Barrington
East Bay Briefings
01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Edible insects program: David Gracer, of Sunrise Land Shrimp, will conduct a program about edible insects for children and their families Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Jamestown Philomenian Library, North Road. He will talk about the merits of eating insects, and demonstrate how to cook and eat beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and moths. This free program, which will be held in the library’s meeting hall, is sponsored by the Friends of Jamestown Philomenian Library. Registration is not required.
Holiday sampler: Living Literature, a group of Rhode Island-based actors who take literature from the page to the stage, will present “A Holiday Sampler,” Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Barrington Public Library, 281 County Rd. “A Holiday Sampler” is a 40-minute readers’ theater-style presentation of stories, poems and essays celebrating the spirit and practice of Christmas. It includes such authors as Taylor Caldwell, Truman Capote, Ogden Nash, Grace Paley and Booth Tarkington as well as a few surprises. The show will be performed by Sharon Carpentier and Peter Sampieri. This free program is best appreciated by an adult audience, but schoolage children are welcome.
Food drive: Mt. Hope High School and Barrington High Interact Clubs will sponsor a food drive to benefit the Rhode Island Food Bank. Those who bring a canned good or nonperishable item to the Thanksgiving Day football game will receive a dollar off the regular $3 admission fee.
Stories of Bristol personalities: The Bristol Historical & Preservation Society will present stories of Bristol personalities Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bristol State House, 240 High St.
The presentation will be given by Lou Cirillo, who begins his second term as Bristol town clerk next month, will tell stories about some of the more curious persons who have left their indelible mark upon the annals of Bristol.
This event will mark the seventh anniversary of the society’s first winter meeting, which was also held at the State House. The audience is welcome to bring a story or two of their own.
Holiday lights tour: The Town of Bristol’s Christmas Festival Committee will hold its annual holiday lights tour for seniors Dec. 5. Buses will depart from the Benjamin Church Senior Center at 5:30 p.m. with an additional pick up at Franklin Court at 5:45. Seniors will be treated to an evening touring streets of Bristol decorated for the holiday season. The event is free. Those interested in attending should contact the senior center to register, (401) 253-8458.
Holiday activities at Blithewold: Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum, Ferry Road, will be open for the holidays beginning Friday and continuing through Dec. 30. Throughout the house, designers have created a variety of ways to convey this year’s theme of Silver Bells.
Among the many highlights are the 18-foot tree and 12 different rooms decorated with unique decorations, as well as new merchandise available at the holiday gift Shop, along with Blithewold’s own handcrafted decorations. Musicians, from classical to Celtic and close harmony, are scheduled to perform nightly, and readers are preparing for children’s story time. Also, the popular Wednesday-through-Friday holiday teas are planned with a menu of sweets and traditional scones.
Every year the Van Wickles and McKees, the first families of Blithewold, returned to open the great house and grounds for celebration from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. Under the guidance and protection of a public trust, the management and staff still maintain the rooms of this English country manor home looking over its 10-acre lawn to Narragansett Bay as if the family were returning for the holidays. The public shares in this colorful presentation of decorations, music, food and festivities.
Hours for Christmas at Blithewold will be Wednesday through Sunday, 1 to 8 p.m. (closing Dec. 24 and 25). Admission is $10 adults, $8 seniors citizens and fulltime students, $6 age 6 to 17 and free for children under age 6. For information, visit www.blithewold.org or call (401) 253-2707, ext. 21.
Historical society to meet: The East Providence Historical Society will meet Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. at the East Providence Community Center, 1320 Pawtucket Ave., Rumford. This month’s guest speaker will be Ann Marie Chalmers Sabula, dietitian consultant, who will speak on the benefits of tea drinking. Those planning to attend are welcome to bring along a favorite tea cup or mug and present a “tale of the tea cup,” or “memory of the mug.” Prizes will be awarded. The business meeting will follow. Nonperishable food items will be collected for the center’s food pantry. Call (401) 438-1750 or visit ephist.org for information.
