Events

This calendar of events at St Mary’s Church will be frequently updated to include ticketing and pricing details that are not immediately available, but will be posted as artists and musicians confirm.

There’s plenty of good music and entertainment to look forward to, so watch this space for details of times and ticketing.

When the church is hired for a concert or event, a reasonable time is allowed for setting up and rehearsals, sound checks etc. There is small staging available, made up of 16 units, each 750 millimetres square. These can be arranged to suit requirements. A grand piano is available, also a pipe organ. The cost of tuning prior to a concert is the responsibility of the hirer. Details of our contracted tuner will be given.

Tea, coffee and soft drinks with biscuits and cake, or a licenced bar serving wine, bottled beer and soft drinks can be arranged. There is no additional charge to the hirer for this service – the church will retain the profits.

The church is a PRS licenced venue. Promoters should, if registered, make their own royalty returns to the PRS. A member of the music committee will be pleased to advise on this.

The cost of hire for concerts etc. is £175.00. This covers one event and one rehearsal.

When one or more events take place on the same day, each subsequent event will be charged at £50.00

EVENTS IN APRIL 2024

SATURDAY 6th April 10.30am for 11.00am Organ Recital

This month’s organ recital will be given by Fr Richard.

Sadly, this will be Fr Richard’s last recital as Vicar of Hay, but he has promised to return for further recitals in the future.

Fr Richard will also return to St Mary’s to give his popular accompaniments to the silent films sponsored by the Hay Festival.

Entry is free with a retiring collection in aid of St Mary’s.

Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available.

FRIDAY 12th April at 7.00pm Hay Music Presents:

 The New London Chamber Ensemble with works by Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, Beamish and Stott.

The NLCE is a wind quintet with a difference and for over two decades it has challenged traditional ideas of chamber music with its innovative programmes.  “Each player in the ensemble is a virtuoso, but as a group they seem to have effortlessly acquired those essential chamber music skills of ‘give and take’ which would grace a long-established string quartet.” – Guy Woolfenden.

Having graced stages globally, the NLCE has left an indelible mark with notable appearances in diverse settings. Highlights include collaborations with pianist Angela Hewitt; collaborating with percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie in the performance of two world premieres; the Two Moors Festival performing Walton’s Façade with Prunella Scales and Timothy West; performances for Courthouse Music in Sweden and the Banff Festival in Canada; collaborations with the Dante Quartet …..and much more.

Tickets and full programme details at www.haymusic.org.  A limited number of free tickets for under 25s available (online only).

SATURDAY 13th April  6.30pm Hay Community Forums

Local author and historian, Peter Ford, will give a talk on his latest book: ‘Weston Hamlett:The Original Settlement of Hay on Wye’

Weston existed before the Normans built their castle in Hay, with the town growing up next to Weston, but not part of it until 1640
Weston was the home of the hospice, the workhouse, Dishpool Lane, and the German Enigma monitoring station that sent messages to Bletchley Park each day for decoding.

It was because St Marys Church was founded on its present site, that St John’s Chapel was built in Hay.

Peter will relate  the stories of the nurse in charge of the Red Cross ambulance train in WW1; Lancelot ‘Lanty’ Steele Dixon,  the WW2 pilot who crashed his Spitfire into a field near Hay, and John Shenton who took over the license of the Lamb Inn,otherwise known as ‘Hay Brothel’!

Primrose Organic Farm will be giving us seasonal updates ‘from the soil’.

Tickets £5.00 on the door.

FRIDAY 19th April 7.30pm

Talgarth Male Choir and Hay’s local Welsh choir Cantorian-y-Gelli

An evening of traditional Welsh music and song presented by these popular choirs.

Tickets £10.00 on the door.  A licenced bar will be available.

24th MAY – 4th JUNE: A EXCEPTIONAL EXHIBITION AT ST JOHN’S CHAPEL, HAY

Petrov Birov is a Ukrainian Iconographer who is fully trained and has been working in churches and painting Icons for some years.  He is now in Hay on Wye with his family until it is safe to return home. Meanwhile he has set up a website selling originals, prints and materials.  

For more information, please visit www.icon-ex.com.

Christina Watson (Christina Wright) has been a local sign writer and artist for over 45 years, she turned her hand to Iconography after visiting the Coptic Christian Churches in Old Cairo and has been practising the art for 13 years alongside the sign work, including gaining a Prince’s Trust for Traditional Arts Certificate after training in Shrewsbury for three years with Aidan Hart www.aidanharticons.com.  Aidan works internationally.

Some of Christina’s work is displayed in the Shrine Chapel and around the church of St. Mary the Virgin, Hay on Wye including the painting and gilding of the stars in the Apse and the Icon of Christ within. 

Please do come and visit the exhibition where there will be Icons, prints and cards on sale, but please be aware that access to this beautiful little chapel would not be possible in a wheel chair and must be entered with care by the disabled, whereas at St. Mary’s Hay on Wye, there is wheelchair access and disabled toilets.

We look forward to welcoming you.  Christina and Petrov