Donation: $15 per person. Light snacks provided and 50 / 50 Raffle.

Thank you for your support!

For tickets or information please call 603-491-3232 or 798-5600; hope to see you there. Please pass the word, share on Facebook, bring your family and a group of your friends too!

The Barnstead Historical meeting will be Thursday, May 9th at the Barnstead Town Hall. There will be a pot luck supper at 6 p.m. and a meeting at 7 p.m. We hope you can come and join us in keeping history alive in Barnstead. For information call Jeannie at 269-5441.

PHS Alumni Association Meeting

The PHS Alumni Association will meet on Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30 pm at PMHS, Room 103.  Anyone that has attended or graduated from Pittsfield Middle High School is an Alumni and is welcome to attend the meeting. We’d love to see some new faces at the meeting - please plan to join us.  For more information, please call Andi Riel at 435-6346 or email  [email protected].

Housing Ceremony For New 6-Tanker-1

Members of Barnstead Fire Rescue, members of Barnstead Firefighters Association and families and friends celebrated the placement of the department’s new tanker truck in-service with a Housing Ceremony on Sunday, April 28.

The new tanker is an HME Arien Fox and is equipped to carry 3,000 gallons of water to a fire scene. This capability is especially important in a town like Barnstead where large areas of town do not have public water supply or fire hydrants.  The tanker is also fully equipped as a pumper which can deliver 750 gallons of water per minute and it is outfitted with 1,200 feet of four-inch fire hose and with attack-line hose.  Tanker equipment also includes a 3,000 gallon porta-tank, a reservoir device that is placed on the ground and then filled from any tanker delivering water at a scene, thus assuring an uninterrupted supply of water to a fire.

The tanker was purchased using $225,417.00 of federal grant funds from FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program.  The grant was obtained by application by Barnstead’s Fire Chief Mark Tetreault. Town funds of $127,583.00 were approved at 2011 Town Meeting to fund the remaining costs for the tanker and associated equipment.  The entire project was completed at $2,000.00 under estimated budget.  

The April 28 Housing Ceremony began with the new tanker parked on the pavement in front of Barnstead Fire Rescue’s Station 1 in Barnstead Parade.  Firefighters then hosed down the tanker with water, pushed the tanker back into the parking bay on the apparatus room floor and then dried the vehicle using terry cloth towels.  

Housing Ceremonies are traditional fire department rituals dating from the time when fire department apparatus and vehicles were horse-drawn.  At that time, when a piece of apparatus needed to be returned to inside the fire house, the horses would draw the apparatus up in front of the station and firefighters would unhitch the horses.  The horses would then be hosed down and combed and curried while firefighters would push the apparatus into its parking bay inside the station.   This practice has been preserved as a Housing Ceremony for new apparatus when it is placed in-service.

Also included as part of Sunday’s events was the presentation of awards to firefighters and officers whose performances over the past year were acknowledged by their peers.  In addition, anniversaries of years of service of members of the fire department were recognized.  Years of service anniversaries were acknowledged for ten department members, representing a total of 195 years of service provided to the town. 

Following the Housing Ceremony and awards presentation, guests and family members of Barnstead Fire Rescue enjoyed a plentiful and delicious pot-luck luncheon.

Joint Effort Provides New Tables

Eight new folding plastic 8’ long banquet tables have been purchased for use in the meeting room at Barnstead Fire Rescue’s Station 1 in Barnstead Parade.  Six of the tables were purchased using funds from a Walmart Community Foundation, with matching funds from Barnstead  Firefighters Association.  The other two tables were purchased by Barnstead Fire Rescue.

The Walmart Community Foundation grant was applied for and obtained by Barnstead Firefighters Association.  Once the grant was received, members of the Association voted to approve matching funds to allow the purchase of six of the tables. Barnstead’s Fire Chief Mark Tetreault agreed to fund the purchase of two more tables.

These new tables are sturdy, light-weight folding tables. They replace the very heavy folding wooden tables that have been used for decades in the meeting room.  Any group who reserves the meeting room and uses the tables will definitely appreciate the ease of set-up of the new tables.

The meeting room at Station 1 has been available for reservation by community groups, town committees and for private functions since ownership of the building was assumed by the Town of Barnstead in April, 2010. To reserve the meeting for use, contact Chief Mark Tetreault.

Milfoil Expert To Address Barnstead-Alton-Gilmanton Republican Committee (BARC’G) 

The Barnstead-Alton-Gilmanton Republican Committee (BARC’G) has announced that their next monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30 pm at J.J. Goodwin’s Restaurant, 769 Suncook Valley Highway (Rt 28), in Center Barnstead. 

Ed Neister, an expert in the identification, control, and removal of milfoil from New Hampshire’s lakes, ponds, and rivers will be the Committee’s guest speaker.   With all three towns being home to numerous bodies of water, Mr. Neister’s talk will also cover the potential impact on lifestyle and property values if milfoil is allowed to spread. 

BARC meetings are open to all Republicans and like-minded Independents from Alton, Barnstead, and Gilmanton, and any other towns in New Hampshire.  Per their usual meeting format, if you’re interested in having dinner (at your option) or wish to socialize before the meeting, plan to arrive as early as 5:30 pm. 

In an effort to help those in the community who are less fortunate, the Committee asks that each attendee bring a non-perishable food item to the meeting for distribution to local food pantries.

For more information, please send an email to [email protected] or check out the Committee’s website at www.BARC-NewHampshire.org.

Elizabeth B. Heath

Elizabeth B. Heath, 96, of Heath Lane, died May 3rd at her home following a sudden illness. She was born in Suncook, the daughter of Albert and Delvina (Demers) Duclos and has lived in Pittsfield and Barnstead for over 70 years. 

She worked for the former Adams Brothers and the Pittsfield Shoe Companies and following her retirement she worked in the food service department for the Pittsfield School District for many years. 

She is survived by her husband of 69 years, Eldon M. Heath; a son, Roger E. Heath and wife Janet, and a daughter Barbara L. Berry and husband Daniel both of Barnstead; four grandchildren, Daniel Berry, Jodi Glines, Carter and Nathan Heath; ten great grandchildren; nieces and nephews.

A Funeral Service was held at the Perkins & Pollard Memorial Home, followed by burial in the Floral Park Cemetery.