Presentation on steamships: Weaver Library, 41 Grove Ave., will present noted regional historian and award winning maritime artist, William Ewen Jr. on Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Champlin Program Room. Ewen will show slides and discuss the history of the steamships that served the New England coast, including Narragansett Bay.
The program is free to all. For information, call Joyce May, librarian, (401) 434-2453.
Annual tree spree: The 13th annual Ben Wilkie Memorial Tree Spree will be held Dec. 3 from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Wilbur School gym, the Commons. Dozens of theme-decorated trees and other items will be available to win. A craft and small-business show will also be held. Horse and wagon rides will be available, offered by the Sakonnet Clovers 4H Club, with proceeds benefiting the Little Compton Food Bank. The event will also include a collection of canned goods for the food bank.
Anyone interested in donating or decorating a tree or other item for the drawing, or those interested in renting space at the craft and small-business show, are asked to contact Caroline Wordell, (401) 635-2241.
The town’s tree lighting and caroling will be held that evening at 5 p.m. on Pike’s Peak, the Commons.
Holiday giving: The Little Compton Community Center and the Essex Library in Tiverton will be collecting new stuffed animals and new children’s pajamas (unwrapped) for the children of Newport County. These will be distributed through Newport County’s New Visions program. Please drop off your donations at either the Community Center at 34 The Commons, in Little Compton, or the Essex Library on Highland Road, in Tiverton. Donations will be accepted until December 20.
Annual basketball tournament: The Newport Recreation
The tournament begins play Friday at noon and continues through Sunday with five championship games. Admission is free to children under age 16 and $2 for all others. A tournament pass can be purchased for $3.
All proceeds from this tournament are used to help fund the Newport Recreation Department’s Junior/NBA and Junior/WNBA Youth basketball travel and tournament teams. Anyone who would like to volunteer should contact Ray Fullerton, (401) 845-5810 or (401) 847-6875.
Ophelia Sessions program: Child & Family Services of Newport County and its Ophelia Sessions Program invite young women in Newport County to a post-Thanksgiving evening with the innovative and dynamic Off The Curb Program, Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Castle Hill Inn and Resort, Ocean Drive. The event includes a free dinner and performance. For reservations and information, call Sharon Ruste-Bottone, (401) 848-4206.
Tree lighting: The third annual lighting of the Hotel Viking’s Tree of Hope will be held Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. Families and guests of all ages are invited to enter Hotel Viking and be led into its interior courtyard by the festive piping of the Worcester Kiltie Bagpipe Band. The balsam fir from New Hampshire, more than 30 feet tall, featuring 30,000 white lights and hundreds of Christmas ornaments, will be lit by Santa Claus himself along with the help of four of his elves.
The tree lighting will be followed by a reception in the Viking Ballroom and festivities include singing by The Victorian Carolers from Boston, holiday cookies and warming hot chocolate for all revelers and photo sessions for kids with Santa. For more information, call (401) 847-3300 or visit www.hotelviking.com.
Public meeting on West Side plan: The Aquidneck Island Planning Commission will outline the West Side Master Plan at a public meeting Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Newport Public Library, Spring Street. The meeting will allow time for questions from the audience as well as to conduct a brief exercise to get more information on recreational opportunities for the west side.
Lecture series: The Museum of Newport Irish History will sponsor its second Michael F. Crowley Lecture Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. at La Forge casino restaurant. The speaker will be Nancy Lusignan Schultz, coordinator of graduate programs in English and American Studies at Salem (Mass.) State College.
Schultz’s talk, titled “McGowan’s Tavern, Paddy Funerals and Rossiter’s Dog: Irish Factors in the 1834 Attack on the Charlestown, Mass. Convent,” will cover this event, which, although it occurred in 1834, is still remembered today in South Boston.
Also, three of Schultz’s books will be available for purchase and signing, they are: Fire and Roses; Salem: Place, Myth and Memory; and Fear Itself: Enemies Real and Imagined in American Culture.
