Residents of Chichester, please be on the look out for “Elfie the
Christmas Pig”. If the pig appears on your doorstep please feed him
with a donation. Then place him back in the bag and send him on to
one of your friends or family of Chichester. The donations
collected will be donated to the Chichester Police Association to
help fund the gifts for children in need of Chichester for this
holiday season. Questions please contact Doreen Lehoullier at
[email protected]
Chichester Grange will meet on Wednesday, December 15th,
at 7 p.m. at the Grange Hall. Please bring a donation for Heifer
International. We will pick out an “animal” that evening. It is also
the plan to present some long-term membership awards.
Happy Birthday to Edward Millette on December 8 and Zachary Harris
on December 14.
Looking for that special gift? The
Chichester Library is having a winter fundraiser. They are
selling books, in excellent condition, that were recently donated.
These are hardbound copies of recent fiction and many are large
print. They also have Christmas craft books, youth, and
children books for sale. Drop in, warm up, and browse for a
while.
The town pantry would like to thank those who
made monetary donations in November. Thanks also to Josh Sanborn for
his donation of detergents.
The Chichester Library has
added some new Christmas items to their Christmas collection.
“The Christmas Lamp” by Lori Copeland and “The Sound of Sleigh
Bells” both Adult Fiction, as well as “Stories Behind the Great
Traditions of Christmas” by Ace Collins, an Adult Non-Fiction.
We have an Easy Fiction, and “Then in a Twinkling” by Patrick Regan,
for the little ones to enjoy. Two new DVDs are: The History
Channel – Christmas Unwrapped, the History of Christmas and
The History Channel – Candy.
Enjoy!
Did you know?
All seniors are welcome at the Pittsfield Area Senior Center, a
center for active seniors, located at 74 Main Street, Pittsfield.
Mondays it’s Bingo from 10 am to noon. Tuesdays it’s Crafts
from 10 am to noon and Fridays it’s Gentle Yoga, upstairs, from
10:30 to noon.
On Thursday, December 16th, 9:30 to 11:30 am,
Anita Oelfke of Service Link will meet with people to complete
paperwork for adjustments to Medicare Part D. Call 435-8482 to
make an appointment.
Concert Features Voices And Brass
The First Congregational Church, 24 Main St., Pittsfield, will
present, “The Light Shines On,” a concert of Advent and Christmas
music, Saturday, December 11, 7-9 pm. This special concert will
feature your favorite Christmas hymns plus some new ones, and will
include UNH’s brass quintet, “The Inextinguishable Brass,” the
church’s Chancel Choir along with the JuBellation three-octave brass
handbell choir. This free concert is a great way to enhance your
holiday spirit. Light refreshments will be served during a brief
intermission.
Out of
Your Attic Thrift Shop News
We have something special planned as
a way to say “thank You” to all our patrons. On Thursday,
December 23, 2010, everything in the shop will be 1/2 price. This
will include jeans, Designer label, and the Seasonal room, with
winter coats, boots, decorations, and gifts all 1/2 price.
Books will be 2 for $.25 as well as videos. This will be in
place of our usual end-of-month 1/2 price day for those that need
that little something for Christmas!
We are located at 345
Suncook Valley Hwy, Chichester and store hours are Tues. and Thurs.
8-4, Wed. 11-4 and Sat. 10-4. We will be closed on Sat. Dec.
25th for the holiday observance.
The
Bear Den of Cub Scout Pack #85 would like to extend an extra special
THANK-YOU to Sergeant Berkeley of the NH State Police for his visit
to our den on Saturday, November 27th. Sergeant Berkeley talked to
the cubs about how a law enforcement officer collects evidence, what
the boys can do to help prevent crime and protect their homes, and
how they can safely help law enforcement officers. The boys enjoyed
the visit and were especially interested in being fingerprinted and
learning details about this way of gathering evidence. What a fun
and educational afternoon! Thank you, Sergeant Berkeley!!! Pictured
below left to right are Den Leader, Jody McCormack, Bear Cubs, Colby
Mitchell, Iain McCormack, and Carter Pillsbury, and
Sergeant Ian Berkeley.
Chichester Historical Society
The Poor Farm, Part II
Submitted
By Walter Sanborn
In 1839 the Town of Chichester purchased the
Towle Farm on Canterbury Road as the town poor farm to provide the
town paupers a home to live in. It was intended that the
occupants living there work the farm if physically able and make the
farm self-productive as possible and self sustaining for the town.
A superintendent to oversee the work and care of the poor farm was
appointed by the town. The farm was a two-story house with an
attached ell and large barn as shown in the picture accompanying my
previous article. The farm had about 30 acres of field land
used for tillage and hay.
There is no record of the number of
occupants on the poor farm but there appears that each year an
inventory of farm equipment and produce was taken. Each year a
list in the town report gave the income and expenses of the farm.
Many names appear as expenses for outside labor and goods bought by
the town to keep the poor farm in operation.
