Letter To The Editor
To the
good Citizens of Pittsfield,
A
couple of days before Thanksgiving I went and visited my good
friend, Charlie Watson. He is currently retired, living the good
life at Pleasant View Retirement Home in Concord, room 419, right
across from Concord Hospital. I happened to get there right before
lunch.
Boy
were we glad to see each other. Charlie was looking a little older
since I had seen him last, but he was still handsome, with a
devilish grin.
Charlie
ordered his lunch. Chicken soup, egg salad on wheat bread, and for
dessert, some pear crisp. When the lady looked at me, I said, "I'll
have the same."
She
asked me for a meal ticket. Charlie and I looked at each other. I
had to go downstairs and get one.
Charlie
was so excited to have company. I had to tell him to eat his soup.
We
talked about his home on Catamount Mt., Tucker Hill, the Baptist
Cemetery, my dad, Charlie's family, our friends, Horse Pond, getting
old, thinking maybe why friends stay away because they feel bad for
you.
I asked
him what he was doing with that sandwich? He said he was too excited
to eat, I could have it. Charlie told me he has to rely on rumors
nowadays. He's comfortable and has a good roommate, and is still
artistic through colorings. I asked him what he was going to do with
the pear crisp?
Dan the
Stoneman
Lois Deane has been hard at work this past year making 53
hats for the American Heart Association’s Program, “Little Hats, Big
Hearts.”
Kids' Theater Workshop Auditions For The Addams Family
The
Pittsfield Players will hold auditions for their 2018 Kids' Theater
Workshop production of The Addams Family at The Scenic Theatre, 6
Depot St. in Pittsfield on Sunday and Monday, December 16 and 17 at
4 pm both days.
The
Addams Family is based on the 1970’s television show and throws in a
new twist when Wednesday Addams, now a young lady, falls in love
with Lucas, a normal kid from Ohio. How the spooky family handles
this development makes for some really funny laughs. The show has 10
major roles and many parts for the ensemble as a whole. There’s lots
of acting, singing and dancing, and tons of fun to be had in this
year’s Kids' Theater Workshop.
Those
auditioning will be taught a song from the show and asked to sing in
a group and, if they wish, as a solo. They’ll also learn a few
simple dance steps and be asked to read from the script. . If you
are interested in working behind the scenes on the show, please come
to the auditions to sign up for tech crew.
The
Kids' Theater Workshop is a program by kids for kids ages 8 to 18,
and participants not only perform on stage but also work behind the
scenes, learning about set design and construction, set painting,
stage managing, stage lighting and sound and costumes and make-up.
The
group rehearses two days a week after school and on Saturdays and
then performs the show at two matinees for local schools and three
evening shows for the general public. This year, the shows will be
performed February 19 through 23, with a set strike and cast party
on Sunday, February 24. For further information, contact director
Maye Hart at [email protected]
Josiah Carpenter Library December News
Come to
the library on Saturday December 15th at 10:30am to create your own
gingerbread house! We will have all the decorating supplies
for families and children to enjoy this holiday tradition. The
snow date is December 22nd.
Story
Hour for babies, preschoolers, families and caregivers meets on
Thursday at 10:00am, and the Adventures Club (kindergarten thru 3rd
grade) that meets on Tuesday at 3:30 pm, will be exploring holiday
traditions, ornaments and gifts. Creating Adventures (3rd thru
6th grade) will work through an egg drop challenge and construct a
wooden evergreen tree on Wednesday afternoons at 2:00pm.
The
Teen Book Worms and the Pittsfield Writer’s Circle are going to take
a hiatus during November and December. The adult book club
will meet to discuss The Thanksgiving Visitor and A Christmas Memory
by Truman Capote and This Year will be Different by Maeve Binchy
at 10:30 am on Tuesday December 11th at the Pittsfield Senior
Center. The club will also begin book selections for 2019.
Anyone who would like to attend can pick up the books at the
library, come and enjoy some inspirational conversation.
The
next gathering of the Chichester-Epsom-Pittsfield Libraries Memory
Café will be held at 2:00pm on Monday December 10th at the Epsom
Public Library. Local caregivers and folks living with memory
loss are invited to come and enjoy a celebration of holiday music,
creating decorations, and refreshments.