Seating is limited and reservations are required by calling Maria Carroll, (401) 846-8865. Admission is free to members of MNIH, $10 for nonmembers.
Artists sought: Artists are being sought to participate in Spring Bull Gallery’s annual “Little Picture Show,” Dec. 2 to Jan. 2. The maximum size of the art, including frame’s outside dimensions, is 60-inches total. All art must be properly framed, wired and ready to hang. No clip on frames or sawtooth hangers are allowed. No lasers, computer generated work or photography will be accepted. Work must have been completed within the last two years.
Drop off is from Nov. 25 to 29, noon to 4:30 p.m. and pickup dates are Jan. 2 to 4, from noon to 4:30 p.m. The entry fee is $15 for one-entry, $25 for two to three entries. The commission is 25 percent.
For information, call (401) 849-9166, or stop by the gallery, 55 Bellevue Ave. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. daily.
Furniture donations: This week, the Hotel Viking will load trucks and deliver goods to Child & Family Services homes and apartments. The hotel is donating 240 beds, table and chair sets, end tables, lamps and televisions in excellent condition from 80 Viking Wing guestrooms, which are to be renovated. Benefiting from this gesture will be female and male residents, ages 6 to 16, living in 16 residential sites throughout Aquidneck Island including Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth. In addition, donated furniture will be placed in the newly located CFS Transitional Housing for families in Newport Heights.
Booster club fundraiser: The Portsmouth High School Boosters Club will hold a wine and ale tasting fundraiser Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. at Greenvale Vineyards, 582 Wapping Rd. The event will also include holiday appetizers and desserts, door prizes and drawings for prizes. Tickets, which are $50 each, can be purchased by calling George Silvia, (401) 683-2266; Kate Borrosh, (401) 835-4482; Cynthia Roche, (401) 683-1597; Lisa Murphy, (401) 847-3126; Cathy Bobba, (401) 683-4433; or Cindy Sewall, (401) 683-7811.
Senior Center activities: The Portsmouth Senior Center, 110 Bristol Ferry Rd., will hold a blood pressure clinic today and again Dec. 27, from 11 a.m. to noon. Also, the monthly members meeting will be held Nov. 27 at 1:15 p.m. All members are encouraged to attend.
Upcoming center offerings include a reverse mortgage seminar, Dec. 6 at 10 a.m. The seminar will explain what a reverse mortgage is, who is eligible, how much cash one can receive, what the benefits are and what the costs are.
A Christmas brunch will be held Dec. 22 at 10:30 a.m. The deadline for reservations is Dec. 21 before noon.
A New Year’s brunch will be held Dec. 29 at 10:30 a.m. The menu will include orange juice, cheese omelet, reduced sodium baked ham, oven browned potatoes, biscuit, fresh fruit. The deadline for reservations is Dec. 28 before noon.
A New Year’s Eve dinner dance will be held Dec. 31 with dinner at 7 p.m. and dancing from 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Music will be by Jes We Three and tickets are $25 each. The menu will be a hot and cold buffet with pastry and coffee at midnight.
International family night: The Portsmouth Free Public Library will hold its International Family Night Nov. 27 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. This is a family-oriented program which features a cultural and festive exchange of holiday customs of other countries. Speakers will represent the countries of Ireland, Iceland and Jamaica. The program is recommended for school age children.
Craft program for children: The Portsmouth Free Public Library will offer a free “crafty kids” program Nov. 28 at 3:30 p.m. for children in kindergarten to grade three. Children will make their own winter craft to take home. Advance registration can be done at the library or by calling the Children’s Room, (401) 683-9457.
Ham and bean supper: First United Methodist Church of Warren/Bristol, 25 Church St., will hold a ham and bean supper Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m. The menu includes baked ham, Boston-style baked beans, brown bread, potato salad, cole slaw and assorted pies for dessert. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for children ages 4 to 12 and free for those under age 4. For information and to reserve tickets, call (401) 253-4931 or (401) 245-8474.
