Hay Before the Bookshops or the Beeman's Family

Much as we all love Hay-on-Wye's bookshops, what was life like in Hay before they arrived. Bridget Ashton, a well-respected local historian, lived here as a child. In this compelling account, she sets out to recall, from the perspective of her girlhood self, what Hay was like in the 1940s and '50s - with trains, a half-ruined castle, and a cinema (we all know what happened to that). 'The Beeman's family' lived in Market Street, off Castle Square. How did they come to be here. What was family life like in those frugal times. This is the framework for a profound evocation of rural childhood in the post-war years.