work.

National Garden Scheme

If you missed Pontsioni near Aberedw the garden opens again 4 June. Also the Great British Garden Party is back! This fundraising event has been designed by the National Garden Scheme to share the Nation’s love of gardens. Gather your friends and family for a garden get-together, ask for a donation and make a difference, helping raise vital funds for some of the UK’s best-loved nursing and health charities, including Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK, Carers Trust, The Queen’s Nursing Institute and Parkinson’s UK. You can host your gathering any time, any place, anywhere. Sign up or find a garden opening nearby at www.ngs.org.uk

Sun 4 June 2-6pm £6.50 The Neuadd, Llanbedr, Crickhowell NP8 1SP.

Sun 4 June 2-5pm £4.50 Tranquility Haven, 7 Lord’s Land, Whitton, Knighton LD7 1NJ.

Thur 8 June 10am-4pm £7 White Hopton Farm, Wern Lane, Sarn, Newtown SY16 2EN.

Sat, Sun 24-25 June 11am-5pm £6 The Hymns, Hymns Farm, Walton, Presteigne LD8 2RA.

Sun 25 June 11am-5pm £4.50 Tyn y Graig, Bwlch y Ffrid, Newtown SY16 3JB.

Tues 4 July 2-6pm £5 Plas Dinam, Llandinam, Newtown SY17 5DQ.

Wed 12 July 6-8pm £4.50 Tranquility Haven,7 Lord’s Land, Whitton, Knighton LD7 1NJ.

Sat, Sun 15-16 July 2-5pm £4 The Meadows, Carno Rd, Caersws SY17 5JA.

Sun 16 July 2-5pm £6 Cwm-Weeg, Dolfor, Newtown SY16 4AT.

For NGS: pre-booking essential, every Fri 21 July-11 Aug £6 Welsh Lavender, Cefnperfedd Uchaf, Maesmynis, Builth Wells LD2 3HU.

Sat, Sun 29-30 July 1-5pm donation Ponthafren, Long Bridge St, Newtown SY16 2DY.

Wed 26 Aug 6-8pm £4.50 Tranquility Haven,7 Lord’s Land, Whitton, Knighton LD7 1NJ.

Sat, Sun 19-20 Aug 12-5pm £5 Willowbrook, Knighton Rd, Presteigne LD8 2ET.