“How Great Our Joy” Concert
The
First Congregational Church, 24 Main Street, Pittsfield, will offer
a free Christmas concert entitled “How Great Our Joy” this Friday,
December 7, 7 p.m. It will feature the church’s Chancel Choir and
the JuBellation Handbell Choir. This concert is a return to some
favorite carols with a narration by Pastor David Stasiak. Plan to
attend this holiday tradition. Light refreshments will be served.
Parking
and wheelchair accessible entry are located at rear of church at
Chestnut Street. For more information, call the church office at
435-7471.
PMHS Drama Club Presents, A Christmas Chaos
The
PMHS Drama Club is back on stage. Husband and wife team Jared and
Elisha Griffin have dedicated the last three months planning,
directing, and rehearsing this holiday season’s most chaotic comedy,
A Christmas Chaos by Michael Wehrli. What started out in a video
chat conversation 8,000 miles away while Jared was deployed this
past summer, Elisha, a staff member at PMHS, put into motion the
revitalization of the school's theatre program. “I wanted to have a
drama program like the one I had as a kid. It brought me out of my
shell and provided an outlet for me since I wasn’t an athlete. I
wanted to do the same for kids like me,” says Elisha.
For the
past four years, they have both been active participants with The
Pittsfield Players and been seen in a number of shows, Oklahoma!, 70
Girls, 70, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, to name a few. They
now wish to bring their passion for theatre to the PMHS students.
They both got into theatre while they were in middle school, Elisha
in Hillsboro, NH and Jared in Auburn, ME. They met each other at
Keene State College as Theatre Majors and the rest is history.
“Once I
completed my first show in middle school, I was hooked,” says
director Jared Griffin. “I was bit with the theatre bug and I
auditioned for any and all shows I could find time to do ever since.
My fondest memories while in high school were my theatre
experiences. It is that experience I want to bring to the students
of PMHS.” Even though PMHS had been without directors for a couple
of years, they were insistent on welcoming sixth graders as regular
members and opened up parts to them for their fall show. He explains
further, “there has not been any consistent school-based drama club
program for kids at PES so we wanted to open it up to some of those
in the school and provide them an early look to what is happening up
the hill.” This message was received as a handful of sixth graders
came out for auditions and make up about half of the cast.
With A
Christmas Chaos, the PMHS drama club acts out the theatre mantra,
“The Show Must Go On.” The show opens up with the stage manager of a
local theatre group welcoming the audience who are about to witness
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but what they get is not what they
expected. The chaos began only seven hours earlier when a traveling
professional troupe, set to put on that days production, fails to
show up as scheduled. This local group must attempt to satisfy the
paying audience with a show since tickets were already purchased.
The stage manager now has only hours to cast the show, rehearse,
build the set, provide costumes, and manufacture the lights and
sound effects.
The
audience will recognize some of the familiar characters of this
Christmas classic; Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, all the ghosts that haunt
the title character, and of course Tiny Tim and his spunky twin...
Tiny Tim. His twin, you ask? You have to come see how that plays
out. The audience also meets the ‘actors’ from this small theatre
who are hastily cast to put on their own version of A Christmas
Carol. The tone is set by the take charge stage manager and a
well-spoken narrator who walks the audience through the
production. One actor freezes with stage fright, another is so
confused they don’t even know what show they are in, and another is
forced to play two characters at the same time! The chaos doesn’t
end there as what can go wrong, does go wrong. However, any
experienced thespian would be quick to exclaim that the show must
really go on.
Your
chance to see how they pull this off will be December 8th at 7:30pm
and December 9th at 2:00pm at the PMHS Gymnasium. Tickets are cash
only at the door, $7 for adults, $3 for students and kids. There
will be a 50/50 raffle and bake sale offered, proceeds to go back to
the Drama Club.
Joy Church Is “Expecting The Unexpected” This Year
Submitted By Mike Mavity, Pastor
It’s
hard to believe it’s that time of year again!
