Past Events

We’re delighted to announce that the celebrated Library of Mistakes will be in residence at Hay Castle, 1st-3rd March 2024
Join historians, financial experts, investment sages for a wealth of wisdom, and enjoy a weekend of financial booms and busts, bubbles, swindles, panics and crashes.

A Weekend of Mistakes that offers you insights from the past - and some key lessons for your financial future!

An Edinburgh-based charity, the Library of Mistakes is dedicated to learning from the lessons of financial history – to better inform the present and help navigate the future. Since opening in 2014, it has developed from a specialist library to having an international following for its online events, webinars and podcasts on both historic and contemporary issues.

For information on each of the speakers please click here

Friday 1 March

Saturday 2 March

Sunday 3 March

If you would like to be involved in shaping future Weekends, do please contact us for further information on Founder Supporters and Sponsors. To book a call to discuss opportunities, please email Paul or Alice on info@haycastletrust.org

If you would like to be put on the list for cancellations, or hear about future Weekend of Mistakes events please email info@haycastletrust.org

If you are looking for information on accommodation please see FIND ME A BED

An exclusive one-day crime writing workshop with Kim Sherwood.

Kim Sherwood was commissioned to write a new series of James Bond books, becoming the first female author in the series of spy novels created by Ian Fleming. She is the creative writing lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and her first novel Testament (2018) won the Bath Novel Award and Harper’s Bazaar Big Book Award. In 2019, she was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Dame Hilary Mantel called Kim "a writer of capacity, potency and sophistication.”

Join Kim to explore how crime fiction comes together from a writer’s perspective with discussion and practical exercises on creating compelling characters, structuring story and developing setting. Whether you're just beginning or you've been living with an idea for years, this workshop will offer a practical look at the genre with guidance on how to make it your own.

TIFFANY MURRAY HAS COVID AND IS THEREFORE UNABLE TO RUN THIS WORKSHOP

THE WORKSHOP WILL STILL RUN AS EMMA BEYNON HAS STEPPED IN

An exclusive one day writing workshop exploring story writing, exploring themes from your own life and memories. If you have the urge to write but don’t know where to begin or have made a start but need fresh impetus to push on through to the end of a draft, this day is for you. Drawing on fiction and memoir, and using poetry we will play with the toolbox a new writer needs: character, story, structure, and setting. Emma will lead you through practical writing exercises, and the day will be supportive, productive, creative, and fun.

Special one day workshop as part of our Hay Winter Weekend activities - Places are limited so book now!

Learn how to make a work of art from the pages of recycled books, with celebrated paper artist Kate Kato, who uses discarded and recyled papers, wire and found objects to create sculptures inspired by the natural world. The theme of this workshop is moths.

Visit Kate's website

All materials provided

There will be the opportunity to make tea or coffee or you can purchase drinks downstairs in our café. There will be a break for lunch - please bring a packed lunch or you can eat in our café or elsewhere in Hay.

Jasper Fforde was on the crew of On the Black Hill working as the clapper loader back in 1987. His talk will give insights into the making of the film - and what a clapper loader actually does!

Here is a little extract from his website about the film:

"The project was interesting for me, not least because I'd read and enjoyed the book, written by Bruce Chatwin, it was my first movie as a fully-fledged crew member - I was the clapper loader - and the locations were in an area I knew particulry well as I'd spent my childhood in and around the area. The production team chose the eight weeks with the greatest range of weather as the film itself covered eighty-odd years, so we wanted to depict all the seasons, and did. We had everything from driving rain to snow to bright sunshine. We basically shot through the Spring of 1987, a magical time in Wales as much then as it is now."

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

We would like our events to be as accessible as possible while also making sure that we cover costs and are starting to introduce 'pay what you can' tickets.

We have tickets available at £3 (reduced rate), £5 (actual cost), and £7.50 (pay it forward).

Consider contributing more on the scale if you:have the ability to comfortably meet all of your basic needs

• have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
• travel recreationally
• own the home you live in
• have a relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc.)