Not all paupers were
required to live on the farm and some years the town report shows
the town spent more for support of paupers not on the farm than ones
living on the farm. I have several copies of the appraisal of
property and provision taken by the selectmen as of March in the
1840s.
As the town now owned a building in 1840 the selectmen
fixed up a room in the farm to hold their meetings in and met there
regularly until 1850 when they moved to the newly acquired town hall
which I will record in another article later.
The inventory of
March 1845 is too long to include in this article but, for example,
the farm lists, 2 oxen $60.00, 2 cows $18.00 per cow, 11 tons of hay
$7.50, 2 plows $8.00, 2 wood harrows with teeth $4.50, 2 axes with
handle, 1 hay fork, 1 barn shovel and 3 rakes and many items valued
at $314.60. There also, under provisions, were 50 bushels of
corn $35.00, 12 bushels of wheat, 10 bushels of rye, 25 pounds dry
apples, 55 bushels potatoes, 300 pounds pork, 100 pounds beef, 45
pounds lard, 24 pounds butter and 14 candles plus many other items.
Town reports of 1854 show that the receipts of the poor farm were
$1630, expenses were $107 and $315 for support of paupers not
on the poor farm. In 1855, the receipts were $107,
expenses were $395 and paupers not on the farm $169. In 1856,
receipts were $2731 and expenses were $754, and in 1857, receipts
$2731 and expenses were $645. By 1864, the receipts were $297
and expenses were $470 and paupers not on poor farm $244.
During
the years of operation of the poor farm, with exception of the first
few year’s reports, show that the expenses of the poor farm were
more than the income produced by its operation. Also
during these years the town had to pay for some people who were
living at the Merrimack County Farm. The bill for town paupers
for 1866 was $444, which was more than receipts from the poor farm.
After 27 years of operation the town decided to sell the poor farm
and in 1866 the farm and contents were sold at public auction for
the sum of $2824.00.
The town still supports the needy as
required up to present times if anyone applies to the selectmen for
help. Today the name town pauper has been eliminated from town
reports.
Ho! Ho!
Ho!
The Chichester Police and The Chichester Police Association
are once again sponsoring the Secret Santa Program for needy
Chichester residents. We will be accepting applications until
December 17, 2010. Applications may be picked up at the Chichester
Police Department. If you are aware of a family that needs
assistance, please make the police department aware. If anyone would
like to volunteer to be an elf and do shopping or wrapping or both,
please call the police department at 798-4911.
If anyone would
like to make monetary donations, please make checks out to the
Chichester Police Association. This program is based on need and
then we try to make smiles appear with surprises from Santa. Once
again, we wish to say Thank you for all your continued support to
this most worthwhile program.
Santa
Is Packing Up His Sleigh
The Chichester Police Department and
The Chichester Police Association are currently taking applications
for Secret Santa. If you know of a needy family or a senior citizen
in the town of Chichester that could use a little assistance this
holiday season, please let the Chichester Police Department know by
calling 798-4911. We do not want to see any family in need and not
receive some assistance for the holidays. There are still elderly
folks that believe in Santa, so let us know of someone that could
use a little surprise for Christmas.
Every year it seems that
the demands grow, therefore we are trying to help Santa and get our
requests to him in a timely fashion. I hear that he still has job
openings for elves, to shop and wrap. You know he is getting older
and requires lots of help himself to get the job accomplished.
Applications can be picked up at the Chichester Police Station until
December 17th. Thank you once more for your continued support
and if you wish to make monetary donations, please make checks out
to the Chichester Police Association.
Chichester Massage & Quest Yoga
Holiday Open House
Chichester
Massage and Quest Yoga are joining together once again to celebrate
our gratitude for all of your support over this past year. We deeply
appreciate your support of our business, your commitment to your
health and your involvement in the community.
Please join us at
Quest Yoga Studio (2 doors down from Chichester Massage) on December
10, 2010 from 5-8 pm for snacks from Rasa’s Kitchen & a taste of
wine from Coffin Cellars. This will be a great opportunity to slow
down, kick back and relax with a free chair massage or mini Reiki
session from Chichester Massage or an intuitive reading session from
Michele Beauregard of The Innate In You.
There will be some local
artists and friends with homemade crafts and gift ideas including
soy candles from Winding Wicks, jewelry from Amalabobala, Tastefully
Simple and Reliv nutritional products. Enter our raffle for a
chance to win Manchester Monarchs tickets and many more awesome
prizes.
Chichester Massage and Quest Yoga will have gift
certificates available to purchase for giving mindful, healthy
holiday gifts. Everyone is welcome, so please invite your
family and friends. We look forward to seeing you there!
Chichester Massage is an official Toys For Tots drop off location
and will be accepting donations at our holiday open house and at our
office until December 17. Chichester Massage is located at 114 Dover
Rd. (Route 4) in Chichester. For more information please call
798-4669 or visit our website at
www.chichestermassage.com
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