Print Club costs £6 per session - Some materials will be provided and there will be access to the printing press supervised by seasoned members of Print Club.
This club will develop according to the needs and requirements of the members of the group - so why not come along and become a part of Print Club.
Aiden is now off on his travels so the group is self-led - if you have never done lino printing before you are still welcome to come along and joinin - just let one of the group know your level of knowledge and they will help you.
Join Dan Ryan for a fungi hunt. Whether you’re a curious beginner or experienced mycologist, all are welcome.
Dress for the weather, wear sturdy boots and, if you have them, bring a basket, small containers, penknife and hand lens.
NB: This isn't a forage for food, but a chance to get a closer look at Hay's rich fungal diversity, and collect specimens to display in the castle.
Meet at Hay Castle Lawn for 12:00 departure
Did you know that fungal ‘forays’ first started a few miles from Hay? In 1868, Herefordshire's Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club held what it called "a foray among the funguses", followed by a dinner made from the day's finds. It proved so popular that it ran every year for over two decades, and helped lay the groundwork for the science of mycology as we know it.
Dr Nathan Smith, senior mycologist at the National Museum of Wales, has spent years digging into stories like this one, and the people behind them. In this talk, he explores where our knowledge of fungi really came from, and why this corner of Wales and the Marches has such a strong claim to being where it started.
Expect stories of drinking, betrayal, and a fair bit of mushroom-eating. There may even be a song or two!
After last year’s sell-out talk, we’re delighted to welcome Ali Mac — AKA The FUNgi Guy — back to Fungi Town for another fungi-filled adventure, delivered in his own wonderfully inimitable style. Expect games, puppets, questionable props and plenty of audience participation. In Ali’s world, learning about fungi is anything but a chore.
Join artist and printmaker Yuli Gates for a hands-on introduction to the art of lino printmaking, with a mushroom twist. In this workshop, you’ll learn traditional carving and printing techniques while exploring the fascinating process of creating natural printmaking inks from mushrooms, as detailed in the book and website which Yuli illustrated:
The Mushroom Color Atlas.
https://www.mushroomcoloratlas.com/
Yuli will walk you through the process of designing, transferring, and carving the block , and you'll be able to print one of her designs, or create and print your own. You will learn how to print on paper or fabric. If you wish to bring your own fabric item to print on, it is encouraged: go home with a new t-shirt, tea towel, tote bag, or pillow case (This will not be provided, so if you'd like to bring your own, please do so. The recommendation is a light colour, and a smooth fabric with minimal texture, cotton, silk, polycotton, or smooth polyester fabrics are all great choices).
Along the way, you’ll also discover how to forage or source fungi for pigment, prepare them for ink-making, and use their earthy, organic tones to create truly unique prints.
Whether you’re an absolute beginner or looking to expand your creative toolkit, you’ll leave with your own hand-printed artwork, an understanding of mushroom inks, and the confidence to continue printing at home.
In 2017, Dr Jassy Drakulic asked UK gardeners to report their sightings of honey fungus. Hundreds responded. It was the start of research that has reshaped how the RHS thinks about fungi in our gardens, not as pests to be eradicated, but as an ecosystem already quietly at work beneath our feet.
Jassy is a Senior Plant Pathologist at the RHS and author of the new book RHS Fungi for Gardeners. In this talk, she asks whether typical gardening habits are suppressing fungal life that is already helping your plants, and explains what recent research reveals about what is really going on underground.
You will come away with practical, low-effort changes: what to leave alone, what to avoid, and how to garden alongside fungi rather than against them.
Forget the shady corner behind the shed. There are many ways to grow fungi in a garden, and even more reasons to do it.
Dead wood left to rot and colonised by fungi becomes home and hunting ground for garden creatures, a role usually reserved for pollinator-friendly planting.
Join RHS plant pathologist Dr Jassy Drakulic and mycologist Lorin von Longo-Liebenstein for a hands-on outdoor workshop on Hay Castle lawn. Between them, they bring years of practical experience helping gardens make room for fungi.
There are more species of fungi than plants and vertebrates combined, and almost all of them work unseen. Without fungi, life on land could not survive.