• have difficulty covering basic expenses
• are supporting children or have other dependents
• are an elder with limited financial support
• have unstable housing and/or limited access to reliable transportation

If you select an amount at the higher end of the scale, you will make possible future events and activities and support our volunteers who are generously contributing time. Thank you!

Click here to buy tickets for the screening of On The Black Hill at 6pm


Supported by Film Hub Wales as part of the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), made possible by the National Lottery.

Cefnogir gan Ganolfan Ffilm Cymru fel rhan o Rwydwaith Cynulleidfa Ffilm y BFI (FAN), a wedi wnaed yn bosib gan y Loteri Genedlaethol.

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

We would like our events to be as accessible as possible while also making sure that we cover costs and are starting to introduce 'pay what you can' tickets.

We have tickets available at £3 (reduced rate), £5 (actual cost), and £7.50 (pay it forward).

Consider contributing more on the scale if you:have the ability to comfortably meet all of your basic needs

• have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
• travel recreationally
• own the home you live in
• have a relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc.)

Consider contributing less on the scale if you:

• have difficulty covering basic expenses
• are supporting children or have other dependents
• are an elder with limited financial support
• have unstable housing and/or limited access to reliable transportation

If you select an amount at the higher end of the scale, you will make possible future events and activities and support our volunteers who are generously contributing time. Thank you!

If you select an amount at the higher end of the scale, you will make possible future events and activities and support our volunteers who are generously contributing time. Thank you!

PAST EVENT
Come and enjoy the big screen on the Castle lawns, produced by Flatpack in partnership with Hay Castle Trust, with support from Film Hub Wales.

'Writing with Light' present a weekend of words and film, transforming Hay Castle into an open-air cinema for the first time. Step through the imposing gateway to the castle gardens and settle in for the most entertaining Dickens adaptation you can find on film. And what better way to experience this classic than under the stars at the centre of literary haven Hay-on-Wye. We’ll be making the most of the surrounding keep and battlements, creating an immersive environment for cinema under the night sky. Projections, Archive shorts and guest speakers will celebrate the art translating text into moving images, inspiring all ages to read more, watch more and make films.

Saturday Sep 2: The Personal History of David Copperfield (PG)

Brilliantly cast with the endlessly talented Dev Patel taking on the titular character. Set in the 1840s, the film chronicles the life of it's iconic character as he navigates a chaotic world to find his elusive place within it. From his unhappy childhood to the discovery of his gift as a storyteller and writer, David's journey is by turns hilarious and tragic, but always full of life, color, and humanity.

The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) - IMDb

Epicure Events will be running a bar and selling popcorn and ice cream to enjoy during the film - you can also pre-order a Local Sausage Hot Dog to enjoy before the screening.

Supported by Film Hub Wales as part of the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), made possible by the National Lottery.

Cefnogir gan Ganolfan Ffilm Cymru fel rhan o Rwydwaith Cynulleidfa Ffilm y BFI (FAN), a wedi wnaed yn bosib gan y Loteri Genedlaethol.

Terms:

- Ticket prices include entry into the Castle after 7pm.
- Seating not provided - for comfort, please bring your own camping chair and or blanket to sit on.
- Well behaved dogs welcome.
- Please note tickets are non-refundable - the event will go ahead rain or shine.

See also:
Friday Sep 1: Fantastic Mr Fox (PG)

Come and enjoy the big screen on the Castle lawns, produced by Flatpack in partnership with Hay Castle Trust, with support from Film Hub Wales.

'Writing with Light' present a weekend of words and film, transforming Hay Castle into an open-air cinema for the first time. Step through the imposing gateway to the castle gardens and settle in for the delightfully funny and beautifully animated Fantastic Mr Fox. As literary adaptations go, Wes Anderson taking on Roald Dahl was always going to be a pretty magical combination. And what better way to experience this family classic than under the stars at the centre of literary haven Hay-on-Wye. We’ll be making the most of the surrounding keep and battlements, creating an immersive environment for cinema under the night sky. Projections, Archive shorts and guest speakers will celebrate the art translating text into moving images, inspiring all ages to read more, watch more and make films.