It
seems like the holidays roll around so quickly; from the fall season
with school restarting, apple picking, and all the fun fall
festivals that lead right into the Thanksgiving season and then,
poof, Christmas is here. It’s one of the things we’ve come to
expect; Christmas rolls around and it seems like it’s right on us
before we know it.
We have
a lot of expectations at Christmas-time. Think about it; what
do we expect?
We
expect busy schedules, shopping, crowds, gifts, spending too much
money, wishing we had more money to spend, wishing we hadn’t spent
so much money! We expect the annual controversy over saying, “Merry
Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”. We expect lots of great food, baked
goods, we even expect to put on those five (or ten) holiday pounds
that we expect to lose in January! We expect family visits, seeing
members of our family that we only see occasionally, and even seeing
our crazy uncle who always has a little too much egg nog on
Christmas Eve. We expect to give and receive gifts. And, we all know
that the kids expect a visit from the North Pole! Many of us even
expect to go to a Christmas service at our church, maybe see a kids
pageant, and then head home to get started on our own family
celebrations and traditions.
We all
have Christmas expectations and none of these are bad. But what if
we do something different this year? What if, this year, we expect
the unexpected? After all, the whole Christmas story was an
unexpected story. Mary and Joseph never expected that angel to pay
them a visit with some very unexpected news that Mary was expecting.
The shepherds certainly weren’t expecting a visit from a multitude
of angels or to be the first ones to be notified of the birth of
Jesus. The world surely wasn’t expecting a savior to be born in a
barn because there was no room in the town’s inn.
What if
we expect the unexpected this year? What if instead of expecting the
craziness of the Christmas season, we expect unexpected hope that we
find in a savior? What if instead of expecting busy-ness this
Christmas, we expect unexpected peace regardless of our
circumstances? What if instead of expecting snarky shopping trips,
we expect unexpected love; love for others, love from the Lord? What
if instead of expecting the chaos of the most wonderful time of the
year with way too many "to-do’s”, we expect unexpected joy in our
lives? What if instead of expecting a red-suit down the chimney or
some religious traditions, we expect the unexpected savior in our
lives?
We are
expecting the unexpected this Christmas season and we welcome you to
join us in our expectancy. We are expecting hope, peace, love, joy,
all because of an unexpected savior who came to reconcile us to God.
Join us this season as we expect the unexpected together.
Joy
Church is located in Pittsfield at 55 Barnstead Rd. Our Sunday
Celebration services start at 9:30 am. We’d love to see you this
Christmas season!
Letter To The Editor
Select
Board meeting 11/27/18
A
Housing Standards Agency ruling regarding stair-risers on a rental
apartment was appealed to the BOS by the property owner. The
board unanimously agreed that statutory authority from the state (a
requirement in NH for all town laws and rules) had been exceeded by
the regulations being applied by the HSA, and equally important,
common sense on this specific issue required overturning the HSA
ruling. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that Pittsfield’s
residents and development of businesses are being stifled by
excessive and over-reaching regulations that also sometimes go
beyond the grant of authority by the state. The Select Board, within
its jurisdiction, feels duty bound to cut through red tape to make
Pittsfield easier to live and do business in.
Parks &
Recreation will forego sponsoring basketball this year because
“Revolution Union” (an unaffiliated private organization) from
Barnstead is running a league for Pittsfield children using most of
our coaches, having had registration before our volunteer policy
allowed us to go forward. Perhaps basketball can return to
Pittsfield Parks & Recreation next year.
Additional budget concerns were addressed and it was decided to
postpone replacement of an ambulance for a couple of years after
assurance from Chief Pszonowsky that patients and operators won’t be
compromised. When prudent we’re extending the useful life of
existing town equipment rather than replace with new.
Another
unpermitted storage container notification was received by the BOS
prompting a notice of violation. Residents are reminded that
the zoning ordinance has had a storage container permitting
requirement in place for 20 years, which we must act upon when we
are advised of violations. We appreciate the cooperation from
(sometimes unknowing) violators we’ve received to date.
Numerous house-keeping paperwork items were addressed, which can be
examined in the minutes of the meeting.
Carl
Anderson
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