Town Column : Chilmark
Bonnie George has given the planters at the front entrance to the library a face-lift with lots of new spring blossoms - daffodils, snowdrops, pansies - all in time for what still seems a very early spring. Mrs. George is the Garden Club's Chilmark chair, and is issuing a call for new members, "Male or female. We're going in a more community-beautification direction, like the planters at the library, so we'd love to have new members who are interested in projects like this. As well as the lectures and meetings." Anyone who would like to join may call her at 508-645-3214.
The library meanwhile will celebrate National Library Week (April 13-19) all month long by forgiving fines for overdue materials to anyone who brings non-perishable food for the food pantry. The library would of course also welcome donations from patrons who don't have overdue fines. The donation box is near the circulation desk.
The Rev. Dr. Brian A. Wren will lead a free interactive workshop in the fellowship room at the church on Sunday, March 30, from 2 to 5 pm. Dr. Wren, who is married to the Rev. Dr. Susan Heafield, is emeritus professor of worship at the Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga. He is a noted author, lecturer, and composer. His hymn poems are published in hymnals of all Christian traditions.
Rebecca Barca Tinus invites the whole community to a one-hour concert to be given by her strings students Island-wide this Saturday, March 29 at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown at 4 pm. There is no admission charge.
Island women have long been known for their humanitarian efforts in far-flung places all over the world, and a number of them are carrying on the tradition today. Marsha Winsryg has been raising money for several years to establish institutions to aid needy children in Zambia. Her Spindrift Marionettes have given a number of performances of the original work "Cupid and Psyche, A Two Thousand Year Old Love Story" about love and loss, courage and despair, to tragic and comic effect, between a god and a mortal. There will be a one-night-only performance tomorrow, Friday, March 28, at 7:30 pm for adults and children over the age of ten at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven. Tickets are $10.
Jeanne Staples, an artist and sculptor who lives in Edgartown, is helping women earn a living in a village outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti, making handmade quilts. "The Peacequilt Project is part of the Martha's Vineyard Fish and Farm Project for Haiti," she says. And she asks Vineyard quilters and sewers to help with donations of materials - cotton fabric, ball point pens, standard sewing machine needles, safety pins, a 15" X 15" square ruler, as well as a number of other necessities. Anyone who can help may call her at 508-274-1104.
And remember: light some candles and turn out your lights this Saturday, March 29, from 8 to 9 pm, as part of the Island-wide energy conservation effort Light's Out Martha's Vineyard. To sign up, visit almanac.vcsmv.org/lights_out or visit earthhour.org.