Friday Sep 1: Fantastic Mr Fox (PG)

This is the story of Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and his wild ways of hen heckling, turkey taking, and cider sipping, nocturnal, instinctive adventures. He has to put his wild days behind him and do what fathers do best: be responsible. He is too rebellious. He is too wild. He is going to try "just one more raid" on the three nastiest, meanest farmers that are Walter Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), Nathan Bunce (Hugo Guinness), and Franklin Bean (Sir Michael Gambon). It is a tale of crossing the line of family responsibilities and midnight adventure and the friendships and awakenings of this country life that is inhabited by Fantastic Mr. Fox and his friends.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) - IMDb

Epicure Events will be running a bar and selling popcorn and ice cream to enjoy during the film - you can also pre-order a Local Sausage Hot Dog to enjoy before the screening.

Supported by Film Hub Wales as part of the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), made possible by the National Lottery.

Cefnogir gan Ganolfan Ffilm Cymru fel rhan o Rwydwaith Cynulleidfa Ffilm y BFI (FAN), a wedi wnaed yn bosib gan y Loteri Genedlaethol.

Terms:

- Ticket prices include entry into the Castle after 7pm.
- Seating not provided - for comfort, please bring your own camping chair and or blanket to sit on.
- Well behaved dogs welcome.
- Please note tickets are non-refundable - the event will go ahead rain or shine

Saturday Sep 2: The Personal History of David Copperfield (PG)

Contributors: Sophie Howe, first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales; Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Climate Change.

Chaired by Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen.

With the climate and ecological emergency, humanity faces perhaps its greatest ever threat. In many ways, Wales has been a leader in this field but the challenges remain immense. For ‘Green Wales’, two of the most eminent figures in Welsh politics discuss our present situation and explain what we must do to secure our future.

PART OF OUR HAY FESTIVAL: WALES SERIES 2023

A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN HAY FESTIVAL AND HAY CASTLE

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO COLOUR

What is colour? What does it mean? And how has it shaped our art and history? In this talk, Cambridge art historian and BBC broadcaster James Fox explores the extraordinary history of colour, from cave paintings all the way through to contemporary art.

Diving deep into the colours of black, red, yellow, blue, white, purple and green, he'll range across the world and through time, to reveal the meanings that have been attached to the colours we see around us and the ways these have influenced our culture and imagination.

BOOK NOW TO AVOID MISSING THIS OPPORTUNITY

This day is designed as a masterclass in the morning and an afternoon workshop. You will have the opportunity to learn about being a printmaker and to develop your lino skills with artist and illustrator Hannah Firmin.

The day will begin with a talk by Hannah about her life as an artist and illustrator.

Hannah trained at Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art and was tutored by such people as Susan Einzig, Quentin Blake and Sheila Robinson amongst others. For many years she has worked as a freelance Illustrator working for publishers, magazines and design groups all over the world. Hannah always used a ‘hand printed’ technique for the artwork, developing a specific style using woodcuts, linocuts and collage.

We will then have a short masterclass with discussion and the ability to look through Hannah's work in her portfolios.

After lunch there will be a lino-printing workshop with places limited to 10 people.

The lunch break is a great opportunity to go and see our exhibition The Printed Line in our gallery on the 2nd floor which features over 40 printed works from the Arts Council Collection.

Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong, Hay-on-Wye's most infamous citizen and the only solicitor ever to be hanged in Britain, was executed 100 years ago for murdering his wife Katherine and attempting to kill Hay's other solicitor Oswald Martin. People certainly seemed to become ill after falling out with Armstrong. But did he do it and did he receive a fair trial? The Poisonous Solicitor uncovers new evidence about the dapper little major whose case absorbed newspaper readers across the world and intrigued writers including Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers.

Stephen Bates is a former journalist who worked for the BBC, Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and latterly the Guardian for more than 30 years and now writes books instead at his home in Kent.

Stephen will be signing books after the event.

THIS EVENT HAS NOW SOLD OUT

Please enter the Castle from Oxford Road or through the ancient gates from the Market carpark as the Honesty Bookshop door will be locked.