The Walpolean

Starting this winter, the Town of Walpole Planning Board will be working with the Southwest Region Planning Commission (SWRPC) to explore ways to increase the safety of streets in Walpole for walkers, bicyclists, people taking transit, and others. This project, called “Complete Streets,” is part of a larger initiative led by Healthy Monadnock called the “Partnerships to Improve Community Health,” or “PICH.” The goal of PICH is to increase access to healthy food, tobacco cessation resources, and physical activity opportunities for residents of Cheshire County. Implementing Complete Streets will help to promote physical activity by ensuring that people feel safe when they walk, bike, or use other forms of active transportation.

The goal of the Walpole Complete Streets project is to create a plan or policy that would, over time, result in a safer and more well-connected transportation system that is welcoming and friendly to walkers, bicyclists, and transit users of all ages and abilities. This could include installing more sidewalks, crosswalks, bike racks, benches, street landscaping, or paved shoulders in strategic locations. In addition, SWRPC has some funding to provide free bike racks to local businesses and institutions as a way to promote bicycling as a viable form of transportation. This project has the support of the Walpole Selectboard.

The first Walpole Complete Streets meeting will take place at the Walpole Planning Board workshop meeting on Tuesday, November 29, 2016. The schedule of future meetings will be announced when they are planned.

I also saw in The Clarion that the Farmers’ Market will be on the Common that Day.  No need to travel to the mall.  When you add Ruggles and Hunt, Village Blooms, The Artisan Shop, and Burdick’s Chocolate to the list, there is quite a choice right here in town.  Even four different options to grab a sandwich for lunch.  What more could a Christmas shopper want? – Lil  PS – Anyone know if the Orchard School is at the Town Hall?

The Walpole Historical Society Museum Gift Shop will be open on Saturday November 19^th from 9 am to 2 pm to participate in the Community Holiday Shopping Day.  The Gift Shop, the Congregational Church and St. John’s Church will offer a great variety of craft and gift items to start the holiday season with.    At the Museum Gift Shop we have Louisa May Alcott booklets, Walpole wine glasses, Dellamano painted glass, accessories from Country on the Common, locally crafted note cards as well as candles, holiday cards and napkins, children’s books, new little wooden bookmarks –and much more.     We will have cookies and hot coffee to keep you warm.  Make it a day and get a head start on holiday shopping ! Bring a friend and shop all three of these special sales!   Park your car and walk to all 3 locations–  See you on November 19^th— Hours are 9am to 2pm!!

The Memoir Workshops With Pam Bernard

LATE FALL SESSIONS IN WALPOLE

Award-winning author Pam Bernard announces the continuation of her popular memoir workshops, to begin the week of November 7, at her home in Walpole, NH. These late fall sessions will be six weeks, Mondays and Fridays, 1-4 PM.  The regular eight-week winter sessions will begin the week of January 9^th.  With enough interest, a Saturday morning workshop will be added.

As well as nurturing yet rigorous group critique, crucial issues of craft are explored in these workshops, such as narrative stance and tone, while fresh work is generated each week from prompts. Participants from New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts are bringing experience to the page by harnessing memory and imagination, and learning to shape their writing into compelling narratives as a way to explore and ultimately honor their lives.

Nancy Wilson, historian, says: “I learned to love the challenge of writing with all my senses, of finding the right words to tell my story. It is what I take away from this class—and to do my best writing each and every week.” Frankie Brackley Toleman, botanist and artist, expresses her surprise at what she discovered when she first came to Bernard’s table three years ago. “Pam’s memoir class changed my life! I thought that I had something to say but I didn’t know how to say it.”

“One need not be working on a full–length memoir,” Bernard says. “We draft short narratives from prompts, which may or may not be woven together. As material accumulates, you better understand the past that emerges, sometimes unbidden, and make of it a story that conveys your deepest intentions.”
Pam Bernard is author of four books, the most of recent a verse novel titled Esther. She is also a painter, editor, and adjunct professor at Franklin Pierce University. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College and BA from Harvard University. Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Please email pam@pambernard.com, or visit www.pambernard.com or call for more information, including days and times, 603.756.4177.