Professor Lynne Boddy MBE has spent her career studying this hidden kingdom. She once built a scale model of Britain entirely out of soil, using blocks of fungus-colonised wood, sized to match, to stand in for its cities. “The fungi grew out from the ‘cities’ and made the motorway network” she said. “You could see the M5, M4, M1, M6.”
Lynne has been a driving force behind UK Fungus Day and is one of the UK's leading fungal ecologists and most engaging communicators of fungal science. In this masterclass, she introduces the kingdom that quietly runs the world above and below our feet.
Lion's Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps, Turkey Tail: medicinal mushrooms are everywhere and promising miraculous results, but what does the evidence actually say? This beginner-friendly talk unpicks the evidence from the hype, explores the modern and traditional uses of medicinal fungi, and looks at how to identify good products.
A fascinating discussion between Kit Ondaatje Rolls, Hania Opienski and Oli Genn-Bash.
Professor Andy Letcher of Exeter University discusses with Nina Lyon the cultural history of the magic mushroom. There is renewed interest in the potential of psychedelics to address a number of stubborn mental illnesses, as well as a burgeoning psychedelic underground, driven especially by people travelling to the Amazon to consume ayahuasca in healing ceremonies.
But what about our own psychoactive mushrooms, the Liberty Cap (Psilocybe semilanceata), and the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)? Are there traditions of local consumption and if so, how far back do they go? In this talk Andy will challenge many of the myths that have arisen around magic mushrooms, answering questions such as: were the builders of Stonehenge tripping and was Santa Claus originally a mushroom munching shaman?
Fungi have long been the forgotten kingdom of conservation. Too hidden, too strange, too easy to miss. They weren’t even identified as their own kingdom of life - neither plant nor animal - until 1969!
Cardiff University's Dr Sarah Christofides is on a mission to change how we think about fungi and their importance to the natural world. In this talk, discover the fungal species driving a major new conservation effort, learn why this matters and how you can get involved.
Somewhere in Kew Gardens sits a room holding 1.25 million dried fungi, roughly 60% of every fungal species known to science. It is the largest and most scientifically important collection of its kind in the world, and Lee Davies has spent his career running it.
From expeditions in Madagascar to teaching fieldwork techniques to visiting scientists, Lee has built a fascinating working life around fungi in all their weird and surprising diversity.
Join Fungi Town's Dave Prescott for a conversation with Lee about the specimens, the expeditions, and the fungi he's come to know best.
What would a poem look like if it grew instead of being written? Mycologist and poet Nathan Smith has spent years finding out, developing forms of poetry shaped by the way fungi actually grow, branching, spreading, and reproducing without a fixed centre.
In this workshop, held fittingly in Hay’s Poetry Bookshop, Nathan introduces fungally-informed poetic structures and practices, and guides you through writing your own. No previous knowledge of fungi or poetry required. Just curiosity, and a pen and paper.
Poetry Bookshop, The Pavement, Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5BU
Saturday 3 October, 6-7pm
The Puff Ball is Fungi Town's big party on Saturday night at the Globe, featuring a set from local DJ and permaculture farmer Redwood - expect highly danceable underground electronic, breaks, afro house techno vibe….
There will be plenty of drinks including mushroom cocktails available and also a live action mushroom dance to Fungi Town's signature tune, brought to you by semi-professional line dancers Johnny 'Shapes' Furze and Dave 'Shapes' Prescott (disclaimer: Johnny and Dave are not semi-professional line dancers).
Feel free to dress in your most ridiculous mushroom-inspired clothes. Feel free, also, to bring puffballs, real or improvised.
The sessions cost £18 for the full day from 11-4pm and £12 for a morning or afternoon session only.
The morning session starts at 11am so please arrive at about 10.45am
The afternoon session starts at 1:45pm so please arrive at least 10 mins beforehand
Come along and try some board games out with Dylan.
There is a great selection of games - many of which you may not have seen before. Have a go and if you have fun there are even some to buy too.
Session runs from 11am to 2pm in our Clore Education Space.
Open 10am to 4pm,
seven days a week.
Hay Castle
Oxford Road
Hay-on-Wye
HR3 5DG
01497 820079
info@haycastletrust.org