Christmas Bazaar
Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s Club in Pittsfield and
the St. Joseph Women’s Club in Northwood will be holding their
annual Christmas Bazaar on Saturday, November 5, 2011, from 9:00 am
to 2:00 pm in the parish hall in Northwood, NH. (On Route 4, next to
the town hall.)
There will be craft items, knitted goods, books,
puzzles, a white elephant table with some brand new items, raffles,
and a bake sale where you can purchase your homemade baked goods for
Thanksgiving. We will again have our ever popular cookie walk with
some new and different varieties. We will have morning muffins and
coffee and will be offering a luncheon with some delicious choices.
Drop by for a visit, you will be glad you did.
The Chichester Town Library needs volunteers for
Saturday, November 5th to pack and move books.
We also need donations of sandwiches, and other
lunch items. Whether you can work only 1 hour or 3 hours, we
appreciate whatever you can do. This is the first step of our
renovations for a town meeting room in the basement.
Call Lisa at 798-5613 if you can help.
Happy Birthday to Ansley McLaughlin on November 4.
The Capital Region Food Program Holiday Basket
Project will be held on December 22, 2011. All interested residents
must complete an application form by November 23, 2011, at the Town
Office during regular business hours.
The Chichester Library Book Store will be closed
indefinitely while we renovate the basement for a community meeting
room which is needed by the town. During this process, we will need
help with packing books, moving books and bookshelves, trips to
Pittsfield Recycling, carpenter projects, cleaning projects, and
monetary donations. If you can help with any of these, please
contact Lisa 798-5613 at the library, Carolee Davison 798-3788 or
Lucille Noel and Carol Hendee.
The following titles have recently been added to the
shelves in the adult fiction section of the Chichester Town Library:
Not Easily Broken by T. D. Jakes, The Dog Who Came in from the Cold
by Alexander McCall Smith, Her Royal Spyness by Rhy Bowen (mystery),
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn, Graveminder by Melissa
Marr, Next to Love by Ellen Feldman, Kindred Spirits by Sarah
Strohmeyer (large print),
A Battle Won by S. Thomas Russell, The Wiseman’s
Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner (large
print), Happy Birthday by Danielle Steel, The Ideal Man by Julie
Garwood, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin,
The Diary by Eileen Goudge, In the Garden of Beasts by Eric Larson,
and Kill Me if You Can by James Patterson.
Out Of Your Attic Thrift Shop News
Submitted ByCarol Hendee
We are packing up Halloween, only to bring out
Thanksgiving items. We have plates, platters, stuffed turkeys,
little pilgrim people, etc.
If you will need extra glassware or dinner plates,
come see us! Our prices are the best! We also have many new videos,
at $.25 each.
Great for the cold days ahead, our puzzles and games
are at reduced prices. Thank you to the lady who responded to our
need for a percolator. It is nice to know people do read about us!
Come see us at 345 Suncook Valley Highway (Route 28)
or call for directions at 707-7577 or 247-7191. We are open Mon.
8-12, Tues. and Thurs. 8-4, Wed. 11-4 and Sat. 10-4.
Chichester Heritage Commission
Patty Humphrey, Donna
Chagnon and Lucille Noel
Members and friends of Chichester’s Heritage
Commission planted many hundreds of daffodil bulbs along Main
Street, Saturday, October 22nd. The group met at the town library
where bulbs were planted in various locations on the library
grounds. The group moved to the Grange/Town Hall where bulbs were
planted by the NH State Register plaque and granite post. The last
stop was the Chichester Central School. Bulbs were planted by the
school’s message sign. Watch for the glorious patches of yellow in
all these locations in the spring of 2012.
The Commission thanks the many volunteers who joined
commission members to help make our historic Main Street a little
more beautiful.
If you live along Main Street, the Commission still
has some bulbs left for road front planting. Contact Michelle at
731-6034 or Lucille at 798-5709 for information.
Grant From Humanities Council Of NH To Fund
Faith
And Fantastic Fiction Program
The Chichester Town Library received a grant from
the Humanities Council of New Hampshire to host the highly
recommended program, Faith and Fantastic Fiction. We hope you will
be able to join us on Thursday evening, November 10th at 7:00.
The program, Faith and Fantastic Fiction,will be a
delight for the fantasy and science fiction lover.