Photo: Pam Bernard

Photo taken by Harry Bernard

Announcing the 14th Annual Walpole Artisans Tour

Nov 25-27

And The Holiday Craft Show

Dec 3 & 4

The Walpole Artisans are proud to announce their 14th Annual Tour to be held immediately following Thanksgiving Nov 25-27: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 10am-5pm and a new event “The Holiday Craft Show” the following Saturday and Sunday, December 3 & 4th at 33 Bridge St., Bellows Falls, VT. The days and times will vary slightly this year, so be sure to get a map at the Walpole Artisans Cooperative Gallery located on 52 Main Street in downtown Walpole NH, across from Burdick’s Restaurant.

Locations for the “Tour” on Nov 25-27 are at The Walpole Town Hall, 33 Bridge St. in Bellows Fall VT, the Walpole Mountain View Winery and Walpole Interiors in Walpole NH.

The Artisans Cooperative is a gallery founded by local artists who view art as a joy to make and a gift to be shared.  Here you will find art that catches your eye, feathers your nest, adorns your body, and warms your heart.  Discover unique gifts, innovative wearables, beautiful home furnishings, handcrafted greetings and much more.

The Walpole Town Hall, a beautiful & historic building on the Walpole Common, will include many of the Artisans and is just a short,  pleasant walk from the Walpole Artisans’ shop at 52 Main St. After visiting the shop and seeing the work of each member of this cooperative gallery, visitors can move on to the town hall.  Some of the Artisans will be demonstrating and all will be happy to discuss their work and share their process with you.

Across the river at 33 Bridge Street in Bellows Falls, VT is the location of the Sherwin Art Glass Studio & Gallery. Chris will be serving refreshments and giving glassmaking demonstrations throughout both the Tour and The Holiday Craft Show, as well as having a selection of glass featuring seasonally themed work for sale at his gallery.

The Walpole Mountain View Winery on Barnett Hill Rd in Walpole NH, run by Virginia Carter, features stunning views of the surrounding area, products for sale and will have wine tastings throughout both weekends.

In addition Walpole Interiors at 604 Whitcomb Rd in Walpole NH, will be open to visitors and will feature art work and other decorative items.

Please note, the Holiday Craft Show will be held at 33 Bridge St., in Bellows Falls VT, on Dec. 3 & 4, not at the Walpole Town Hall.

Please visit our website (www.walpoleartisans.org) and Face Book page for upcoming events and additional information about the Artisans and the Tour, and  please feel free to stop by or contact the Walpole Artisans Cooperative, now open from Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-5pm, and Sunday & Monday, 11:30am-3pm. Tour Maps are located at the Cooperative and around the Greater Falls area. The Cooperative is looking for new members and applications are being accepted. Artists are accepted through a juried process. Interested artisans should visit our website, contact the Cooperative at (603) 756-3020, or stop in during business hours to pick up an application.  We are located at 52 Main Street, Walpole, NH.

The Walpole Historical Society is very pleased to present an evening of live music with a bit of a musical history lesson combined into one very enjoyable package.  Please be sure to attend this free event on Friday, November 4, 2016, at 7:00 P.M. at the Walpole Town Hall.

“Over the centuries immigrants from the British Isles have come to the Americas bringing with them their musical styles and tastes as well as their instruments. With the concertina, bodhran, mandolin, octave mandolin, guitar, and banjo, Emery Hutchins and Jim Prendergast sing and play this traditional Celtic music, but they also perform American country music in the way it was conceived in the early twentieth century. Through stories, songs and instrumental melodies, they demonstrate how old time American mountain tunes are often derived directly from the songs of the Irish, yet are influenced by other cultural groups to create a new American sound.

Emery Hutchins and James Prendergast are musicians who play and sing a unique combination of Celtic and American country music. In their performances they seek to show the connection between the two genres. Hutchins is a renowned performer of a variety of different styles of acoustic music ranging from traditional Irish tunes to vintage American country music songs. Prendergast worked for thirty years in the recording studios and orchestra pits of Nashville, Tennessee. Producer of CMH Record’s Celtic Tribute series, Jim now specializes in producing traditional music at his Mill Pond Music Studio in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Music preservationists and performers, their program demonstrates that to understand the music of a culture is to understand the heart of a culture.”