"Middle Earth readers, leave your cloaks and hobbit
feet. Come as you are to learn how fiction expresses the religious
imagination. Examples for discussion will come from participants -
whether you’re a science fiction reader or a fantasy fan of JRR
Tolkien, Phillip Pullman, C.S. Lewis, or Madeleine l’Engle. Perhaps
you are simply fond of Peter Pan, Alice or Captain Nemo, or you are
curious about the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling’s Harry
Potter novels. No matter. Come and eat food for thought.
The speaker, Maren Tirabassi is the author of
sixteen books with advanced degrees from Harvard and Union
Theological Seminary. She is the pastor of Union Congregational
Church, UCC in Madbury, facilitates retreats and writing workshops
throughout the US.
Maren Tirabassi was Portsmouth’s Poet Laureate from
2001-2003.
Chichester Historical Society
Chichester Town Hall Part X
Submitted By Walter Sanborn
In the last article on the Chichester Town Hall, I
described the building of the fireproof vault for the storing of the
town records for the selectmen’s office.
Although the inside of the vault was about 6 feet
square with a double brick wall and partition around it, it extended
into the main hall forming about a 12 foot square in the southeast
corner of the hall. The walls were covered with wood sheathing like
the inside walls and ceiling of the main hall.
The two voting stalls were built to the left of the
vault area on the East wall of the main hall. A wooden fence was
built extending from the outside corner of the vault to the North
wall of the hall. This fence enclosed the voting area for the ballot
booths and for the counting of the ballots. There were two gates in
this fence, one near each end to access the voting booths. A voter
would enter the first gate and pick up his ballot from the ballot
clerks and after voting, cast his ballot with the moderator. Then
after being checked off the checklist by the town clerk, exit the
second gate.
The state law requires that town meetings must be
held the 2nd Tuesday in March of each year, the polls must be open
for 8 hours voting and the ballots counted the same day. Chichester
polls were open from 10 am to 6 pm and the budget and warrant
articles or business was taken up at 2 pm at the town hall. If
anyone came to cast a ballot, they went through the gate and voted
while the business meeting continued.
The first time the warrant articles were published
in the town report was in 1917 and were acted on at 2 pm on voting
day.
In 1952 I was elected to the Board of Selectmen to
serve with James Warren and Herbert West who had served for several
terms on the Board of Selectmen so had experienced mentors from
which to learn the position.
By the 1950s vehicle traffic had increased on the
road which is now Main Street and the town hall was only about 30
feet from the road and there was no room to park vehicles. So we
thought something should be done for the safety of those attending
functions and town meetings at the town hall.
In the 1952 town warrant for 1953 we proposed an
article to move the hall back from the road and build a basement
under it. There was some strong opposition to the article so it was
voted down.
Shirley Marden was Chichester representative to the
General Court at that time, so it was suggested that a resolution be
presented to the General Court by our representative to overturn the
town vote. However this petition was also voted in the negative.
Nothing was done in 1954 but in 1955 another warrant
article was proposed to move the hall back 20 feet, raise the
building 2 feet in height and build a basement under it. This time
the article was passed by the voters.
In 1956, work was done and after removing the hearse
house and tramp house the town paid Jackson and Jackson $2040 for
cement work for the basement and Melvin Drew $1000 to move the
buildings. It is interesting to note that Melvin Drew’s wife did
most of the supervision and work on moving the buildings.
To be continued
Chichester Historical Society
"Reminisce - I Remember When. . ."
The November meeting of the Chichester Historical
Society will be held on Monday the 14th at 7 pm. Members and friends
are encouraged to share memories of past events and happenings
pertaining to community, school, home, work, fun and entertainment.
Hear Walter Sanborn, Frank Hatch, and Edwin Sanborn tell their
sledding and toboggan stories. Who participated in Halloween pranks?
What’s the story behind the cannons at the library? What school
adventures took place in Chichester? These events and many more will
be covered in the "circle of stories."
Programs are free and all are invited to attend. All
meetings are held at the Historical Society’s Museum at 49 Main
Street. Parking is available across the street. As always, delicious
refreshments will be served after the program. A brief business
meeting and election of officers will be held before the program
begins. For information contact Lucille Noel, 798-5709.
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